John Cena’s 2025 farewell tour could have included a match against one of his most iconic rivals. WWE Hall of Famer Rob Van Dam has revealed that there were talks for him to face Cena this year, but the plan was derailed by a severe injury.

Speaking on the “TMZ‘s Inside the Ring” podcast, RVD confirmed that a match was likely going to happen. His comments have wrestling fans once again playing the “what if” game.

The Scrapped John Cena Match

Rob Van Dam explained that he was in discussions with WWE to be one of the special opponents for John Cena’s retirement tour. He believes the match was a strong possibility before he suffered a devastating injury.

“Let me tell you this, I wanted to be one of the return matches for John Cena on his retirement tour,” RVD said (H/T to WrestlingNews.co). “I was talking to them. There was a lot of interest. Without giving away too many details, you know, we were probably going to do it. And then I broke my heels.”

RVD suffered a double heel fracture at the MLW Battle Riot event in April. The severe injury has kept him out of the ring for months.

A Classic WWE Rivalry Revisited

A final match between RVD and John Cena would have been a nostalgic and historic encounter. Their most famous bout took place at the ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view in 2006. In front of a rabidly hostile, pro-ECW crowd at the Hammerstein Ballroom, RVD defeated Cena to win his first and only WWE Championship. The match is considered an all-time classic, and the atmosphere is legendary.

A retirement tour match would have been the perfect final chapter to their on-screen history, a story of two completely opposite characters who created magic in the ring together.

The Future of RVD

Now 54 years old and recovering from a major injury, RVD was candid about his own future in the ring. He admitted that he changes his mind “like every few days” about whether he wants to continue wrestling once he is fully healed. He also expressed some confusion about the current style of the wrestling business.

“I don’t really get [what] the product is becoming,” he said. “Sometimes I feel like, ‘Yeah, you know, I could go. I feel great… I can still do what I could do… And then at other times, I feel like maybe I’d rather just be attached to the old-school wrestling and remembered for that.”

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