2025 will be a landmark year for WWE, largely because 16-time world champion John Cena is going on his year-long retirement tour.
The leader of the Cenation is leaving his boots in the ring after more than 25 years in the business, and it's all set to begin at the 2025 Royal Rumble.
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One of the best spectacles in professional wrestling, Cena has had massive success at the event, winning the event twice in 2008 and 2013.
This has led to many speculating that Cena is an early favorite to win it a third time, something that has only been accomplished by Stone Cold Steve Austin.
This includes BetOnline, which has Cena ranked as the most likely winner with +350 betting odds.
This puts Cena ahead of such Superstars as CM Punk (+400), Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (+600), Roman Reigns (+700), Gunther (+1400), and Seth "Freakin" Rollins (+1600).
While this is certainly exciting for fans of the Doctor of Thuganomics, they should be careful before they put money down on Cena.
Yes, Cena has had much success in the Rumble and is arguably the most accomplished WWE Superstar of all time, but there are multiple factors that point away from betting on him.
First of all, there are plenty of Superstars whose storyline could absolutely benefit from a Royal Rumble victory, including the aforementioned CM Punk, The Rock, and even Roman Reigns.
Then there are Superstars lower down the card whose entire careers could change if they win, like "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio, Bron Breakker, Chad Gable, or Ilja Dragunov.
While it would be cool to see Cena come out with the win, his name is so big and recognizable that he doesn't need a Royal Rumble win to add prestige to his career.
Second, Cena getting eliminated will be a great way for him to start a feud with a wrestler he may not have battled in the past, like the aforementioned Dominik Mysterio, or build a pre-existing feud, like with Austin Theory.
Finally, betting on the winner of a scripted program is just a bad idea. TKO President Mark Shapiro said it best:
"We're not going to be asking Triple H—Paul Levesque, who runs our creative—to keep his scripts so under wraps that we can start sports betting. It just doesn't jive."
So while the betting odds seem to be in Cena's favor, it's most likely that he won't be pointing at the WrestleMania sign come January.
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