WWE makes official John Cena announcement ahead of Backlash 2025

WrestleMania 41 is done and dusted, and now all eyes are on John Cena. The record-breaking 17-time world champion is the man to beat in WWE, and ahead of Backlash 2025, the company has made an official announcement related to him.

Last week's episode of RAW led to a lot of talk surrounding John Cena and Randy Orton. After all, The Viper laid out the Undisputed WWE Champion with a devastating RKO. This led to reports suggesting that a match was on the cards for Backlash 2025.

Well, WWE has now made it official. On SmackDown, John Cena himself suggested that he would face Randy Orton in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. However, an official announcement wasn't made until recently.

Taking to Instagram, WWE shared the official poster for the match between Cena and Orton. It is sure to be a blockbuster bout, as Orton looks to potentially win his 15th world title.

It will be interesting to see who comes out on top come May 10, 2025. The outcome could change the whole landscape of WWE, especially considering Cena's retirement tour is still underway.

John Cena has 26 dates left on his retirement tour

Speaking of John Cena's retirement tour, the WWE Universe has limited time left with him. It is a known fact that he plans to retire by the end of the year, and in the process, take the Undisputed WWE Championship with him, and "ruin" pro wrestling.

As such, he has set up his calendar with the hope of fulfilling this promise. Following his win at WrestleMania, Cena revealed that he will make 27 appearances before retiring. Last week's episode of SmackDown was the first of his appearances, which means that there are just 26 more left.

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Fans are undoubtedly disappointed that his time as a WWE star is slowly coming to an end. Nevertheless, they will also be excited to see what exactly he has in store for them in these remaining 26 appearances. Will he indeed "ruin" pro wrestling and retire with the Undisputed WWE Championship? Only time will tell.

About the author

Nithin is a Pro Wrestling writer who covers WWE news stories at Sportskeeda. He holds an MBA degree and has 4 years of content writing experience working for the likes of The SportsRush and GiveMeSport. His association with SK goes way back as he wrote for the pro wrestling division earlier, too, and interned with the team while pursuing his undergraduate degree.

Nithin’s writing style is inspired by the storytelling abilities of Japanese mangakas Eiichiro Oda, Masashi Kishimoto, and English authors like George R.R. Martin and JRR Tolkien. He strives to keep his reports accurate and relevant by keeping up to date with the pro wrestling world and catering to reader preferences.

He is a huge fan of Seth Rollins’ workhorse mentality and Sami Zayn’s never-say-die spirit. He says that if he could go back to The Attitude Era, he would love to manage Kurt Angle and bring out his ‘Wrestling Machine’ character much earlier in his career.

In his free time, Nithin watches, reads, and makes videos about sports on his YouTube channel ‘The Daily Raid.’ He also enjoys gaming, watching anime, and reading manga.

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Edited by Nithin Joseph