John Cena and AJ Styles met in the ring for one last time at WWE’s Crown Jewel event in Perth, Australia, on October 11. The match, held at the RAC Arena, marked a symbolic end to an era for not just Cena, but for Styles as well, having spent two decades building a legacy that rivals each other’s impact and longevity.
Their match lasted nearly 30 minutes, a back-and-forth wrestling clinic that felt less like a brawl and more like a love letter to wrestling itself. Cena went deep into his repertoire, pulling out tributes to his peers and rivals across the eras. He opened with The Miz’s Skull Crushing Finale, a callback to WrestleMania XXVII, and later cycled through moves like The Undertaker’s choke slam, Chris Jericho’s Walls of Jericho, Rusev’s Accolade, and Randy Orton’s RKO. At one point, he even teased Rey Mysterio’s 619 before Styles countered with a fierce clothesline. The finishing blow came when Cena delivered a Tombstone Piledriver followed by an Attitude Adjustment, an unexpected pairing that sealed the victory and closed the book on a rivalry that defined a generation.
Styles, introduced as the “ace and undisputed boss of Bullet Club” — one of his iconic factions during his tenure in New Japan Pro Wrestling from 2014 until 2016 — returned the sentiment. His offense was a series of nods to his past TNA opponents: Sting’s Scorpion Death Drop, Samoa Joe’s Coquina Clutch, and Christopher Daniels’ Angels Wings. Even Shawn Michaels’ Sweet Chin Music made an appearance.
One Last Time
Two decades ago, both men were building their wrestling careers in separate worlds. Styles was reshaping TNA through matches that pushed the boundaries of storytelling and athleticism with the triple threat match between Daniels and Joe, while Cena was cementing his place as WWE’s face after defeating JBL for his first championship. The two icons represented opposite poles of professional wrestling — one indie-bred and technically intricate, the other mainstream and larger-than-life — but they shared a work ethic that defined their respective promotions.
Their Perth showdown was the culmination of what fans have long imagined: TNA’s prodigal son finally meeting WWE’s golden boy at the same stage, on equal footing. It was more than nostalgia; it was closure. Both men reminded audiences of their influence on the sport, and how their paths, though parallel for years, were always destined to meet in the middle.
For Cena, the match was part of his ongoing farewell tour, which has already seen him face Randy Orton at Backlash in May and Logan Paul at Clash in Paris in August. With only a handful of matches left before his December retirement, the bout with Styles carried extra weight. The match was a moment of passing the torch between two wrestlers whose careers mirrored each other in spirit, if not in trajectory.
