John Cena didn’t just walk away from WWE — he walked out after setting a record that may not be touched for a long time.
According to data put together by POST Wrestling, Cena’s retirement match at Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13, 2025, inside Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., pulled in a massive $6,553,883 in ticket sales. That number makes it the highest-grossing arena event in WWE history, and it likely stands as the biggest arena gate in all of pro wrestling history when adjusted for inflation.
The show, which featured Cena’s final match against Gunther, drew 17,121 fans, with an average ticket price of $383. That figure doesn’t even include additional fees, meaning fans were paying even more to be part of the moment.
To put that into perspective, the previous WWE arena record was set earlier in 2025 during the Raw on Netflix premiere at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, which brought in $4,898,365 with an average ticket price of $300. Cena’s final match didn’t just pass that number — it cleared it by more than $1.6 million.
The historical context makes the achievement even bigger. For decades, the benchmark for arena gates — even when adjusted for inflation — was WrestleMania V in 1989, which generated $1.628 million at the time, equal to about $4.2 million today. Cena’s final match didn’t just surpass that — it completely reset the standard.
What’s even more telling is that this wasn’t a one-night anomaly. Across 20 tracked appearances during Cena’s 2025 farewell run, WWE generated more than $80 million in ticket sales. That number doesn’t even include major stadium shows like Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, or Survivor Series, which brought in even more revenue on top of that total.
Cena’s presence clearly played a major role in those numbers, especially following his heel turn earlier in the year, which added a new layer to his final run and helped drive fan interest across multiple markets. From Europe to Australia to major U.S. cities, his appearances consistently delivered multi-million dollar gates.
There’s also another layer to this story. Cena’s final match was held in Washington, D.C. in partnership with Events DC, which is known for working with major promotions to bring high-profile events to the area. That raises the possibility that WWE received incentives to stage the show there, though details have not been made public.
At the end of the day, the takeaway is simple — when Cena’s career reached its final chapter, fans were willing to pay top dollar to be in the building. WWE capitalized on that demand in a major way, and the result is a record that now sits at the top of the company’s history.
Do you think this proves John Cena is still the biggest draw in wrestling? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.