Tom Brady and Jelly Roll were among the stars paying tribute to John Cena as he retired from the WWE

Tom Brady and Jelly Roll were among the stars paying tribute to John Cena as he retired from the WWE.

The 48-year-old star retired from professional wrestling at Saturday Night's Main Event (13.12.25) after his final fight with WWE star Gunther and a number of stars paid tribute with video messages before the event.

Former New England Patriots star Brady said: “Congratulations on an incredible career. You’ve impacted the lives of so many people inside the ring and outside the ring. Good luck in your last match. I hope you fare better in yours than I did in mine.”

Jelly Roll called Cena – who won his record-breaking 17th WWE World Championship at WrestleMania 41 - “the legendary, never seen 17” in his tribute message.

He said: “John Cena, the legendary, never seen 17. Man, thank you for all these years. Thank you for the inspiration. Thank you for being the role model that we all needed. You deserve this, brother. Congratulations, happy retirement.”

Speaking in the lead up to his retirement match, Cena told Jimmy Kimmel Live that he is serious about never wrestling again.

He said: “It’s weird, there’s a lot of scepticism out there because this has never been done before. I just hope people can come to grips with that because on the 13th - the reason I wanted to give people so much lead time - is being able to perform for two decades, people allowing me into their living rooms week after week, 52 weeks a year, no reruns, you do feel a connection with people. … I wanted to give people a heads up so people could process whatever closure they wanted for the 13th.”