One of the most integral scenes in 2008's The Dark Knight sees Harvey Dent at a restaurant table with Bruce Wayne, Rachel Dawes, and Natascha, discussing the masked vigilante, Batman, and his protection of Gotham as The Joker runs rampant through the city. Dent states that Gotham ultimately anointed Batman their hero by allowing the crime syndicates to take over and that sometimes, the suspension of democracy is both necessary and a public service to protect the city and its people.
Why am I talking about the Joker here? Well, because Dent then delivers the most prophetic line of the film, "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." The statement is both a foreshadowing of Dent's eventual demise as part of The Joker's primary plan to destroy Gotham, and a statement about all anointed heroes in society; that all men can be corrupted, no matter how many good intentions paved their way to Hell.
This March marks five years since roap for Cena's retirement tour in 2025, one that could see both Wyatt's and Dent's premonitions and indictments come to fruition.
WWE's Firefly Funhouse Match Explained
A Thirteen-Minute Performance Art Piece That Celebrates Their Histories
The match began with a dialogue from Bray Wyatt, inviting viewers to challenge their preconceived notions of both identity and self, while preparing Cena to face the most formidable opponent of his career: himself. Cena's descent into madness, or perhaps his day of atonement, begins in the Funhouse with an excited Ramblin' Rabbit telling him where to find Wyatt, but also with an ominous warning: "Be careful, dude." What follows is unquestionably the most cinematic WWE match of all time, which went places I've thought about a lot in the past 5 years.
He's transported through several of his own personal Circles of Hell: his Genesis as the literal babyfaced two-toned build-a-wrestler persona during the beginning of the "Ruthless Aggression" era, the platitude-spewing muscular man from the 1980s era of wrestling, and the "Doctor of Thuganomics", his mean spirited rap persona that catapulted him to stardom. Finally, his long awaited - or long unacknowledged, depending on your point of view - heel turn happened, first by swinging the ill-fated steel chair at Wyatt's head, a step he didn't take at WrestleMania XXX, and then re-emerging as the leader of the nWo, the villain.
After he snaps back into reality, as he strikes Huskus the Pig Boy repeatedly in the head, Cena sits silently in the center of the ring, reflecting on the truth about himself and who he really is. The Fiend appears to attack him, winning the match after a "Sister Abigail" followed by the Mandible Claw, with Wyatt counting the three as he laughs into the camera. The Fiend stands victorious over Cena, who disappears out of the ring, corrupted and beaten.
A performance art piece that challenges the linear style of a wrestling match, it ultimately succeeds by pushing the flawed hero to oblivion, forcing him to acknowledge his biggest mortal sin. He lived long enough to see himself become the villain. It is both the performers' finest hour, the capstone to the Story of The Fiend that would unfortunately taper off after a series of creative fumbles outside of Wyatt's control, and the moment that set the table for Cena's retirement tour; the story of a man struggling to maintain his fame.
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The Firefly Funhouse Match, at its core, is an indictment of the structures of WWE that celebrate perceived mediocrity over creativity, as well as Vince McMahon's never-ending quest that began in 1993; the search to find his new Hulk Hogan. The match's greatest moments come in the subtext and comparisons of John Cena to Hulk Hogan, including the allusions to Hogan's watershed 1996 heel turn that changed the face of professional wrestling, something that a Cena heel turn could still do in 2025.
Hulk Hogan was the biggest wrestling star in the world during his heyday, but for the red and yellow was waning dramatically prior to his WWE exit in 1993, and didn't get any better for the first few years of his WCW run. Wrestling fans had grown tired of saying prayers and eating vitamins, and one leg drop to Randy Savage at 1996's Bash at the Beach put him firmly at the top of the industry again, this time as the corrupted villain desperate to retain his fame, the spotlight, and adoration from a now ungrateful audience.
Cena's retirement tour is less a "one last time" event and more of a personal confirmation for Cena that he is still useful in the WWE landscape of 2025, as he has spoken at length about the need to elevate the future Superstars of the company. However, Cena has always been the "golden goose," as Wyatt referred to him, and truly giving up his top spot and walking away could prove to be a fatal blow to his babyface persona, and instead of dying the hero, or in this instance retiring as one, Cena lived long enough to see himself become the villain, just like Hogan before him.
With his stinging loss at the hands of Jey Uso at this year's Royal Rumble, Cena's bruised ego and desperate need for success came back to the top of his mind, and if he suffers another loss at Elimination Chamber, and with it his last chance at a WrestleMania main event, Cena's pride could finally fracture and allow the Hogan-style heel turn to take place. The Firefly Funhouse Match provides the roap to what a John Cena heel turn could look like: a man obsessed with fame and the spotlight, and a just out of reach 17th championship win, finds his way into the main event of WrestleMania by any means necessary, something Wyatt showed him he was already doing.
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Critical analysis celebrates the Firefly Funhouse Match for its impressive use of literary themes and its nods to classic hero story arcs, making it the most story-driven cinematic match of the Pandemic Era. While its contemporaries, like The Undertaker's "Boneyard Match" against AJ Styles at WrestleMania 36, and Sting and Darby Allin's match against Ricky Starks and Brian Cage from AEW's 2021 pay per view Revolution, focused heavily on action and physicality, the Firefly Funhouse Match was centered on telling a story and providing fan service for those who have been invested since the beginning of both men's careers.
The match itself opened the door to the in-depth and robust storytelling methods WWE utilized during its Performance Center and Thunderdome Eras, and paved the way for its storytelling process as it built up Roman Reigns as the Head of the Table, the Jey Uso top guy push, and Cody Rhodes' quest to "finish the story." By allowing Cena and Wyatt to take a massive risk with the Firefly Funhouse Match, WWE leveled up its ability to create more story based approaches to its product, something that is still heavily utilized in the Triple H Era of WWE.
But the true legacy of the Firefly Funhouse Match is the reinforcement to the WWE Universe, and John Cena, that all men can be corrupted, and that no one ever truly stays the hero forever. Cena will hang up his jorts for good in December, but the opportunity for him to fulfill both Bray Wyatt and Harvey Dent's prophecies becomes stronger by the day, and there may come a time when Cena hits the proverbial Randy Savage leg drop and accepts his fate.
