As it stands, John Cena has just over two-dozen dates remaining on his retirement tour, which is set to wrap up in December of this year. While speaking with ESPN, the newly crowned Undisputed WWE Champion explained his motivation behind it.
"This needs to consume your life to be great, not only consume your life, but you really have to be curious, passionate, open, humble," Cena said. "I can only imagine that if you are not fully focused, coachable, and 100% involved in fight training [it's not going to work]. So in me trying to split time and thinking that I can do both, I just did this a lot less and less and was used accordingly."
"As you are ushered on the way out, you're supposed to build all this energy and then give it away," he continued. "That's the cycle of life in sports entertainment. If you leave with the energy, you have robbed the business. So me saying this over and over again, I was like, 'Man, I haven't won a match since this [time]. I'm 48 next week,' so I was like, 'Oh man, it's time to retire.' That's when I was like, 'I'd like to do this farewell tour.'"
As Cena alluded to, his last year as a full-time WWE performer came in 2017 as his main focus is now lent to outside projects, such as acting. Since then, he's suffered major losses in WWE at the hands of Jey Uso, Roman Reigns, Austin Theory, The Fiend, and Solo Sikoa, the first of whom won the latest Men's Royal Rumble as a result.
Fortunately for Cena, his match luck has recently turned around, beginning with a win at the 2025 Elimination Chamber, then on the grand stage of WrestleMania 41. Due to the latter, Cena now reigns as the Undisputed WWE Champion, with long-time rival Randy Orton set as his first challenger.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit ESPN with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
