Triple H named Head of Talent Relations and Creative in WWE. 2023 and 2024 WON Booker of the Year.

[Shadow]

On the verge of his retirement match at WWE Saturday Night's Main Event, John Cena suggested that his long-time foe Brock Lesnar might be approaching his own retirement upon the turn of the new year. While reflecting on his quick loss to Lesnar at WWE Wrestlepalooza, Cena specifically told Chris Van Vliet that "you have to figure out who gets the shine that night and if, in [Lesnar's] return again, only my perspective, this attraction where we are going to build until he goes into the sunset, which is, I think, in Minnesota. Creatively, it's very soon."

Given Cena's statements, fans and pundits have speculated that Lesnar will mark the end of his in-ring career at the 2026 SummerSlam event in Minneapolis, Minnesota — the home of Lesnar's alma mater, University of Minnesota. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the exact date of Lesnar's retirement start is unknown, but there are currently working plans for him to make a final run in WWE in 2026. Under the WWE banner, Lesnar is a multi-time world champion, most recently appearing on the winning end of the Men's WarGames match at Survivor Series.

Similarly, in the event that former world champion Chris Jericho returns there in 2026, WWE reportedly has plans for him to make a last run in the company as well. WON previously noted that WWE had put a retirement storyline on the table for Jericho, whose AEW contract is set to expire this month. As of now, Jericho's next destination is unconfirmed, though he is confident that he will end up in a wrestling ring of some sort come 2026.

Former WWE Champion AJ Styles has already announced 2026 as his last year as an active in-ring competitor. As of September, the specifics surrounding his respective final months, including a potential appearance at WrestleMania 42, were still being decided.

Read More: Two More Major Stars Rumored For 2026 WWE Retirement - Wrestling Inc.

Two More Major Stars Rumored For 2026 WWE Retirement - Wrestling Inc.

Along with AJ Styles, a report indicates that two other major wrestlers could be making their retirement runs under the WWE banner in 2026.

www.wrestlinginc.com

If they have a last match, who do you think retires both?

 

[Reality Check]

Two More Major Stars Rumored For 2026 WWE Retirement - Wrestling Inc.

Along with AJ Styles, a report indicates that two other major wrestlers could be making their retirement runs under the WWE banner in 2026.

www.wrestlinginc.com

If they have a last match, who do you think retires both?

If Styles, Jericho, and Lesnar all retire in 2026, Bron should be the one to retire them all. Would establish him as the man in the company and could build to big time matches with Reigns and Rhodes.

Selfishly, I'd want to see Styles in AEW to see a Styles/Omega match (looked it up and amazingly they've only faced each other once in their careers), plus his two biggest rivals (Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels) are over there.

 

[Norrin Radd]

I also haven’t seen is piff using race in his goofy stan shyt. Cattle has, blatantly. That, I don’t fukk with. It’s insincere and offensive

AEW has more black wrestler’s on a show for once and the marks wanna give em an NAACP image award

A company that crowns black champions

Another black champion

ayo @Max. how many black champions does that other company got again?

Keith Lee has already had a longer reign than any other black person in AEW.

Extreme Rules kicking off with more black men in the ring than AEW has had on all month.

Oh wow look at that, back to back matches with more black wrestlers in em. *** could never.

This is the literal definition of insincere and this is why I don't fukk with that clown and any one who finds him funny can jump off a cliff

 

[Larry]

This is the literal definition of insincere and this is why I don't fukk with that clown and any one who finds him funny can jump off a cliff

Damn Piff, they got you in 4k cuh

 

[Mordy4Life]

 

[Straw Hat Luffy]

No arguing on Cena’s weekend

I’ll report you

 

[mannyrs13]

They bout to have Gunther retire Goldberg, Cena, and everyone else that's retiring next year.

 

[Larry]

For the record, anyone that isn’t black using race as a gotcha is a hoe ass nikka to me



I do think wrestling still has a ways to go in terms of a fair balance when it comes to black men though, and it’s nothing wrong with pointing it out. To me, wrestling should look like NXT in terms of diversity. There’s such a diverse crowd in NXT that it doesn’t even stand out when black performers are given effective screen time because it’s just.. normal. WWE’s main roster has that going on the women’s side where you’ll regularly see Asian, Hispanic and black performers being pushed equally, but in terms of men it’s sad over there. I do think with call ups that’ll continue to change, but we shouldn’t have to keep waiting. At some point nikkas gotta be more than just tag team and lower card fodder

I think this fact gets conflated with fan shyt though… you’ll have people saying it’s racist that Jevon Evans lost a match they wanted him to win, or Bron Breakker got pushed instead of Carmelo Hayes when in reality Jevon and Melo are two of the few they actually are putting in effort to showcase. Stuff like that is where this shyt becomes laughable.


In the end what I personally want, and what I think we should all want, is a wrestling show where black competitors are such a normality that it no longer pops out at you when one is getting real screen time because it’s just business as usual and the way things always are. Stuff like a black world champ shouldn’t be an outlier, it should be something we often see. That goes for everywhere but especially WWE’s main roster with how sad the efforts been over there. But we also can’t back black wrestlers into a corner where we’re saying it’s racist if they lose a match.. at that point everybody black has to be booked on undefeated Gunther streaks, which is just simply not realistic and would create a bad tv show lol