Nikki Bella pays tribute to John Cena on WWE RAW

Nikki Bella contested in a WWE Women's World Championship match in the final episode of RAW in 2025. The match ended with the victory of Stephanie Vaquer when she pinned the Fearless One and retained the gold in this triple threat bout featuring Raquel Rodriguez as well.

However, during the match, Nikki Bella surprised everyone when she paid tribute to her ex-boyfriend, John Cena. The Franchise Player retired from the squared circle earlier this month at Saturday Night's Main Event when he suffered a loss against Gunther in his final match.

Following the loss, Cena left his shoes and other in-ring gear in the middle of the ring, which implies that he is done with the in-ring action. Almost everyone around the world paid tribute to the Last Real Champion, and Nikki Bella appears to be the latest addition to the list.

During the triple threat match on RAW, Nikki executed Cena's signature submission move, 'STF', on Raquel Rodriguez. Soon after this, the live crowd started chanting the name of the 17x World Champion with 'Thank You Cena' chants.

However, the Hall of Famer quickly responded to the chants and affirmed that the crowd should thank her, not John Cena. Despite this, fans can't stop reacting to this moment on the internet.

WWE star Nikki Bella is currently trending on the internet in a major way

After what happened on Monday Night RAW, the Fearless One is trending on Twitter (X) in a significant way. The word 'Thank Me' is trending in the WWE section with 143K posts.

This shows that fans still hold a keen interest in Nikki and Cena, especially due to their conflicted real-life relationship in the past.

As of now, the Franchise Player is married to Shay Shariatzadeh, but it remains to be seen if the Cenation Leader will respond to the tribute after the red brand show.

Read all the hottest WWE news from Sportskeeda by choosing us as your preferred source. Click HERE.

Edited by Angana Roy