WWE confirms emotional John Cena tribute on SmackDown; sends 4-word message

John Cena faced Sami Zayn on his last ever SmackDown as an active WWE Superstar. (Photo. WWE.com)
John Cena faced Sami Zayn on his last ever SmackDown as an active WWE Superstar. (Photo. WWE.com)

John Cena faced Sami Zayn last Friday on SmackDown in what was his final appearance on the blue brand as an active WWE Superstar. The company confirmed a tribute from Cena via a four-word message on social media during his match against Zayn.

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With eight appearances left on his schedule before Friday's edition of SmackDown, Cena was confronted by the United States Champion. Zayn wanted to return the favor to The GOAT by giving him a title shot via an open challenge, like what happened more than 10 years ago on RAW when Cena held the U.S. Title.

During the match, Cena paid homage to some of his former rivals like Kurt Angle, Edge, Kevin Owens and CM Punk by using their finishers. WWE acknowledged the tribute by Cena for Punk by sharing the video of him hitting the GTS on Zayn and dropping a message.

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"This one's for you, @CMPunk!" the account tweeted, tagging The Second City Saint.

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John Cena knew going into his farewell run that he wasn't facing all of his former rivals. Cena paid homage to them over his past two matches by doing their finishers, like AJ Styles' Styles Clash and Baron Corbin's End of Days on Logan Paul at Clash in Paris.

Against Sami Zayn, Cena used Kurt Angle's Ankle Lock, Kevin Owens' Pop-Up Powerbomb, Edge's Spear and CM Punk's GTS. However, the match ended in a no-contest after Brock Lesnar arrived and attacked Cena and Zayn.

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John Cena to face Brock Lesnar at WWE Wrestlepalooza

After attacking John Cena and Sami Zayn, Brock Lesnar returned backstage and cut a short promo in front of the camera. Lesnar told Cena that they will have a match at Wrestlepalooza on Sept. 20 at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.

It will be their first one-on-one match since Night of Champions 2014, when Cena challenged Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Cena won via disqualification after Seth Rollins hit him with the Money in the Bank briefcase. However, the cash-in attempt never happened, and Lesnar ended up hitting an F5 on Cena to end the show.

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Edited by JP David
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