John Cena retires in December - 5 WWE legends who lost their last match

John Cena continues his farewell tour, which is expected to come to an end at some point in December, when he is rumored to have his last match in WWE in Boston.

The Cenation Leader made history back in April when he defeated Cody Rhodes to become the Undisputed WWE Champion, becoming a 17-time world champion.

As John Cena's retirement tour is getting closer to the end, there has been speculation about who his last opponent will be and whether he will be victorious in his last match.

With that in mind, and nearly five months before John Cena's retirement tour comes to an end, we take a look at five WWE legends who retired from wrestling after losing their last match.

#5. Shawn Michaels lost to The Undertaker in his retirement match

Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker at WrestleMania 26 (Photo credit: WWE.com)

HBK had a feud with The Undertaker, which led to a match at WrestleMania 26 back in March 2010.

The Phenom was undefeated at 'Mania, and his streak was in serious jeopardy against Michaels, who would have retired from WWE had he lost to the iconic wrestler.

The Undertaker extended his unbeaten streak at the Grandest Stage of Them All, forcing his good friend to retire. Shawn Michaels eventually moved to an executive role years after his retirement, taking over NXT.

#4. Ric Flair retired from wrestling in 2008

Two years before his retirement, Shawn Michaels had a match with fellow WWE legend Ric Flair. Flair was one of the greatest wrestlers in the company's history, having won a total of 16 world titles.

In an emotional match at WrestleMania 24 in March 2008, The Nature Boy lost to The Heartbreak Kid and was forced to retire from wrestling.

#3. Batista came back to WWE in 2019 for one last match

Triple H and Batista at WrestleMania 39 (Photo credit: WWE.com)

Back in 2019, Dave Batista returned to WWE and had a feud with his former Evolution teammate, Triple H. The two megastars agreed to face each other in a No Holds Barred Match at WrestleMania 41, which ended up being quite brutal.

The Game emerged victorious from the match, sending the former world champion into retirement. Triple H became a Hall of Famer last year, and the same is expected to happen with Batista at some point in the future.

#2. Kurt Angle wanted to face John Cena in his retirement match

Angle and Cena have a lot of history, as John Cena made his first WWE appearance in a confrontation with Kurt Angle 23 years ago.

But, the head of creative at the time, Vince McMahon, had different plans and it was Baron Corbin, and not John Cena, that battled Angle in the latter's retirement match at WrestleMania 39. Corbin was the winner of the match and forced Angle to leave wrestling with a defeat.

#1. Goldberg lost to Gunther at Saturday Night's Main Event

Da Man started a feud with The Ring General at Bad Blood back in October 2024 in Atlanta. Their feud came full circle last weekend, when he lost to Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship at Saturday Night's Main Event in Atlanta on July 12th.

Goldberg did his best to win, but Gunther retained his title eventually, with the former not being happy about the way WWE creative built up his last match.