John Cena never buried talent in the company, says ex-WWE manager

John Cena's last WWE run is set to end in the coming months when he has his final match in December 2025 at Saturday Night's Main Event. Meanwhile, a wrestling veteran claimed The Franchise Player never buried talent in the promotion.

For years, fans criticized John Cena's run in the promotion as the face of the company. The Franchise Player went over several names and dominated the division for years to come. While some names should've gotten over in their match against Cena, others didn't recover from a loss to The Leader of the Cenation.

Speaking on Story Time with Dutch Mantell, Dutch Mantell addressed the criticism towards John Cena and sided with the 17-time WWE World Champion. The wrestling veteran said Cena never buried talent but protected himself when he didn't have confidence in the creative team's direction.

"I don't think he held down talent so much as upheld his standing in the company. He didn't care about that talent. What John Cena cared about, and rightfully so—I'm going to take John's side on this—is that he didn't want to hurt himself, and he didn't have confidence in the creative team," Mantell said.

---

John Cena had his final match for WWE SmackDown

John Cena started his career on the blue brand and broke out as a bona fide star in the coming years. After conquering the men's division on SmackDown, he moved to Monday Night RAW in 2005, which became his home in the Stamford-based promotion for over a decade.

Earlier this year, the 48-year-old veteran returned to WWE for his final run as an in-ring performer, which is set to end in December 2025. While The Leader of Cenation had a handful of matches on the blue brand over the years, his last one-on-one match on the brand took place a while back when he faced R-Truth, which ended in disqualification.

On the most recent edition of WWE SmackDown, John Cena had a one-on-one match against Sami Zayn for the United States Championship. Unfortunately, Cena and Zayn's match ended in double disqualification when Brock Lesnar interfered and landed both with his finisher to end the match.

If you use quotes from the article, please credit Story Time with Dutch Mantell and provide an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.