Former US Champion sends a message to John Cena hours before his WWE retirement

John Cena is set to close the final chapter of his storied career in WWE. The 17-time world champion will officially step away from in-ring competition after Saturday Night’s Main Event.

Mr. Hustle Loyalty & Respect will step into the ring one last time against Gunther at the Capital One Center in Washington, D.C. The Ring General overcame several over stars in the Last Time is Now tournament to emerge as the final challenger for Cena. This will cap off John's retirement run, which featured some memorable matches against Cody Rhodes, Rany Orton, CM Punk, Logan Paul, Sami Zayn, Brock Lesnar, AJ Styles, and Dominik Mysterio.

With Cena’s farewell approaching, tributes have continued to pour in from across the wrestling world. Former WWE United States Champion and notable former AEW star Andrade also paid respect to the Cenation Leader. El Idolo shared an image on Twitter of Cena hitting the Five Knuckle Shuffle on him during an episode of SmackDown. The caption read, "#ThankYouCena," suggesting that the star was paying tribute to the wrestling legend.

John Cena and Andrade crossed paths in WWE

Although Andrade never had a one-on-one match against John Cena in WWE, the two stars have been in the ring together. The two stars were part of a mixed tag team match.

Cena teamed up with Becky Lynch to take on Andrade and Zelina Vega in a huge mixed tag team match. The encounter took place on the January 1, 2019, episode of SmackDown. Cena hit Andrade with the Five Knuckle Shuffle, followed by the Attitude Adjustment, only to be thrown out of the ring by Lynch. The Man then caught Zelina in the Disarm-her for the win.

At the time, Becky was at the height of her popularity with "The Man" gimmick. She went on to headline WrestleMania 35 that year alongside Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey.

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Edited by Prityush Haldar