John Cena is entering the final phase of his WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) career. The wrestler-turned-actor announced he was retiring from active in-ring competition. John Cena wasn’t advertised for Money in the Bank, WWE’s July Premium Live Event (PLE), but made a surprise appearance while the show was still on air.
“Tonight I officially announce my retirement from WWE,” John Cena told nearly 20,000 fans jam-packing Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena in Canada. As chants of “no” broke through the arena, he took a moment to acknowledge the reaction before revealing how his retirement will play out. He namedropped Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber and WrestleMania 2025 as part of his last dance with WWE before thanking the fans for letting him be a part of the sport that is pro wrestling.
Following the show’s conclusion, John Cena joined reporters at the press conference to divulge his retirement plans. The 47-year-old noted he was looking to do more dates for his retirement tour as opposed to one-off appearances he’s been doing with WWE of late. “It’s not going to end at WrestleMania,” he spoke of his plans for the farewell tour. “WrestleMania would be my last WrestleMania, but hopefully, if everything goes according to the plan, we’re going straight through from January to December,” he said.
“We’re going to try to do a long list of dates. I think right now, tentatively, it’s hovering in the mid-thirties to forties because I’m still going try to juggle a lot of stuff that’s going on.” The former multi-time champion said he believed it was the optimal time to retire before reiterating he had no intention of stepping back inside the ring after 2025. He also referenced upcoming move to Netflix, which spoke volumes of the incredible heights of popularity and awareness the wrestling business it at today.
Life pre-wrestling and WWE debut
John Cena’s love for pro wrestling admittedly began at an early age. The passion would soon nurture itself into a fondness for fitness and bodybuilding—considered a prerequisite for the sport. Following a stint as a competitive bodybuilder and some early training in pro wrestling alongside Samoa Joe and Frankie Kazarian, John Cena joined WWE’s then-farm system OVW, or Ohio Valley Wrestling, in the early 2000s.
OVW marked John Cena’s major foray into the world of sports entertainment. His peers at the time included future all-time greats such as Dave Bautista, Shelton Benjamin, Brock Lesnar, and Randy Orton – himself a third generation wrestler and someone who’d become one of John Cena’s closest friends and fiercest opponents in the business. After honing his craft in OVW as The Prototype, John Cena finally made his main roster debut on the June 27, 2002, episode of SmackDown against Kurt Angle – the industry legend.
Kurt Angle had been on the lookout for a worthy challenger and John Cena saw his challenge as a chance to prove himself to the world and the Olympic Gold Medalist. John Cena’s two-word response to Kurt Angle when asked why he thought of himself as a standout echoed WWE’s “Ruthless Aggression” theme of the time. While he didn’t beat Kurt Angle, John Cena more than held his own against the “Wrestling Machine” in their first of many encounters. His rookie character, however, began to show signs of slump mere months into his main roster debut.
A lack of gimmick, which distinguishes wrestlers from their peers, as well as generic attire and presentation put him on the list of soon-to-be released WWE superstars. As John Cena himself recalled in an interview, WWE had him on the list of Christmas budget cuts until an interesting interaction with a former top executive changed his fate. John Cena was on a WWE tour bus with other superstars when he began to display his freestyle rap talent.
Stephanie McMahon, daughter of former WWE CEO Vince McMahon, who was a top WWE official at the time, noticed John Cena performing his freestyle rap and asked him to rap about her. Of course, he wasn’t going to say no to his boss at the time. This interaction with Stephanie McMahon subsequently led to a drastic gimmick change for John Cena, who was suddenly a freestyle rapper from Massachusetts (his hometown) complete with the chain and shorts outfit.
Rise in popularity
The “Doctor of Thuganomics” came with a new catchy theme song, which John Cena performed himself. This new edge character soon became one of the most popular acts on SmackDown allowing John Cena to begin his championship pursuits on the blue brand. The year 2004 saw John Cena take a break from WWE to film his first major studio movie “The Marine.”
The following year saw John Cena ascend to SmackDown’s mountain top by beating then-top champion John Bradshaw Layfield (aka JBL) for the WWE Championship, a title he’d go onto hold on 13 different occasions in his illustrious career. This tremendous rise in popularity prompted then-head booker McMahon to move John Cena from SmackDown to their flagship show RAW in 2005.
Accomplishments & Legacy
In WWE, John Cena is a record 16-time world champion. The only other person with this accolade is the legendary Ric Flair. John Cena is also a former two-time Royal Rumble winner, and a multi-time WrestleMania headliner. Pro Wrestling Illustrated, a top wrestling magazine, ranked him as the number one wrestler from a worldwide list of 500 individuals in 2006, 2007 and 2013. Sports Illustrated gave him the Muhammad Ali Legacy Award in 2018. John Cena’s greatest accomplishment, perhaps, is his connection with his fans.
The wrestler-turned-actor has granted the most wishes in Make A Wish’s history. He was WWE’s poster boy for nearly a decade. Many fans from this generation grew up watching him. “He is the one that got me into pro wrestling in the first place,” says Waleed Javed, who’s been a wrestling fan all his life. “Watching him back then, I thought I’d be hearing him announce his retirement one day. Very few have been able to transcend this sport and John Cena, without a shadow of a doubt, is one of them,” he said. The WWE Universe will forever be indebted to John Cena’s ‘hustle, loyalty and respect.’