John Cena winning title from WWE star "would set the world on fire," veteran says (Exclusive)
The identity of John Cena's WrestleMania 41 opponent has been hotly debated since the 16-time world champion announced he will retire in 2025. Dutch Mantell, formerly known as Zeb Colter in WWE, believes Cena defeating Gunther is a realistic possibility.
Many fans have speculated that Cena could aim to capture a record 17th world title at WrestleMania 41, possibly after winning the Royal Rumble. If that is the case, he will be allowed to face a world champion of his choosing on April 19-20, 2025.
Gunther will challenge Damian Priest for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam on August 3. On Sportskeeda Wrestling's Smack Talk, Mantell suggested that The Ring General could win Priest's title at some point before losing it to Cena at WrestleMania 41:
"He will, I'm pretty sure of it," Mantell said regarding Gunther producing a high-quality match against Cena. "But, hey, everybody expects Gunther to win, right? What if that don't happen? You shock all the fans and all the betting guys. And if they could figure out a way to do that, I think that would set the world on fire. I don't think it would hurt Gunther that much anyway." [From 19:30 – 19:57]
Watch the video above to hear Mantell's thoughts on whether Cena will go through with his retirement idea.
What John Cena said about retiring
On July 6, John Cena made a surprise appearance at Money in the Bank after being introduced by host Trish Stratus.
Cena revealed during a heartfelt in-ring promo that 2025 will be his final year as a wrestler. He also elaborated on his retirement plans at the post-show press conference:
"It's not gonna end at WrestleMania," Cena said. "WrestleMania will be my last WrestleMania, but hopefully, if everything goes according to plan, we're going straight through from January to December. We're gonna try to do a long list of dates. I think right now tentatively it's hovering in the mid-30s to 40s because I'm still gonna try to juggle a lot of stuff that's going on."
Cena also confirmed he came up with the retirement idea and WWE accepted his proposal. The 47-year-old added that he will remain with the company "in some capacity for an extended time to come" after retiring from in-ring competition.
Also watch:
What are your thoughts on Gunther vs. John Cena? Hit the discuss button and let us know.
Please credit Sportskeeda Wrestling's Smack Talk and embed the video if you use Dutch Mantell's quotes from this article.