Insider Billi Bhatti has denied reports that John Cena personally altered the predetermined finish of his match with Brock Lesnar at WrestlePalooza. Speaking on The Wrestling Informer podcast from The Dirt Sheet, Bhatti insisted Lesnar was always booked to win the one-sided contest.
Bhatti dismissed the rumor as false, stressing the result was never in doubt. “I can tell you that that story is 100% bull—t,” Bhatti said. “Brock Lesnar was winning that match all the time, throughout the entire time Brock Lesnar was winning. John Cena did not need to come to television or come to the show on Saturday and say that he wanted the finish changed to Brock Lesnar winning.”
While conceding that the squash layout might have been Cena’s idea, Bhatti emphasized the outcome was fixed from the start. He likened the bout to their SummerSlam 2014 encounter.
His version directly contradicts Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio, who reported that Cena himself requested the dominant loss as part of his farewell tour to help re-establish Lesnar as a major threat. Meltzer added that WWE management under Paul Levesque would likely have approved such a request.
The WrestlePalooza match was Lesnar’s first in over two years and ended with a decisive victory over Cena in under ten minutes. The win reinforced Lesnar’s status as a top-tier attraction, with internal listings already pointing to appearances at the 2026 Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 42, where Bron Breakker has been discussed as a possible opponent.
As Lesnar’s long-term schedule develops, Cena’s farewell tour moves forward. His next confirmed appearance is October 11 at Crown Jewel in Perth, Australia, where he will face AJ Styles after Styles accepted his social media challenge on September 24, 2025.