Add as a preferred source on Google AJ Styles revealed that John Cena was largely responsible for calling their match at WWE Crown Jewel 2025.
During The Phenomenally Retro Podcast, “The Phenomenal One” said he fully trusted Cena to lead the match. The bout took place in Perth, Australia.
Styles explained that the two had nothing planned for the start of the match, but Cena simply took control of the situation.
“When it came to inside that ring, he could hear things that nobody else could. He knew what to call and when to call it. He could call it in the ring. In our last match, we didn’t have anything called in the beginning of that match. Nothing was called. He just said, ‘I’ll call it.’ I go, ‘Okay.’ And I trusted him so much that I wasn’t worried about it. Let’s just go out there and you call it, bro. I’m listening to you. There was a couple more matches that were very like that. We didn’t call it. He would take control of it and he’d call the match. He’s different, man.”
At Crown Jewel, Cena defeated Styles after just over 27 minutes in a match filled with several tributes to major names from pro-wrestling history.
WWE had promoted the bout as another chapter in their historic rivalry, pointing to their previous matches at Money in the Bank 2016, SummerSlam 2016, and Royal Rumble 2017.
Cena ended his farewell tour months later against Gunther at Saturday Night’s Main Event.