More than a year removed from the John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes main event at WWE WrestleMania 41, many now agree that the match did not live up to expectations. It's a sentiment that Cena agrees with. In an interview with Uncrowned, Cena was discussing how he advises young talent to take risks, even if they may not work. He then used the match with Rhodes as an example.

"I think it's a great template for when I talk to young talent — and I try to do this all the time, I remind them to swing big and don't be afraid to fail," Cena said. "A lot of them think I'm talking from a glass house of like, 'Yeah, sure, it must be easy for you, because you, you never fail.' 

"And then I'll look back, especially on that last year because the retirement tour did have a lot of eyes, and I'll say I took a big swing at WrestleMania and we stunk up the joint. We failed. But what did I do? I got back up, we dusted ourselves off, course-corrected the ship, and we culminated with a fantastic finishing of the story, as Cody would put it, at SummerSlam."

The initial Cena-Rhodes match occurred shortly after Cena had turned heel on Rhodes at Elimination Chamber, an angle that initially received praise across the wrestling world, though the subsequent follow up received strong criticism from fans and pundits. By the time Cena and Rhodes faced off again at SummerSlam, the heel turn had been dropped, and Cena reverted back to being a babyface for the rest of his retirement run, which received a more positive reaction.