In 2025, John Cena will hit the road for WWE for one final trip around the sun, wrestling matches, cutting promos, and selling so much merch it will make Taylor Swift check her sheets to compare numbers.
But how big of a retirement tour should fans expect? Will Cena only hit the major dates across the WWE calendar, the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, etc? Or will he instead be hitting the television circuit weekly, with appearances on RAW and SmackDown happening multiple times a month?
Discussing the initial plans for his run in 2025 in an interview with Collider, Cena let it be known that after spending the rest of 2024 working on the forthcoming season of Peacemaker, he'll be hitting the WWE tails hard with a pretty heavy schedule, all things considered.
“I can probably confirm that Peacemaker will take us to the end of 2024, and I can say that with the utmost conviction because I have given the calendar year 2025 to WWE. I am retiring in 2025, and I start that farewell tour in January. I'll end it in December, and it's going to be right around 36 dates around the world to pay thanks and gratitude to the WWE audiences around the world. So that's what I'm doing in 2025,” John Cena explained via Fightful.
“Well, it's also very rewarding, and I'm grateful. The audience has been there for me for close to 25 years now, so I just want to say, ‘Thank you.'”
Now granted, when Cena first announced his retirement tour, he mentioned that his dates would likely fall somewhere between 36 and 40 dates, so unfortunately, the final results will likely fall on the lower end of his initial estimation, but considering he had half as many dates in the fall of 2023 and that run felt very consequential, it's safe to say WWE fans will be incredibly stoked on what the promotion has planned, even if they'll likely have to shell out a few bucks to buy a ticket to the show.
John Cena, like Sting, is retiring for good after his final match
So, with Cena's retirement tour more or less locked into a 36-date run, with the only thing left to answer being where and when he will appear, fans have started to wonder if this really will mark the end of the road for “The Face That Runs the Place.”
Will Cena truly hang up his jorts for good around Christman time 2025? Or will he eventually get back in the ring for one final match, or even run like, well, basically every other wrestler who has retired for non-medical reasons?
Asked this question by Comicbook.com, Cena let it be known that when he calls it a career, he's calling it a career for good, as no amount of money would be enough to change his mind.
“There isn't a check writer with enough money to change my mind when I hang it up in December. I don't want to continue for ego or financial gain. I built a relationship of trust and authenticity over the years with the WWE, and that's people who think I suck and people who believe in me, they know that I shoot them straight and I'm trustworthy. I mean what I say: when I'm done in December, I am done. It is the last time I will perform in a ring,” John Cena told Comicbook.com.
“I'll be a member of the WWE family as an ambassador and a grateful one. But you will see me wear this (points to suit), not the wristbands, the jorts, the ball cap. That, in December 2025, that goes away, and that's the reason why we're putting so much equity and emphasis on this farewell tour. It truly is the last time for generations for grandparents and parents and kids to get together in the same time. Grandparents could be like, ‘I didn't know about wrestling and my son dragged me here.' That son now has a son and daughter of their own, and they like John Cena, and now their kid likes Cody Rhodes. I want to try to do something special where we can all get together one last time and, and go through 25 years worth of memories.”
After watching Sting “retire” from professional wrestling for the first time in 2016 due to a brutal Buckle Bomb by Seth Rollins, the “Icon” returned to the ring a few years later for AEW, where he went on a three-year undefeated streak alongside tag team partner Darby Allin before having his official final match earlier this year at Full Gear. Since then, Sting hasn't been back on AEW television and probably won't be unless it's to present a title, do commentary, or simply to cut a promo. Based on Cena's comments, it sure sounds like he's heading down that Sting path, as the only thing about “The Champ” is a 2025 retirement is for sure.
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