3 AEW stars John Cena has referenced in his final WWE run so far

WWE star John Cena is in the final year of his in-ring career. The 48-year-old is currently on a retirement tour, and his last match will take place at Saturday Night's Main Event XLII on December 13, 2025.

The Cenation Leader's retirement tour has been fascinating so far. Interestingly, he has referenced many fellow wrestlers in the past few months. Furthermore, some of these names include AEW stars.

All Elite Wrestling's roster is immensely talented. It is quite obvious that the Franchise Player follows the company's product and has a good relationship with many people employed by Tony Khan.

Here are three AEW stars John Cena has referenced in his final WWE run so far.

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#3. Claudio Castagnoli

Claudio Castagnoli is a member of The Death Riders. He was once under WWE's banner, where he was known as Cesaro. The 44-year-old is an extraordinary talent and one of the strongest men in professional wrestling. He achieved moderate success in the Stamford-based company, having won the United States Championship once and the World Tag Team Championship five times.

Cena was feuding with CM Punk a few months back. Interestingly, during this rivalry, he delivered a pipe bomb promo. In it, he mentioned Matt Cardona (Zack Ryder), Nic Nemeth (Dolph Ziggler), and Claudio Castagnoli. This was an unexpected segment, and it has made several fans believe that the former Cesaro will rejoin his former company to lock horns with the legend.

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#2. Former AEW World Champion Chris Jericho

Chris Jericho joined All Elite Wrestling in 2019. He is undoubtedly a modern-day great, and he has achieved immense success in the Jacksonville-based company. He was the inaugural AEW World Champion and has held the ROH World Championship on two different occasions. Even though his in-ring performance has deteriorated due to his age, he is still a massive name in professional wrestling.

John Cena referenced Y2J during a match a few months back. During his showdown against AJ Styles at Crown Jewel 2025, he hit his opponent with the 'Wall of Jericho', the AEW star's iconic submission maneuver. This was an amazing sequence, and fans in attendance popped hard for it.

Jericho's contract with AEW will reportedly expire this year in December. The 55-year-old is rumored to leave the Tony Khan-led company and rejoin WWE. If this happens before Saturday Night's Main Event XLII, he will probably be able to have a match with the Franchise Player one last time.

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#1. Adam Copeland (fka Edge) was John Cena's greatest rival

Edge and John Cena had a historic rivalry during the Ruthless Aggression era. They are good friends in real life and deeply respect each other. Interestingly, they recently paid tribute to each other with their wrestling.

The Franchise Player delivered a spear in one of his matches a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, the Rated R Superstar performed a five knuckle shuffle on his opponent in AEW. Unfortunately, since the former Edge is employed by Tony Khan, there is no way a match between the two is possible at this moment.

Edited by Debangshu Nath