Randy Orton says John Cena "shut down" idea of one last WWE match between them

John Cena plans to retire from WWE in-ring competition in 2025. Randy Orton, one of Cena's greatest opponents, recently told the 16-time world champion he would like to face him again. However, his real-life friend's response did not fill him with confidence.

Cena and Orton trained in WWE's Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) developmental system before moving to the main roster in 2002. Over the next two decades, both men became all-time greats and shared the ring more than 100 times.

Orton revealed on Cody Rhodes' What Do You Wanna Talk About? that he spoke to Cena before his Money in the Bank retirement announcement. The Viper had no idea about Cena's intentions and approached him backstage about renewing their on-screen rivalry:

"I said, 'What do you think?'" Orton recalled. "And he was like, 'Randy, you know I've never pitched anything. I always do my best with whatever they give me.' I'm like, 'Man, that's me.' I've never had a pitch. I've never set myself up to be let down. I'm never like, 'Hey, writers, here's a six-page storyboard of everything I wanna do for the next six months.' Not once. Not once." [15:13 – 15:39]

Randy Orton added that he felt as though John Cena "shut down" the idea, but he still hopes the match will happen:

"When I brought it up to him, I felt kinda like a mark, like, 'Hey, you wanna do one more?' He shut it down right away and said, 'If creative comes up with it, then we'll do it,' kinda thing." [15:48 – 16:02]

The WWE veterans have not faced each other in a televised match since the February 7, 2017, episode of SmackDown. Cena, the WWE Champion at the time, secured the win on that occasion.

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Why Randy Orton wants one more match against John Cena

In the 2000s and 2010s, John Cena and Randy Orton were among WWE's top full-time main-eventers.

While some grew tired of watching the two men battle it out, Orton thinks fans would enjoy witnessing one last bout between the old enemies:

"I would love to work with the man and have a couple of TVs or more to set it up and really make something special of it, because no matter how much we faced each other back in the day, almost to the point where people were sick of it, when people look back and think about it they're like, 'Oh, Orton, Cena, wow, it was this amazing rivalry.'" [16:21 – 16:47]

During the same conversation, Orton revealed he would like Cena to induct him into the WWE Hall of Fame one day.

Do you want to see John Cena vs. Randy Orton again? Hit the discuss button and let us know.

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Please credit What Do You Wanna Talk About? and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.