When John Cena announced at Money in the Bank that he was calling it a career and officially finishing his WWE run with a retirement tour across the globe in 2025, it got fans in their feelings.
Sure, Cena hasn't exactly been an active wrestler in years, with 2024 having more matches by “The Champ” than the past few years prior combined, but the idea that he could always show up, cut a promo, and maybe even wrestle a match was encouraging for long-time fans of the promotion, as an important part of their childhoods was always going to be there to return to every once in a while.
And yet, if you ask “The Face That Runs the Place,” as ExtraTV did, he doesn't want fans to mourn his career but instead wants to have a giant celebration for a whole year as he gets to close out his career on his own terms instead of being forced to retire for one reason or another.
“It's going to be fun. Not bittersweet for me, it's going to be fun. I'm so grateful that I'm in a position where I still have my health, and I'm able to carve out a large section of time and perform for a year, from January to December, and give everyone a heads up,” John Cena explained to ExtraTV via Fightful.
“A lot of times in WWE, sometimes injuries force retirement all of a sudden. One day you're there, the next day you're gone, or sometimes you say you're going to retire and it's part of the bit. You attack somebody and get a shot at the championship. This is my way, for an audience that has made me who I am, after 23 years of investment, to say, ‘Hey, I'm going to give you six months; that's your warning. In January, we're going on tour, and in December, I'm hanging them up. Let's all get together at various spots around the world the next calendar year and get loud and rowdy one more time.'”
Will fans still be incredibly sad to see Cena go at the end of next year? Yes, they 100 percent will, but hey, if folks can have some fun along the way, it sounds like that's all “The Champ” wants out of this run.
Triple H is excited to see John Cena say goodbye to the WWE Universe
Discussing the prospects of the Cena retirement tour during the post-show press conference after SummerSlam, Paul “Triple H” Levesque commented on what he expects from this final run by “The Champ” and how honored he is to help him say goodbye on his terms.
“Look, John has earned the right in his career to do whatever he wants when he wants, and I'm happy to be there. For him, I believe it is the beginning of the year [when] John will come back, and it's sort of like the farewell tour that has an end to it. John's going to come back and just have a blast. Everywhere he goes, like he always does. But he's going to come back. He's going to be there for the Royal Rumble and that'll be his last Royal Rumble. He's going to be there for the Elimination Chamber, and that will be his last Elimination Chamber. He's going to be there for WrestleMania, and that will be his last WrestleMania. Then, it will continue. By the end of '25, that will be the end of John Cena. Not in WWE, not in Hollywood, for sure, or anything else that he decides to do. But it will be the end of seeing John Cena competitive and active in the ring,” Triple H told reporters after SummerSlam via Fightful.
“John paved the road for so much stuff. He's earned the right, as I said, to call his out, and so few people get the opportunity to do that. This is awesome. It's almost overwhelming to me, that as this starts to become real, one, that it will be the end of his in-ring career. But, too, that I get to sit with him and craft it. It's a huge honor for me. I was there when he came in here. I saw him before he came in here. I was there for a lot of the ride. So, to see the performer that he became, all the things that he would do, and where he's gone since then, to be able to sit next to him and help in some way drive the car that is him calling his out, is a huge honor to me. So I look forward to doing it. I look forward to working with him.”
What does Triple H have up his sleeve for this final Cena run? Will he win the Intercontinental Championship, the final belt he needs to become a Grand Slam Champion? Or maybe secure one final World Championship run which would break Ric Flair's record and make him the true “Champ” in every sense of the world? While only time will tell, it's safe to say fans will be locked in for the ride.
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