[8.0] "Another really good Cena match, Cena was on a great run. This match was really fun and had lots of good spots and moves. Cena was such a baller after Summerslam, it was 2015 which is what retirement tour needed it was saved for a short part of time until the Lesnar feud began."
[7.0] "****1/4 Very good match, great chemistry, great sequences, Sami's reversals and the way Cena gradually started applying moves from his classic rivals was excellent, very good, consistent pace from start to finish, very good intensity, Sami's kick-outs on the first and second AAs were very good, although I think the first AA was unnecessary; it would have been better if he had done the first AA when he did the second. The ending seemed to be going very well, with the super AA, both lying exhausted, and they had to kind of ruin the match a bit with Lesnar appearing and causing the match to end in a no contest. Perhaps it was necessary to justify/build up the Cena vs. Lesnar match at Wrestlepalooza, but they could have made a much better ending"
[8.0] "A good TV match with a hot Chicago crowd, weird with the booing of Sami at times but whatever, its fine.. The match had good vibes, even the bits that would be more prevalent in the AJ match in Perth. Cena using several of his rival's finishes. Then Brock comes out and kills any finish."
[8.0] "What a crazy idea that, if you let the professional wrestlers go out and just wrestle, you get good product. That's what this was. Genuinely a strong match for the show and a really nice way to open up the show. Zayn debuted on the main roster by challenging Cena for the United States Title over ten years prior, and now Zayn's first defense of the title is against a soon-to-be-retired Cena. What holds this back from being even better, though, is that ending. The ending, in and of itself, is very disappointing. However, who it was only makes it worse. Gross."
[2.0] "A disgusting match booking wise, in these shit circumstances (due to the complete ineptitude of HHH), that was a disgrace. Sami is booed because of the way he was introduced, unwelcomed and inserting himself, in a smark crowd, and with the stakes amplified for Cena as it's his last Smackdown, the motive to cheer for Sami is non existant. Then the match begins, and everything, HHH's lack of foresight, the advertising of this show, adjoins and is crystallized at this painful key point: They're about to lock up, but the boos for Sami are unignorable, and Cena makes a shrug gesture of "this is what we're working with". A complete failure encapsulated: What really should've been a throw back to show growth of these 2, is now a complete regression. Rather than Sami stepping up to a tyrannical heel Cena in Saudi 10 years later as a show of growth instead of the ultimately passionless Punk match (prob due to HHH overbooked finish that was inevitable) we all groaned at when announced at Saudi, we get a match where Sami is in undoubtedly a worse place from 2015 when observing the organics, not the booking, and Cena is forced to be the flag carrier again, and as a bonus, recedes from a delicate face v face 2015 dynamic into his most diluted self yet because his biggest flaw of being a kind but blaringly unbalanced fan service machine controlled from behind the dashboard by those in the crowd. The resulting numerous kickouts resulting from them and the match length, which is glorious until the circumstances from shit booking are realized by everyone involved in the ring and backstage, end up compounding the boos and lack of motive to cheer for Sami. A complete fuckup, a trash heap on fire, due to the simpleton HHH who has completely fumbled his most enchanting worker since May. I liked Cena reversing Sami's tornado DDT into a AA, very good, Sami sold the GTS superbly and Cena pushing him down was a glimpse of old Cena, and the beginning lock up was extremely promising. But other than that, it is despair and dread. It should've never happened. HHH's Incompetentency after months of malpractice peaks here. What a moron."
[9.0] "This was so much fun. From the opening promo till the end of the match. This would have been an easy 10/10 if Sami would have retained the title clean but Brock of all people interrupting made it even bigger in a way. That RKO chant was impromptu. And Cena acknowledging it Sami was such a cool moment. An homage to KO, Angle, Punk, Edge and Randy. What a line up. The whole coming full circle and the company creating a story out of it, is one of the few genuine cases in this whole retirement run. To be honest, I don't think anyone expected Sami to be featured in this retirement tour, that speaks volumes how much Sami is appreciated. Also why was the crowd booing, I hated that."
[7.0] "They were cooking and should have continued to cook for another 10 minutes. Shitter of an ending but two of the great baby faces going at it makes up for it. Sami cuts an excellent promo beforehand and performs great despite the Chicago crowd wanting to rip him in two. Cena looks good here and performs homages to his rivals gallery. Cole is bad at commtary for this match but Corey Graves is thankfully here to save it."
[8.0] "Best outing of Cena's retirement run on the purely in-ring side of things so far in my view. Most dynamic he's looked in a while and Zayn worked tremendously hard here to help him look good with both men obviously energised by the brilliant Chicago crowd who bit on some nicely executed near falls."
[8.0] "Best TV match of Cena's retirement tour, though that isn't really saying much considering the other two were trash. A lot of great callbacks in this one, what with Cena using the moves of his old rivals and such. I like that there was actually a story for this one as there was some history behind it after Zayn answered Cena's US Open Challenge a decade ago. On that, this match felt exactly like one from the US Open Challenge series back in 2015, a great time in Cena's career where he put fantastic matches week after week (a true honour to have seen all that in real time). Good moves executed by both gave this match a big time feel. The Lesnar interference was predictable as neither could afford to lose this match, even by DQ, so a no-contest was the best way to end it. Sadly, that no-contest ending does stop it from being given a higher rating. A great final SmackDown match for Cena, hopefully he'll get one last Raw match in one of his last two appearances on the red brand."
[8.0] "This was fun. More of a Cena tribute match to all the wrestlers he won't be able to wrestle in this retirement run, so it's fun if you don't really overthink it in the context of a title match because why would Cena wrestle with the moveset he never actually used before if he wants to actually win the US title. Delegitimizes the title, but I'll turn a blind eye to it as it was pretty enjoyable. The GTS in particular was a great fakeout as pretty much everyone expected him to hit another AA. Both wrestlers sold really well during the match, especially in the early parts. I really felt it weird to have Zayn trying to hype up the crowd on every turn as it was really a given that he would be booed to oblivion, as does everyone who antagonizes Cena in this final run of his. At the end of the day, what also dragged this down is just knowing there is absolutely no way we're getting a winner as Cena isn't losing on TV to Zayn and Zayn wasn't losing the US title so soon. Still a bit of a weird ending with ref not even calling for the bell and just having a segment transition signal the end of the match. Also, Michael Cole is fucking horrible, it takes a special kind of talent to call wrestling for 30 years and miss nearly every damn callback that happened in this match. Graves really had to carry his ass. [7, 6/10]"
[7.0] "Now that's some next-level fan-service, but also a nice full circle moment. To get a surprise Super Cena vs. Sami Hogan on TV and witness the Chicago crowd showing love to Cena felt pretty special. The match is borderline overkill though; you get Cena pulling out a Pop-Up Powerbomb, an Angle Slam, an Ankle Lock, a GTS and a Spear, which I would normally hate, but the context actually makes this quite fun. The crowd chanting RKO is awesome and Brock ruining the match is great. *** 1/2"
[8.0] "Great match, Michael Cole was horrible in commentator, John Cena pulled a lot of his rivals moves and I liked that, the ending with Brock Lesnar intervining was bad, and also a bit of finisher spam"
[8.0] "This was going great until the finish, loved John Cena using moves of all his former rivals & Sami was amazing in this as well. My personal favorite match in Cena's retirement tour"
[8.0] "Incredible match so happy that we got the open challenge back and everything in this segment just flowed and called back to the 2015 match they had. Wish it was ruined by Lesnar (****1/4)"
[8.0] "Wow, such a fun and incredible match here between Cena and Zayn, honestly there couldn't be a better send-off for Cena on SmackDown, after an amazing promo in Chicago, the city that he made his debut, and a city that was rough to him during all of his career, it's a full-circle moment and very sentimental, that was what I was expecting from Cena's retirement tour, those moving heartfelt moments and matches, and not a bout against Logan Paul lmao. Sami Zayn interrupted John and decided to give him a shot for the US Title, just like Cena did for him 10 years prior to this, and that's just awesome, makes you feel connected with what's happening. The match progressed incredibly well, and reminded me of those classics against Cesaro in 2015, a bombfest where the moments are truly big moments. Cena paying homage to Owens, Angle, Punk, Edge and Orton was phenomenal, those are some of his biggest opponents and he tried to do his finishers to defeat Zayn, and of course every single one of them had a meaning, which I don't even need to explain, it's self-explanatory. The crowd chanted for the RKO and Cena went for it, which we can't even know if was planned or not, and I love when these things happen, that's the beauty of pro wrestling. Brock Lesnar appeared after the Avalanche AA, as expected, and the match ended by DQ. I thought Lesnar's interference would ruin the match more than it did, but the crazy crowd reaction made it better and he went out there and delivered the F5's like a boss - {****}"
[7.0] "Great at its core, let down by a few too many things for it to break 8/10 for me. Most obviously, what a lame ass ending. Don't get me wrong, we all knew a DQ finish was coming, but wtf was this? The bell never rang? I was still interested thinking Brock would leave and a new ref would come out, but no, the match fades to black. Wouldn't be as bad if they just rang the damn bell when Brock attacked the ref. There's also a botch early on where Cena was completely out of position for Zayn's springboard leapfrog spot which took me out the match for a while. I'm usually quite a big fan of these finisher-spam matches when done right, and doing this on weekly TV was a fun surprise, but it never hit its full potential. None of Cena's retirement matches have hit the heights he did with Cody at SummerSlam, despite them trying so hard to redo it. Finally, while its not technically about the match itself, wtf was Michael Cole on commentary? In a match built around Cena hitting the finishers of his rivals you'd think he could pull his head out of his arse and call them right. Angle Slam as a back suplex? And saying the Spear was an homage to Roman? Thank god Corey was there. Overall, great match for TV but not as good as I think they were going for."
[9.0] "Very fun TV match & it was so simple with John Cena just playing the hits, wish his whole run of matches was like that. Sami understood the assignment & played being the heel in this perfectly. It's a shame the ending was what it was"
"It's time to let go of Michael Cole. Not knowing the Angle Slam or Edge's spear immediately off rip should be your one-way ticket out of Stamford. You've made your money, you've convinced enough people you were a good commentator (even the GOAT, which should also be punishable in some way if you've ever uttered that word next to his name), and now it's time to leave us wrestling fans with a smidge more respect for our time and intelligence. I know this is a match review, and I'll just go ahead and say I didn't care about it and get that out of the way. I'll end by saying: go on youtube and type "Michael Cole 2011" and tell me this is the guy we're supposed to have this overwhelming respect and reverence for. Good day."
[4.0] "A succession of finishing moves doesn't make a great match. Cena having a finisher fest against Cody was fun, then it started to get repetitive against Logan Paul, and this time it was outright boring. This match was just 20 minutes of people kicking out of finishers over and over again, and after all of that we don't even get a finish no we get a no contest with weirdo Lesnar killing everyone... That's not good. And side note Michael Cole was absolutely horrible during this match"
[8.0] "This would be a 9 or borderline 10 if not for the Brock interference. Like Cody at Summerslam, Sami did a great job getting the best out of John Cena - who to his credit also gave some of his best work. Hopefully the crowd accepts Sami as a fighting champion because we're in store for some fun matches as long as he's champion"
[8.0] "Great tv match in my opinion it was one of the best match of Sami Zayn after facing Kevin Owens in elimination chamber John cena's performance was awesome and his GTS and Spear was very beautiful"
[10.0] "Cena is the greatest of all time, sami is one of the best in ring wrestlers in wwe, their first match was so good, this match also so good, loved cena using his classic rivalry finishers, these r 2 of the best babyfaces in wwe right now"
[8.0] "this was a fantastic match. outside of sami inexplicably getting booed (fed fans just don't get it) the only complaint about this match was the very obvious appearance of Brock to ruin the fun. Cena getting in his bag with new moves, and Sami is a perfect opponent for a match like this."
[7.0] "A really good match. John Cena after faceturn trying to do every match special and this time he and Sami showed as well. Maybe the first part of match was boring, but the last few minutes with Cena's steeling finishers was fire. Ending by a Lesnar is perfect for me and result save all of wrestlers."
[7.0] "Pretty decent match all things considered, and be the latter I mean this unbearably boring feud between Lesnar and Cena. Cena's had some great moments since turning face again, and I hope to god this is the only bad thing we have for the rest of the year. Cena deserves to go out properly. Anyways, Cena utilizing moves on opponents who have defeated him over the years is a nice touch, and it added some intensity to this match. Sami is a great dance partner as well. ***3/4"
"This match was a happy surprise. Sami Zayn and John Cena was not a match i was expecting to see on the farewell tour, and even less after Cena turned face but we got it and it ruled. Those guys put on a 20 minute banger in Sami's inaugural US open challenge and I loved it. Commercials were annoying (thank god for PIP) and the Brock match was inevitable, however I still greatly enjoyed it. Hoping Cena's matches after Palooza are with wrestlers of Sami's Calibre. Four Stars"
[8.0] "This was a match I'd been looking forward to ever since John Cena announced his retirement. Cena's heel turn, while the moment itself was underwhelming, was a mistake, so it's great to see him back as a face and having a string of good matches. We got a flashback to some of Cena's biggest rivals: Owens, Punk, Orton, Angle. Sami even performed an Attitude Adjustment. The ending with Lesnar made sense, as neither could afford to lose."
[1.0] "This was not a match. It was a highlight reel for Social Media. The first couple of minutes were just boring with the smaller Sami somehow dominating the much meatier Cena. Then this match just turned into said highlight reel for Generation TikTok. Paying hommage to former enemies in your last year is not the worst idea. But the moves should be implemented a bit better than just randomly hitting them. Kicking out of multiple finishers also does not help. And adding insult to injury you get a lackluster finish. Absolutely not my cup of tea what they did here."
[6.0] "Thankfully Cena isn't being booked as the incredibly dull and boring heel like he was a couple of months back making this quite enjoyable. Weird to see Sami being seen as the heel by the crowd in the room though."
[8.0] "[3.75*] GREAT match. I just fucking love John Cena and I'm glad he's being able to do what he loves after that disastrous heel run which I think was some sort of sabotage. This was an amazing call back to his US Open Challenge Era and the match couldn't have been better. Sami's selling was fantastic and you could see he was giving his heart for John, beautiful to see. All the tributes were amazing. Owens, Edge, Angle and Orton (almost), all of them meant something special for all of us. This is why it's awesome when Cena does and why it fucking sucks when someone like Logan Paul does, lol. Anyways, this was a blast. I knew from the beginning that Lesnar was going to ruin the match, so I watched it from start to finish expecting that, which only made my experience better. Holy shit, these nearfalls were hot. The only false finish merchant (affectionate) I love, big John Cena."
[8.0] "This was such a good matchup with a horrible ending. Thought that this was the perfect set up for a face vs face match. I was enjoying all of it especially Cena using the moves of some of his favorite opponents as a tribute is incredibly fun. These two were bumping and selling like crazy for each other. Crazy to hear Sami Zayn get booed during the yea/boo spot. Unfortunately a few things brought it down a bit, Michael Cole's commentary not giving credit to Edge and Kurt, Cena not hitting the RKO, and especially the no contest finish due to Brock's interference."
[7.0] "Good match for the US title. Sami Zayn returning the open challenge favor and giving Cena an impromptu title match after Cena did the same for him 10 years ago is a very nice callback. This was a good back and forth with a hot crowd that was completely on the side of Cena, booing Sami the whole time which was a bit odd. With only a few matches left in his career, Cena has decided he's going to use every signature and finisher he can. Totally understandable, he's wrestled a certain style for so long that he wants to do something different. It's cool to see, but it does make the match less interesting since it falls into a pattern of finisher spam and kickouts. With Cena and Sami down, Lesnar comes out to a big pop and the match ends in a no contest when he attacks the referee then hits F5s on both guys. The result made sense, Cena didn't need to win the title and they weren't going to pin him either, while also building to a match at Wrestlepalooza. 7.5/10"
[8.0] "This was much more fun to watch than the Cena vs. Logan match a week earlier. Not as good as their first match, which was exactly 10 years ago, when Sami Zayn answered Cena's US Champion Open Challenge. Now, Sami, as the US Champion, decides to do an Open Challenge, and asks John Cena to be his last opponent. Moreover, this will be John's last smackdown match, so he tried his best. The match had a lot of fan service, Cena used moves from famous opponents from the past, like Edge and Randy Orton. Sami Zayn showed himself to be very durable. And everything was very fun and dynamic, until Brock showed up. I would have preferred this match to end fairly, with Sami winning. But I understand that Cena's time is very limited (I wish that horrible heel run hadn't happened, and Cena could have had a full-fledged farewell run as a face). ***3/4"
[9.0] "This was an amazing match. I blame Triple H, The Rock, and TKO for ruining what could have been an amazing retirement tour for John Cena, all because The Rock wanted to have this idea of John Cena turning heel. Since SummerSlam, his matches with Cody Rhodes, Logan Paul, and Sami Zayn have been amazing and showing why, when John Cena is at 100% as a babyface, he's truly one of the best to ever do it. Sami Zayn is now the rightful owner of the WWE United States Open Challenge thanks to the blessing of John Cena, and he asked John Cena for a match in which he accepted. This match rocked with John Cena pulling out the Pop-Up Powerbomb to honor Kevin Owens, hitting the Spear to honor Adam Copeland, formerly known as Edge, hitting a G.T.S. to honor CM Punk, and a Clothesline from Hell to honor JBL. It was so awesome. Sami Zayn turned into Super Zayn as he kicked out of everything. The match didn't conclude as something arose, but this was amazing. I loved this. I'm going to miss John Cena and Sami Zayn. WWE United States Open Challenges might be the saving grace of SmackDown for the rest of the year. Amazing stuff from both men."
[7.0] "Was so close to going 4/5 but the wack ass predictable finish and the amount of commercials took me out of the match a bit. These two have brillant chemistry and I loved seeing them have a traditional face vs face match juat trading big moves in front of a hot crowd for 20 minutes it was awesome. Cena clearly still has some left in the tank which makes the terrible heel run even more painful to look back on. 3.75/5"
[6.0] "(3, 25 Stars) I loved the fact that this match took place, but I found it outrageous that Sami Zayn was booed. In any case, this match is a perfect example of what Cena's final run should be. Then the fact that John continued to use his opponents' iconic moves, as he did when he started out in Paris against Logan Paul, was really cool. I really like little tributes like that. It's just a shame that the match was interrupted by commercials and the return of Lesnar..."
"I might be the minority in this but I wasn't too high on this match. Cena bringing back old finishers was great for nostalgia and all but making Sami look like this unbeatable super wrestler is what I hate, just doesn't seem like a believable wrestler for that."
[6.0] "This match was a solid opener where the crowd instantly placed their views on both participants, where John Cena was the face and the "underdog good guy" was placed as the heel. Intense booing from the Chicago crowd for Sami Zayn, which, honestly, is my exact mood for the guy at the moment. The match was okay, but I feel like it did go on for a while, and it was cut to a no contest after a Brock Lesnar involvement. I like the homages from John Cena towards his former rivals like CM Punk, Kurt Angle, Edge, etc. It was supposedly satisfactory."
[8.0] "This match was very good. These guys were putting everything out to end this match and win the title. I didnt expect this to go 20 minutes though. 2 things I hated was the stupid commercials and the DQ ending. Besides those two things, this was still a great match."
[7.0] "It was good but if you watch enough modern WWE matches, you'll know exactly when the finishers and signatures spam will start. This is no different. They're good athletes so I can't justify giving a lower rating for doing the type of match they're told to do."
[7.0] "Considering both of their ages this was a pretty good TV match, especially if you enjoy modern style wrestling matches full of high impact moves where multiple random signatures from other wrestlers are borrowed (Cena used Kurt Angle's moves, and Sami even used Cena's own finisher against him). I was especially into by Sami's overall performance, he was able to work with Cena very well especially when it came to selling his moves. The fans were very into this match, even chanting 'This is awesome' on multiple occasions and at one point Cena hits a pretty nice looking spear. This match was fine and the various moves were still well executed, but there were so many near falls that you just knew would be near falls, but that just feels like a problem in pro wrestling in general. Brock's interference was not needed but that does not affect my rating."
[7.0] "An awesome match, both did a great performence, a lot of tension and great moves and finishers, would have been even more awesome if Mr piss didn't ruined the ending."
[8.0] "Well, talk about a surprise. Not only that, but I wasn't expecting a 20 minute match. Rather a 5 minute nothing match just like with Truth. Thankfully Cena starts to deliver also on TV as he and Sami was a good matchmaking. I also applaud the audience for several "Ref, you suck! " chants. Can't stand his "drama count" either, always unnecessarily attempts to make the bout epic. Neither of them could lose, so logically Brock came out and took them out completely to end the match. I'll give it a very far-fetched 8, let it be"
[9.0] "First of all, this is dedicated to those who wanted Kross to win the feud, who accused Sami of being a "Hogan" and of being undeservedly pushed. Sani Zayn is one of the best wrestlers of the last 17 years, he deserves even more. Now let's talk about the match, Cena confirms his great form that has lasted since SummerSlam, Zayn honors the tradition started by John, starting the USA Open Challenge against him, the match is excellent and John honors rivals like Kevin Owens with the pop-up Powerbomb, Edge with the Spear, Kurt Angle with the Angle Slam and the ankle lock, Cm Punk with the GTS. Great last match on SmackDown for Big John"
[7.0] "I was actually really enjoying this. Despite the two ad breaks killing the momentum I still was enjoying this match. Unfortunately and entirely predictably, the match was interrupted by scumbag. Good match, bad finish, horrible person."
[10.0] "What a beautiful match with that special moves john cena's last match in SmackDown with the great Sami Zayn they put a awesome match and brock lesnar come back to attack cena their match at wrestlepalooza should be good"
[9.0] "Incredible stuff. This match, along with Cena's last 2 PLE matches, really shows you much we've been missing out from Cena this retirement run and how much the heel turn wasted it. Better late than never at least and I'm so happy how this came full circle for Sami and Cena"
[9.0] "This was on it's way to all timer Smack Down match until Brock Lesnar showed up and called the match off - perfectly sets up their match at Wrestle palooooza but it's definitely something that we could have not done during the cool Sami Zayn match up!"
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