Original subtitles

I have never put more effort into a year

than… than I did this year

because I knew everything would be a last of.

I would wake up in the middle of the night with ideas for the farewell tour.

It consumed me

because this consumes me.

For 23 years, it has consumed me.

[indistinct chatter]

Ready?

[indistinct chatter]

Why are we fighting?

Start there.

And everything kind of builds.

Get here, and it's like, who's the fucking strongest?

- Oh shit, you're stronger than me. - Yeah.

I'm fucking stronger now.

- No, stay to your feet. - Oh yeah, okay.

And then I'll leave it out for you. Okay, do it.

Ah, fuck.

And then you can let go and fucking bam.

- [Logan] Bam! - And lay it up.

I didn't always think that way.

And I will say, there's a lot of performers that never think that way.

- Can you take an arm away? - [Logan] Nope.

- It didn't… It did not seem like it. - [Cena] No.

- I can just shove you here. - Sure can.

[Logan] Shove. Yeah.

The headband on my arm is to lead you to dive to the headband side.

[Logan] Aah!

So you hit it.

- That's it. - Yeah.

And you stop there.

- How the fuck are we gonna do this? - Now I need you to get up with me.

- Grab my shoulders. Pull up. - Yeah, I'll do it.

This here…

Yeah, this is the tough part.

- "Tough part"! Come on now. - Who said it was a match, homie?

Why am I wrestling Logan Paul?

Our why was like, dude, I believe in you.

When I look at you, I see so much potential.

They don't. They think you're wasting my time.

[crowd cheering]

[Cena] Okay, you have one chance, Logan, to prove you're worthy in there with me.

I'm gonna make you earn it.

Another thing was that I got to let new folks come in.

And, boy, do we have new folks.

We have so many great new people.

[Cole] Cena rolls through. And there's the power of the GOAT.

Attitude Adjustment!

Logan Paul gained my respect tonight.

[Cena] And that was our why.

[Hunter] If you can get yourself to a place

where you learn to do what he was just doing…

I'm gonna get it.

…that's the fucking money.

[Cena] The why isn't big.

The why is everything.

[intriguing music playing]

[Cena] It is everything.

[music fades]

The challenge this year will be,

while we have this amazing opportunity

to tell the story of John Cena's final year…

[bittersweet music playing]

…you're basically building up an entire year on saying goodbye

to one of the biggest characters in the history of our business.

And then moving on.

When John Cena wraps up with us in December,

at that point,

you start the first of the year getting ready for WrestleMania.

So as this giant chapter closes,

you have to start a whole new one,

and one of the biggest focal points that you've had all year long is gone.

It's going to be a tricky spot.

And you also want to be able to explore

the things that John hasn't been able to explore.

- [crowd cheering] - [suspenseful music playing]

[Cole] Oh my God, John, what the hell are you doing?

[Cena] You can ask me any moment in the tour,

I guarantee I'll be able to give you a why for every one.

We are doing this monumental switch.

At Chamber, we'll make you a villain, align you with Travis and Rock.

Because of this story we're doing with Cody.

Yeah, that works. All right, let's go.

I have to formulate the why.

Why, after 23 years, am I doing this?

[crowd booing]

[Cena] Well, it could be I'm the last of the old guard.

And I don't like the new guard.

There's your why, Cody Rhodes.

Because you, with that, disgusts me.

[crowd jeering]

I am going to ruin wrestling.

What does that mean, to ruin wrestling?

That means to take the fun away from the fans.

That means to win that championship

with methodical,

catastrophically boring work.

To make people like, fuck this guy.

- [crowd chanting] Fuck you, Cena! - [rhythmic clapping]

Fuck you, Cena!

[Cena] Everybody's like, that's it?

What a shitty main event.

Yup, that's what I was going for.

Watch the next one.

He said he had an idea in mind for a finish.

- Was it a count-out? - [chuckles]

- He said he was going to ruin wrestling. - [Hunter] Yeah, yeah.

- He meant the company. - [Krishenbaum] Yeah.

And then I was explaining, like, that was too boring.

Like, that was too bad.

I think people are gonna stop coming.

And that's the one thing about it, like… I know it's a people problem.

[Cena] The perspective was, hey, this isn't heat on you,

this is heat on the company.

To some degree, John's instinct was spot on.

[crowd jeering]

[Hunter] John earned the spot to be like, okay, well, let's take a shot at it.

But there was a certain point in time where I was like, this ain't working.

You still got to deliver to these people.

Hopefully, you'll do it in a manner in which they don't like that.

But you gotta give them your greatness still.

[Cena] It was a great part of the tour

because I got to swim in uncomfortable waters.

Hey, man. Go out there and do what you do.

Thank you, sir. Thank you.

And I think your instincts were spot on

to change our direction to make sure this is what it is.

[Hunter] Tear it up.

[Cena] And then you start pitting John Cena against rivals.

These one-off miniseries things.

- And then you deliver good matches. - [crowd] This is awesome!

[Cena] I get Randy.

[Cole] RKO to Cena!

[Cena] I get R-Truth.

[McAfee] Cena and Ron Cena are putting on a fight here in Tampa.

[Cena] I get Punk.

[Cole] Punk delivers a GTS, but there's no official.

[Cena] Cody at SummerSlam was supposed to beat virtue into me.

The fans beat him to the point.

[Cole] And Cena delivers an AA!

We want John back.

No problem.

[Barrett] You wanted the best, well, you got him tonight.

[Cena] That's all of us working together.

That's Hunter telling me I'm swinging too big.

Me trying to really put myself in a situation mentally

of why am I making these decisions and being coachable enough to pivot.

And the audience is the show.

[crowd chanting] Thank you, Cena!

[Hunter] As John walks away, it creates a massive void.

[crowd] Thank you, Cena!

The focus becomes the main talent.

Who's the next big thing?

[keyboard keys tapping]

[Hunter] We're in a unique position of we have so many guys

that are in top positions, right?

And the stories all make sense.

The one thing that we have to put a lot of thought into

over the next year is

it is imperative for us to get the younger guys in the mix

and have an idea of where we're going, to some degree, with them.

[instrumental country music playing]

[man] I love being outside. I love being in the outdoors.

If I'm not wrestling or on the road, this is where I am.

A lot of times, I come out here and not catch a thing,

but I put the time in though.

Can't knock me on that.

I grew up pretty much on the water.

Back in the day, my dad used to fish all the time.

I learned a lot from him. He used to take me out.

Catching fish obviously gives you a rush and it can be really fun,

but I love WWE, I love wrestling.

It's… it's always been my dream, man.

I get to live my dream. It's crazy.

I'm not an expert by any means. I'm very much learning.

But I wouldn't change it for a thing.

[music fades]

My name is Bronson Rechsteiner.

I'm known as WWE Superstar "Badass" Bron Breakker or "The Dog."

- [dramatic music playing] - [crowd cheering]

[Cole] Oh my God!

Breakker with a Spear! Good night!

- [Barrett] Oh God! Oh God! - [Cole] Spear!

[rock music playing]

What is the Spear?

Running as fast as I can and destroy somebody's ribs and midsection. [chuckles]

[Cole] Bron Breakker has got that dog in him.

[Breakker barking]

The speed and explosiveness that goes into it

makes it a little bit different than everybody else's.

[Cole] Breakker driving Sami. Oh my God!

Sami's dead!

I've never been more pumped once I saw this human debut.

- [McAfee] 23 miles an hour! - [Cole] Oh my God!

[McAfee] Right through timekeeper!

This man had been clocked coming off the ropes at 24 miles an hour.

Fastest ever.

[Cole] Oh my God!

Breakker just about broke IShowSpeed in half!

[music fades]

[crowd cheering]

[Breakker] I was a state champion wrestler.

I was undefeated. Top 20 in the country.

Then played college football at Kennesaw State.

I was listed as a fullback, but I was a running back.

I never really thought I was gonna have a shot at the NFL

until my senior season.

Started to get scouted. Started to get calls.

[suspenseful music playing]

Ended up getting picked up by the Ravens.

I did training camp with them.

[music fades]

I got released after camp.

Then finally, I just, uh, I went down to my dad's house, knocked on the door.

"It's time to do this wrestling thing."

[JR] Wait a minute. Here they come. Listen to this ovation!

[Breakker] My dad is WWE Hall of Famer Rick Steiner.

[Savage] Dog Faced Gremlin go crazy! Yeah!

[Breakker] My uncle is WWE Hall of Famer Scott Steiner.

They were the Steiner Brothers, arguably one of the greatest tag teams of all time.

All I ever wanted to be was like my dad or like my uncle.

Thankfully, Hunter was receptive to the idea.

I'm Bronson Steiner, and I'm not here for a good time

or to jump off the top rope and do a bunch of flippity flops.

I'm here for two things. Gold and legacy. My father…

[Hunter] Bron Breakker.

Smart, young,

hungry, driven,

coachable.

Athletically has all the gifts.

[grunting]

Aah!

[indistinct chatter]

[Hunter] The challenge for Bron is don't become just the next Steiner.

You have an opportunity to be so much more.

Much like The Rock was so much bigger than Rocky Johnson.

Much like Roman Reigns is so much bigger than Sika.

Those talent didn't lean on the past.

They, in their own way, paid tribute to it while creating their own lane.

[Cole] The moment we have all been waiting for

for a long, long time has arrived!

- [dramatic music playing] - [Breakker roars]

You don't wanna be the next Steiner. You wanna be the first Bron Breakker.

[Cole] Bron Breakker, a bona fide badass.

[yelling aggressively]

I'm a part of The Vision with Seth Rollins.

Every big opportunity I've ever had in this business is because of Seth.

This is The Vision for the future.

[Breakker] He's the best wrestler in the world.

All I do is ask him questions, ask him the why.

"This is what we're gonna do. This is why."

And that's really, really helped when I've kind of moved up the card.

[Rollins] Bron Breakker is a special talent.

His ability to soak up information and learn quickly

make him a… a blue-chip prospect.

[Breakker] Everyone says they wanna be the next Roman or Cody or Cena.

I know that I'm not there yet.

Long way to go.

One of the things that I hate doing, but it's sort of inevitable,

is when you say, "Oh, this guy's the future."

It's like the kiss of death.

You know, it's so hard to measure up to that.

But… the great ones find a way.

[bells chiming]

[hum of indistinct voices]

[Hunter] I think tonight… You know what you're doing?

[Breakker] Yeah.

[Hunter] For the most part, good heat tonight and everything.

Roman really wants to make you guys.

- So… - Yeah.

I can't believe he's doing, really, what he's doing..

[Hunter] Yeah, no, it's great. Look, people did it for him.

That's… that's the business, right?

Look, I guarantee you, if he didn't believe in you

and I came to him and said, "Okay, we want you to do this with this kid."

And he's like, "I don't see it." You know…

But, like, he looks at that and goes, "Okay, fuck yeah."

You have the skill set. You're gonna be able… You're gonna do this, right?

Just us getting you there.

[suspenseful music playing]

[crowd cheering]

[Cole] Over 30,000 WWE fans are here

for the first WWE Premium Live Event ever in Paris.

This is an opportunity for Bron Breakker to sort of break out.

Roman Reigns, on one of the biggest stages possible,

he gives Bron a moment that takes him a step closer

to being a top star in our business.

[music fades]

- Hey, Bron. - [man] Breakker!

[Hunter] In my opinion, when you stick him,

your demeanor should be cold.

- Not over the top. - [Breakker] Yes, sir.

[Hunter] Know what I mean?

It's an exciting moment, but I want you to be a cold, killing fucker.

- You know what I mean? - [Breakker] Yes, sir.

[suspenseful music building]

[crowd cheering]

[Cole] Roman Reigns having so much fun

with this capacity crowd here tonight in Paris.

[Breakker] I've looked up to Roman for a very long time.

Roman has a very similar path that I have.

Both played a small stint in the NFL, transitioned to wrestling.

We're both second generation superstars.

So that was extremely important to me.

[Barrett] The momentum is building.

[woman] About two minutes now to the finish, so we can bring you out.

[crowd roaring with Roman]

[Cole] Spear by Roman!

This time he catches him.

- And Roman Reigns with the win! - [bell dinging]

[dramatic music playing]

[Breakker] When you rub shoulders with the top stars,

you also can be perceived in that space.

[Hayes] Go. Send Bron.

[Breakker] I have a lot of work to do,

but this is a start.

- [Barrett] Oh God. - [Cole] Oh my God!

Oh my God, Bron Breakker!

Bron Breakker just speared Reigns through the announce table!

[Barrett] Completely defenseless, Roman Reigns just got split in half!

[Breakker] It's testament to how good of a guy Roman is,

trying to elevate me in the process of doing his own thing.

This is the biggest moment of my life.

This is everything I've ever worked for in my entire life, in my athletic career.

It's, it's, it's for what we're doing right now.

[Post Malone] So wrong that you would do that kind of shit.

Had to do it, baby. I'm good. How are you? I'm Bron. Pleasure to meet you, man.

- [Malone] It's nice to meet you. - Thank you for coming, bro.

Very good. Very good. Good night.

How was the run?

- [Breakker] Back down to the ring? - Yeah.

I… I… I stopped.

- He was just looking somewhere else. - Yeah.

I think he was with a fan or something, so I got up on the table.

It was kind of like a… eh, uh!

- Yeah, like a… - Yeah.

Yeah, it worked.

[indistinct chatter]

[crowd cheering, chanting in distance]

I feel like six months to a year in WWE is like… [sighs]

It's like dog years. It's like seven years ago.

[dramatic music playing]

[CM Punk] End of SummerSlam was fantastic. I won the World Heavyweight Championship.

And everybody was happy, and we ended the show on a high note.

Just kidding.

♪ Burn it down♪

[CM Punk] I won the Heavyweight Championship,

and I was immediately cashed in on

by that rat bastard Seth Rollins.

In Paris, Seth is now the champion, and I'm still on the chase.

As Punk was having his issues with Seth Rollins,

Becky Lynch, being Seth's wife,

it was very easy to have her come in setting up the next chapter.

I've got to tell you, I'm on an hour's sleep,

and I just had a match.

I… I can't remember the last time, like, I took a nap on the plane.

And I think I slept Friday night for, like, four hours before that.

So I kind of don't really know what's going on right now.

I don't know how I feel about anything.

I'm existing.

But it's pretty… great, I think.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Cole] Rollins made this one-on-one with his bitter enemy, CM Punk,

and Rollins wants to end his career.

[Roode] Gonna set that chair up.

This is all Shakespeare.

Punk's head's gonna go on that chair.

We're working to our finish.

[Cole] Referee Sean Bennett just looking on

as Seth Rollins looks to snap the neck of Punk.

Oh! Seth Rollins injured his knee as he went through the steel chair!

[CM Punk] I was about to reclaim the title that I lost,

and then a hooded figure gets involved in my business.

Stand by for Becky. Stand by Becky.

[Cole] And Punk smells blood!

Just don't miss the balls shot.

[Roode] Send her.

Not yet. No, no, no. She's coming that way. Wait.

Stay tight on Punk.

Now, now, now. Send her.

No mercy…

Pull out.

[Cole] Oh my goodness!

Somebody just low-blowed CM Punk!

[tense music playing]

See the reveal.

[Cole] Who the hell is this?

[Barrett] What the hell?

- Oh my God! - [Cole] Becky Lynch!

Fuck yeah!

[Cole] Seth Rollins' wife!

Here comes the stomp into frame. On the chair.

- [Cole] CM Punk… - [Barrett] Punk had the… Oh!

Punk had the match won!

[Cole] Saved the championship for Rollins!

[CM Punk] It's never fun getting kicked in the balls by anybody.

And when it is the wife of your never-ending nemesis…

[bell dinging]

…there's a little bit more English on that, if you know what I mean.

Let's get… let's get Becky and Seth celebrating.

[Cole] You know what they say, Wade.

Behind every good man is a great woman.

[intriguing music playing]

[Hunter] To sort of tie that all together was a fun experiment

and we have some great things in place going forward

to get to where we wanna get to.

Congrats, guys. You did great. Congrats.

- [Rollins] Thanks, man. - Congrats. Awesome.

- Thought we told the story real well. - Oh, fuck, that was great.

Everybody was on point.

- Hey, just quickly, for tomorrow. - [Rollins] Yes.

What do you think if we don't see you for the whole show?

When we get toward the end of the show,

does Punk come out and say, "Enough running and hiding."

"Get your ass out here"?

I am out here in this ring until your ass is in this ring

and you face me man… to man.

We hit Seth Rollins music, except she comes out.

- [Rollins] Great. - You know?

- ♪ Burn it down ♪ - [crowd cheering]

[music softens]

She comes up, now gets right in the ring and talks shit to him.

She smacks, whatever she's gonna do.

Bit of a different way of doing it rather than her going out and cutting a promo.

No, it's better if she… That gets more heat, I feel like.

Yeah.

- [tense music playing] - [crowd] Oh!

[Lynch shouting indistinctly]

You gonna do something about it, huh?

You gonna do something?

[CM Punk] You wanna see Becky get what's coming to her.

I can't get revenge.

So we go in a direction that a lot of people probably hope for,

but I don't think people thought was possible.

[crowd chanting] AJ Lee! AJ Lee! AJ Lee!

AJ Lee! AJ Lee! AJ Lee! AJ Lee! AJ Lee!

[CM Punk] AJ Lee is

the funniest, the, the smartest,

the, the prettiest, the most down to earth.

She's, uh, my best friend.

She's my partner. She's my wife.

She's my favorite wrestler.

My name is AJ Mendez, also known as AJ Lee.

- [producer] Do you ever go by April? - Only family.

I think she hates it. I call her Ape.

I… But, uh, she'll probably strangle me for doing that on here.

Did he give you the Ape story?

[chuckling]

He, not to my knowledge,

referred to me as Ape for years to all of his friends.

And then one day, Bret Hart, who I admire and love for decades,

texted Phil and said, "How is Ape?"

But it was "how is" and then gorilla emoji.

[producer laughs]

So Bret Hart thinks of me as a gorilla emoji.

My heart. [chuckles softly]

[pensive music playing]

[AJ] Guess who?

Uh, King Kong Bundy.

[giggles] No, silly, it's me.

Phil and I were in a story where I was stalking him.

- Hey. - Ah, hey.

- Hey. - Hi.

[CM Punk] Our legitimate first kiss

was on screen.

We were friends for a few years,

and the instant it became romantic,

I think I proposed and we were married within six months.

[camera shutter clicking]

[CM Punk] Larry is our little boy.

He's a dog, yes.

- [AJ laughing] - Good boy. Good boy.

[AJ] Phil's just scrolling through rescue organizations,

like adoptable pets,

and he found this picture of a dog with this underbite.

And I just instantly went, "Yes, that's our boy. Bring him home."

[upbeat music playing]

[CM Punk] He looked like the Wolf Man.

When Lon Chaney transforms into the Wolf Man,

Larry looks exactly like him.

So I wanted to name him Lon Chaney.

April was not having that.

You can't yell Lon, you know?

This dog is gonna get on my last nerve. I need something I can, you know, shout.

I was like, "You may have a point."

I said, "How about Larry Talbot?"

That is the character's name in The Wolf Man.

She said, "Larry is perfect."

[music fades]

[AJ] We instantly fell in love,

and he's the best thing that ever happened to us.

- [crowd cheering, whistling] - [intriguing music playing]

[AJ] To understand what my character was back in the day,

you kind of have to understand the landscape.

I came into a world that was Bikini Battle Royals.

There was no place for anyone who wasn't a perfect 10 supermodel,

and I was not bringing that. [chuckles]

And I knew that coming in, and I'm proud to be a Jersey 6, you know?

[commentator] Come on, AJ.

[AJ] I really had to fight and scratch and claw and prove myself

to sort of get noticed.

Unexpectedly, through that, the fans connected to me.

[AJ grunting]

AJ Lee could go out there and make you believe,

and she had quite a bit of success and a really big following.

[CM Punk] She broke through the wall first, and got bloodied for it,

to bridge the gap between Divas

and the women you see on screen today.

[Cole] AJ Lee, a three-time Divas Champion.

[AJ] It felt revolutionary to have someone who didn't fit a mold

be in the main event.

I needed to change things for everyone who came behind me,

for every woman in that locker room.

So that became my goal.

[Bayley] You just connected with somebody like AJ Lee.

A lot of women got into this business because of who she is as a person.

She represents how to stand for what you believe in,

which is something we should all try to be better at

and is something that she built her career around.

[AJ] In the last year of my career,

so much was happening inside the company, outside of the company,

with my husband in the company,

with my physical health, with my mental health

that it just was this, like, perfect storm of,

I'm not okay right now.

[dark, brooding music playing]

[AJ] I felt like I hit every single milestone

on my ten-year wish list of dreams.

I did everything.

But the tension, the fans,

none of that means shit if you're not alive to enjoy it.

I stepped away very content.

I wrote my first book. That became a New York Times bestseller.

I've written comic books.

I wrote my first film.

I was very much positive I was never coming back. [chuckles]

[Hunter] There's an old saying about true stars never really go away.

They just hibernate for a little while and return later.

After some time had sort of passed

and everything was going what seemed like very well,

and what would that look like if she wanted to return?

And would that be something she would be interested in?

All of a sudden, I get a call that says Paul Levesque. [chuckles]

He sort of threw out this idea with Becky.

[intriguing music playing]

[AJ] It was the perfect time to pay homage to these fans

who have had my back for so long.

I ended up saying yes.

[CM Punk] This is a real-life moment,

and this is, uh, this is when I feel most alive.

Like, me returning and doing it

is much different than somebody you love and admire.

Like, I want to see her flourish and succeed.

So, yeah… Not stressed at all.

[suspenseful music playing]

[CM Punk sighs nervously]

I need a pull-up bar, you know?

[Bayley] Dude, Rey Mysterio that shit. Don't let it break though.

[CM Punk] Throughout the day,

a lot of the women kept coming up to me, like,

"Is… is it true? Is she really here?"

And I was… I just had to go, "I don't know what you're talking about,"

but I think the…

I think the smile that touched my ears kind of gave it away.

[AJ] There's a lot of factors that go into the day.

Thirty minutes before I go out there, I didn't even have the contract signed.

That was a little nerve-wracking.

Hello. Can I wear this on air? Is that cool?

- [Hunter] You can wear that, yeah. - [giggling]

- So excited. - Thank you. I'm excited.

- You ready? - I am.

Let's do it.

One of the things I fought for back in the day

wasn't just for equal footing.

It was let's get paid the way the men get paid.

To know I'm signing this contract where I am getting paid

the way my husband's getting paid, where I'm being treated like an equal,

it was a boss-ass moment, I'm not gonna lie. [laughs]

- Can't get rid of me now. - Thank you for trusting us.

- Thanks for having me. - It's gonna be awesome.

- Excited? - I am.

I'm, uh… I keep saying I'm a little disassociated from my body.

But that's just how I process things.

I get real quiet, real still…

Yeah, yeah.

And, uh, then I'll just, like… go apeshit out there.

- [chuckling] - Same here.

You're gonna do great.

- You good? You all ready? - I'm good.

I'm wearing jean shorts for the first time in ten years. [giggles]

- [Hunter] Good for you. - [AJ] Yeah. They still fit. Still fit.

[Hunter] And there she is.

[chuckles] Hello, darkness, my old friend.

Oof.

I'm just going to dry-heave in that, uh, garbage can real quick,

if you don't mind.

♪ Burn it down ♪

[Cole] Now what?!

Wow.

- Chicago! - [crowd cheering]

Tonight,

let me introduce to you

the greatest female wrestler

in the history of planet Earth!

Planet Earth?

[Rollins] She is your Intercontinental Champion.

Not Mars though.

[Rollins] I give you "The Man" Becky Lynch!

[crowd booing]

[CM Punk] Becky went out.

The crowd immediately started chanting AJ Lee.

[crowd chanting] AJ Lee! AJ Lee! AJ Lee! AJ Lee!

- AJ Lee! AJ Lee! AJ Lee! - [TJ chuckling] Oooh-ooh-ooh!

No pressure!

[Hunter] Here we go.

[AJ] I couldn't figure out where that character was.

And I always say she, I don't say me.

Like, that AJ Lee and AJ Mendez are two different people.

How dare you chant another person's name while I'm standing in this ring!

Welcome back.

Great timing.

- It's gonna be awesome. - [chuckles]

[Lynch] I wouldn't expect you to know what greatness looks like.

All your teams suck!

And CM Punk sucks!

[crowd jeering]

[rock music playing]

[CM Punk] Lot of loving.

[TJ] Punk.

Punk, we have 11th right now.

Yep. I'm gonna walk slow.

[tense music playing]

[AJ] For the past decade,

this character has been in a little box under a bed.

And I couldn't remember what it was that people connected to.

This isn't about you.

It's about your coward of a husband

that's hiding in a box right now.

[TJ] It's gonna be great.

- [AJ] I haven't skipped in ten years. - [laughs]

I think I remember.

- [AJ] Calves cramp up. - Yeah! [laughs]

[man] If you fall, we'll have them shoot around you.

Thank you.

[Lynch] I think…

What are you gonna do about it, huh?

What are you gonna do, huh? You gonna do something about it?

Yeah? I don't see who's gonna come save you, huh, Punk?

Huh? Huh? Huh? Oh. Whoop!

Boom!

Oh! Whoop! Oh!

What you gonna do? You gonna do something?

Oh, what if I do this again? Yeah?

You're pathetic. You got nobody.

Okay, yeah, go. Go.

Run away! Run away from your hometown!

[AJ] I was just trying to feel it again, and I couldn't.

- [upbeat synth music playing] - [crowd cheering wildly]

♪ Let's light it up ♪

♪ Light it up, light it up Light it up tonight ♪

♪ Let's light it up… ♪

[AJ] And then the second I walked through the curtain,

I could just feel it.

♪ Let's light it up ♪

♪ Like the night, like the diamonds As they shine in your eyes ♪

♪ Light it up, light it up Light it up tonight ♪

♪ Let's light it up ♪

♪ Like shooting stars We'll burn and light up the sky ♪

♪ Let's light it up ♪

♪ Light it up, light it up Light it up tonight ♪

♪ Like the night, like the diamonds As they shine in your eyes ♪

[AJ] It's sort of an out-of-body experience,

and you, you feed off the crowd,

and you become this larger-than-life character.

[CM Punk] I get to experience my wife,

my best friend,

come to the ring

and just get the loudest pop

like she was one of the Road Warriors in Atlanta

in, like, '85.

My heart was in my throat. My eyes were swelling up.

I'm a fan that has the best seat in the house.

[dramatic music playing]

Need a moment here.

[Cole] AJ Lee, CM Punk's wife, is here!

AJ Lee taking it to Becky Lynch!

Becky trying to retreat.

Down goes Lynch!

And AJ Lee unloading!

The trailblazer.

The original Chickbuster

with a payback to Becky Lynch.

[AJ] I felt like I didn't get to say goodbye to my fans.

For our connection to grow,

I felt like I owed them a little something special.

It was nice to confirm that, like, that connection never went away.

It just got stronger.

[crowd cheering]

[Cole] Welcome back, AJ Lee!

The woman who made crazy cool is back!

[Hunter] Funny, she hadn't been in the ring in a long time.

I saw a lot of little girls crying when she came back. I thought,

"You were…

might not have even been alive when she was doing this."

But it meant a lot to them, meant a lot to her, meant a lot to Phil.

I think it showed the world it was a new place and a new time and a new era,

and that the women's role within the company

had completely changed.

- Nice! - [cheering, applause]

[whooping]

- Oh yes! - Congratulations.

- Was that good? - You haven't missed a step.

Like, I'm just saying,

I'm not talking wrestling-wise but character-wise…

Aww.

…took your time, the skipping,

the, like, your face, the mindset, like, uh, spot on.

- She was just waiting out there. - [Hunter] What's that?

[AJ] She was waiting. I couldn't feel her until I went out.

[Hunter] Wait 'til you see. I don't know that we could have done it any better.

- Perfect. - That's amazing.

- Oh my God! - [CM Punk] You happy?

Yeah. Yeah, that was a lot of fun.

I just got a text.

In 15 minutes, you had over one million views on social media.

So how was the pop? What was it like out there?

It felt like fire on my skin. It was so loud, I felt heat.

That was insane.

[TJ] I think he was more nervous for this than I've seen him, like…

- We've been around him a lot. - [AJ] Really?

[TJ] And he was… Even your walkout looked the same to me.

No. You can only shit your pants so many times a day.

I threw out a pitch at Wrigley, I sang the stretch,

and then I just straight diarrhea'd in my pants when I got here today.

- It's the honest truth. - I'm so flattered.

- Romance. - [TJ laughs]

- Good job, baby. - Thank you. [giggling happily]

[suspenseful music playing]

[music fades]

[kids chattering indistinctly]

[Cena] Basically what I'm asking all you guys to do

is come out and have fun.

Here are the rules.

Be safe, please.

Let's be aware of everybody around us and don't knock anybody over.

And no going past here.

So this is your playground.

Take the whole moment in because it's gonna be really special.

♪ Krr, amadou… ♪

[kids cheering, whooping]

Get it up! Let's all go that way! Let's all go that way!

♪ Your time is up, my time is now ♪

♪ You can't see me… ♪

Then we'll stop.

We'll have fun. Take a look around.

Do a little bit of this. Let 'em know. Yeah!

- You can't see me! - [kids] You can't see me!

Awesome job, guys.

- [boy 1] Thanks, John! - [boy 2] Thanks, John!

That was good.

- [man] Where's Larry? There. - [CM Punk] You forgot who Larry was?

Wrestlepalooza, Indianapolis.

I get to ride to the building with my wife,

and we were able to bring Larry with us.

So this is, uh…

this is the world-famous Larry Talbot.

He, uh… He just kind of woke up from a nap.

He's a little drugged

because he just had surgery about a week and a half ago.

You can see his… his right leg here

is, uh, shaved.

He's got a pretty… pretty bitchin' scar right here, still stitched up.

I'm gonna make sure he's taken care of, and my wife's taken care of,

and then, uh, I will make sure that I'm taken care of, in that order.

Larry's always with at least one of us. When I'm on the road, he's with her.

If she was ever on the road doing something, he's with me.

[man 2] How old is he now?

Uh, I mean, we rescued him about ten and a half years ago.

They said he was maybe two or three.

So he's, he's a teenager, you know. Yeah. He's a little old man.

He's start… He's starting to go blind. He has cloudy eyes, you know.

- [man 2] I can see that as well. - Yeah.

[AJ] We never got to experience

having Phil and Larry and me on the road as a family together.

- Yes. - [indistinct]

[AJ] It was so special to us

to push around our little senior… [chuckling] …frosted face.

The first thing Phil said was, "We need to do a photo shoot."

So we got family portraits.

[CM Punk] It was a big deal to me.

It was, you know, her first match back after ten years.

Larry was with us.

You ask about what the why is.

[takes deep breath] The why is very different now.

I loved everything I've been doing up until this point.

Everything is just so much better when she's there.

When I'm at work and I hear her laugh…

[AJ laughs]

…like, that's…

that's the best moment of my day.

[camera shutter clicking]

[CM Punk] April and Larry…

I don't want to do anything without them.

Wrestlepalooza, it really felt like it was all just a fever dream,

in the best way.

[crowd cheering in distance]

[Cole] Coming up next, AJ Lee teams with her husband, CM Punk,

against Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins.

[suspenseful music playing]

[AJ] I tend to be a very private person.

I never wanted to do a story with Phil.

I just wanted to keep those things very separate.

But 12 years of being married and being very private,

it kind of felt like a good time to just

be proud of, like, my awesome husband,

and, you know, what we've built together, and what we've done in wrestling.

[Hunter] This is like a freebie.

- Enjoy this one. - [CM Punk] I'm gonna do my best.

- Welcome back. Enjoy this. - [AJ] Thank you. Will do.

[Cole] Again, mixed tag team rules in this match.

Men battle men. Women battle women.

[CM Punk] To have two very proud husbands sharing the ring with their wives,

and it was more about them than it was us,

I think just illustrates that it's a brave new world.

[crowd chanting] AJ Lee! AJ Lee! AJ Lee! AJ Lee!

AJ Lee! AJ Lee! AJ Lee!

AJ Lee! AJ Lee! AJ Lee!

AJ Lee! AJ Lee!

[Barrett] I just want to see how sharp AJ Lee is

after over ten years out of the game.

- [bell dinging] - [tense music playing]

[Cole] AJ wants in this matchup.

- Almost there. - [Barrett] Tantalizingly close!

But denied!

[Cole] Oh, look at Rollins, using his wife

as a weapon and tossing her onto Punk,

who moves out of harm's way! Rollins made a critical error.

[AJ] Back in the day,

the women only wrestled, like, two-minute matches.

I've had a 30-second title match before. [chuckles]

This landscape is way different.

That's going from 30-second matches to 30-minute matches.

Can I remember all of this?

Is my cardio going to work… [chuckles] …for all of this?

I was terrified.

[suspenseful music building]

- [Cole] Tag! - [Barrett] Uh-oh!

[Cole] Here comes AJ!

Thesz press.

AJ Lee pounding away at Lynch!

For the first time in a decade,

AJ Lee in the ring!

[Barrett] Ten years-plus of pent-up offense

exploding in the face of Becky Lynch!

[AJ] I always thought it would be so cool to be allowed to wrestle like the guys.

There was restrictions on the women

and just how brutal we were allowed to get.

Not very back in the day.

[CM Punk] I remember seeing the wheels turning in her head

when we started talking about do we use tables?

To see her be like, "Oh, I can do that?"

"Yes, you absolutely can do that. And actually, we encourage it."

- [dramatic music playing] - [CM Punk grunts]

[Cole] AJ Lee taking everybody down!

[AJ] To have the whole playground at our disposal,

that was mind-blowing.

[Cole] And now Becky Lynch trying to drag AJ Lee back in the ring

to try to put this match away.

Went for the Manhandle Slam, AJ turns it around into a Black Widow,

the Black Widow submission!

- Tap out! Tap out! - [bell dinging]

Punk and AJ win!

[AJ] I think when you fight for change, you don't think you're gonna get it.

You think that's for the next generation.

So I never expected to see any of the seeds that I planted.

But to know

everything I fought for I get to enjoy now,

it was pretty awesome.

[music fades]

[AJ] I feel relieved 'cause that was stressful.

I had a lot of fun though. [chuckles]

So I've never gone through a table.

I always wanted to experience what that was.

I never knew that I would go through one uterus-first.

Uh, felt that in my entire reproductive system.

So, um… just fur babies forever.

Larry's waiting for us in the locker room! I need to get to Larry now.

I'm gonna cover myself in ice and take care of little bubba.

Yes.

[Cena] Leave it all on the field. Good luck out there. Good luck.

Let's have some fun out there, all right? Good luck. Good luck. Good luck.

[producer] What was the why with Brock at 'Palooza?

That's easy.

It's not once in a generation. He's once in a genre. That's it.

There'll… there'll be one Brock in wrestling. End stop.

[ominous music playing]

[Cena] The why is,

losing to Brock does not kill me at all 'cause I'm on my way out.

[kids chanting] Cena! Cena! Cena! Cena! Cena! Cena!

Cena!

[Cena] And we're bringing him back with the intent to give him as much energy

so he can begin to give it away.

What's the best way to do that?

[Hayes] Brock rolls over right up into an F5.

- [Hunter] Yeah. - Wham! Wham! Wham!

So he's gonna come back and destroy me.

Yeah, it's… physically, it's gonna be a tough night, champ,

but that's what we want.

[Cole] F5!

Another F5!

Lesnar looking for a third F5!

Another F5!

This is becoming a massacre!

[Cena] If Brock can do that to someone who was just a champion

and he gets mowed over, oh my God, who's next?

That's the why.

[crowd counting] One, two, three!

[Cole] And Brock Lesnar destroys,

and I mean destroys, John Cena tonight!

I tell the right story with Brock, he's on the path. He's good.

Boy, was the audience upset.

And now there's this growing resentment from the audience.

Boo!

[Cena] For my next opponent,

it was originally supposed to be Drew McIntyre.

Sorry, Drew, but you can't ignore the indicators.

We're sick and tired of this. Give some… Give us somebody we want.

Rewind, I had cut a promo in Dublin with Logan Paul.

You have sucked opportunity away

in my final moments of deserving Superstars

like Dom Mysterio, AJ Styles,

Seth Rollins, The Usos,

Jacob Fatu, just to name them all!

[crowd] AJ Styles! [clapping rhythmically]

AJ Styles! [clapping rhythmically]

[Cena] They popped for AJ Styles. Indicator, they want to see this match.

What if we socially ask the people who are typing away saying this sucks?

Let me put something out.

[intriguing music playing]

[Cena] Do you guys want the AJ match?

Fuck, that's what we've been trying to tell you!

Let me put something else out with AJ, and then let me put Hunter…

the guy you follow into the whiteboard room.

Do you hear this?

I do. And we're gonna do it.

The why for the AJ match?

This contest is property of the populace.

You guys did this.

So let's go for it.

No, what's before this is right, man.

[Styles] It's gonna be good.

[Cena] It's gonna happen. Whether it's good or not?

- [laughs] - [Cena] I like what we have.

Yeah, but we're… we're in a position to swing big,

and I like it.

I like the finish, dude. It's a cool match.

[Styles] Absolutely.

I went through it in my head a couple of times. It's cool.

And to be able to take my time and not have to rush through is gonna be awesome.

[bell dinging]

[suspenseful music playing]

[Cole] John Cena, as his retirement tour rolls on,

against one of his great rivals AJ Styles.

[crowd chanting] This is awesome!

I started doing kind of an homage

to my opponents with Logan.

I'm like, I need to let it all hang out with AJ.

[Cole] What?!

Sister Abigail by Bray Wyatt!

God bless Bray Wyatt!

- Sister Abigail! - [crowd] One, two…

Styles kicks at two!

[Cena] This could be a bigger thing.

You're gonna retire in January. Nobody knows it. I'm retiring in December.

People will look back like, "That was it."

[Barrett] This is like a video game

when you just giving everyone's finishing move.

They're both doing that right now in real life.

So we dug up everyone he wanted to pay homage to,

everybody I wanted to pay homage to.

- [JR] Sweet Chin Music! - [King] Forget about it.

[Cole] Sweet Chin Music!

- HBK would be proud. - [crowd] One, two…

[Cole] And a kick-out by Cena.

Another great Cena rival.

[Cena] In the match, the crowd started calling moves.

[crowd] RKO! RKO! RKO!

[JR] Then Orton delivering an unbelievable RKO to John Cena!

[Cena] I wasn't gonna RKO him. They were chanting for it, so here we go.

- [Cole] RKO by Cena for the win! - [Barrett] Yes!

[crowd] One, two…

- [Cole] And Styles kicks out! - [Barrett] Oh!

I don't want this match to ever end. Please keep going!

[crowd] 619! 619! 619!

- [JR] Can Mysterio take advantage? - [Lawler] Oh, watch it, John! Ooh!

[JR] 619 connects.

I can't do the 619, but I told AJ, "I'll drop toe hold you."

You can see me drop toe hold him, and lean against the ropes, and I say…

- Clothesline me! - [Styles] Okay.

"…Clothesline me so I don't have to do this move."

[crowd cheering wildly, whistling]

Ooh!

[chanting] Fight forever! [clapping rhythmically]

Fight forever! [clapping rhythmically]

[Cena] They made it. How do we make it the best for them? That's our why.

[Barrett] Oh my God.

[Cole] Undertaker, Tombstone Piledriver!

- Rest in peace, John Cena. - [crowd] One, two…

[Barrett] No way!

[Cole] Tombstone Piledriver!

AJ Styles,

rest in peace!

[bell dinging]

[Cena] And, boy, did Perth show up.

The place, yellow shirts as far as the eye could see.

I never have seen or will see something like that.

- [Taylor] John Cena! - [Cena] It was awesome.

[Barrett] What an ode to professional wrestling

that match became.

[Cole] John Cena.

Only four dates remain

in a legendary career.

Man, such fun!

[Styles] Can't believe you doubted.

Such fun. Well, you moved at my speed.

- Frick, I told ya. I'm the same age! - Thank you so much.

- Thank you. It was freaking fun. - It was.

- Hey, thanks for almost taking the 619. - [chuckling] I was waiting.

"I've never seen him do this before, but all right."

- No, gotta trust me. - I was like…

- Real pieces of shit. - [laughter]

Real pieces of shit. [laughing]

[Cena] It's on you.

Thank you, man.

[Hunter] One of the best and most difficult things about what we do

is we're sort of making this weekly movie

where all the stunts and performances are real,

and at any point in time, real things happen

that can alter everything you're doing,

especially injuries.

- [uneasy music playing] - [Hunter] We get to Perth.

Seth's champion versus champion match versus Cody.

[Rhodes] I really respect everything Seth does,

and I really look forward to the moments we share the screen.

It makes for good TV.

[Hunter] The Vision is slowly beginning to pick up some steam.

[Cole] For Seth Rollins, his Vision is at stake.

If Rollins loses tonight,

what does that do for Bron and Bronson as they look to this man for leadership?

[Hunter] We have some great things in place,

running all the way through WrestleMania,

and in the blink of an eye, that's all gone.

[Rhodes] The last thing you'd want for your dancing partner in the ring

is to get hurt, and sometimes we get little nicks and pricks.

[Cole] Rollins from the top rope.

Rollins, oh my goodness, coast to coast!

"Oh, I'm okay." You hear that all the time in the ring. "Give me a second."

I didn't hear that.

[Rollins] My shoulder's probably broke.

[Hunter] It's not immediately clear,

but I thought I saw that landing didn't look right.

[uneasy music playing]

[Rhodes] Once he decided we were going to move forward,

I didn't think he was as hurt.

[Cole] Rollins clearly favoring that left arm.

[Barrett] Yeah, it's in a bad way.

I don't know what damage has been done, it just isn't working properly.

[Rhodes] I started to get optimistic as the match went on

that, "Oh, he's… he's okay."

[Cole] From the second rope,

and another Stomp to a helpless Cody.

[Hunter] I've seen injuries before where people come back

and you're like, "Eh, dodged a bullet there."

[crowd counting] One…

two…

three!

[bell dinging]

[Cole] And the World Heavyweight Champion is now the Crown Jewel Champion.

["The Vision" playing]

[Cole] I'm really interested

to see what Seth Rollins and Bron Breakker have planned,

what the Vision is for the future.

♪ Burn it down… ♪

[Hunter] I remember getting in the ring to put the title on him.

I looked at him and said, "How bad is it?" He said, "I'm fucked."

[pensive music playing]

- [Hunter] Don't look like you have a dent. - [Rollins] No.

- Maybe it's just a torn labrum. - Yeah.

- We'll see. - I don't know.

Maybe a little flat right here.

I mean, I've had it separated before, so, you know, it might be a little swollen.

But it could've just been a labrum tear, you know.

We'll see, I guess, how bad that is.

[man] Actually, no.

What month are we in, Joe?

[Joe] October.

All right.

- [Joe] You asked me what month it was. - [Rollins] That's right.

- [Joe] I had a feeling why. - [Rollins] That's right.

I got to get a scan, see what my shoulder is doing,

but if I had to guess, I'd say it's probably close to…

probably close to Wrestlemania time.

Yeah.

[sighs]

It's always something.

[Hunter] Now the question becomes, what do you do with everything?

As you're gearing up for Cena's retirement,

in what can only be looked at as terrible timing,

Seth Rollins gets injured,

And all plans

that we had for the remainder of the year

now go up in smoke.

So we're about to say goodbye to Seth Rollins for a little while,

and at the same time, we're about to say goodbye to John Cena forever.

[music fades]

[intriguing music playing]

[music fades out]