Jim Ross has weighed in on the controversial ending to John Cena’s retirement match and made it clear he believes WWE made the correct call by having Cena tap out to Gunther.

Speaking on the latest episode of Grilling JR, the WWE Hall of Famer explained that Cena’s legacy was already secure long before the final bell rang, making the result largely irrelevant in the bigger picture. Ross noted that wins and losses no longer define someone at Cena’s level and compared his career standing to a fictional character who no longer needs to prove anything to the audience.

“I thought it was the right call. You know, John Cena is legacy, and his the feel of John Cena his career, the whole nine yards, it just winning or losing was not going to affect that,” Ross said. “He was already a made man. Tony Soprano did not need to shoot one more person to be a badass. He’d already killed plenty, and he was the guy.”

Ross also took time to reflect on his own history with Cena, recalling the moment he became convinced the young prospect would one day headline WrestleMania. He shared a story about flying straight back to Stamford to inform Vince McMahon that he had just signed a future megastar, even though McMahon initially dismissed the idea.

“I flew back on a red eye and landed, and went straight to the office. And this was there, and I told him, I said, I just signed a guy that’ll be for headline WrestleMania,” Ross recalled. “And Vince thought I was crazy. He said, You’re just sleep deprived or some s**t.”

When discussing Gunther, Ross made it clear that the win over Cena did more than just close out a legendary career. In his view, the result further established Gunther as one of the most valuable talents in the company and someone any promoter would want to build around.

“I guarantee one thing, of all of everybody on the WWE roster… if I had a territory, and I just won the lottery, and I’m going to start my own territory, and I got to do a draft, I promise your ass Gunther will be at the very near, the very top echelon… of the draft,” Ross stated. “He’s got character. He’s got integrity. He takes care of himself. He looks good.”