After 22 years in the ring, John Cena has announced his retirement from wrestling. Cena, who made his pro-wrestling debut in late June 2002, made his announcement during a surprise WWE appearance in Toronto. According to John, he is merely “at [his] end” physically and knows that it’s time to call it quits. And while he won’t be fighting anymore, he won’t be leaving the WWE franchise for good. In the lead up to his retirement, Cena will be doing a “farewell tour” of approximately 30-40 dates, including Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 41. He also promised an “epic final fight” and expressed his gratitude to fans for accepting him and letting him entertain them for so many years.
John Cena announced Saturday night that he will retire from professional wrestling next year after two decades in the ring.
The wrestler-turned-actor delivered a heartfelt speech to a stadium of World Wrestling Entertainment fans in Toronto, who booed in disappointment as Cena said the 2025 season would be his last. He promised a farewell tour with dozens of dates and an epic final fight, and he assured fans he would remain involved with the wrestling franchise that launched his career.
“Thank you so much for letting me play in the house that you built for so many years,” Cena told the crowd.
In a news conference after the event, Cena told reporters that he feels physically “at my end,” but that doesn’t mean he needs to distance himself from the sport he loves.
Cena is a 16-time WWE champion who burst onto the scene in the early 2000s as the fan-favorite “Doctor of Thuganomics,” a rapper character decked in gold chains and a backwards hat who challenged his wrestling opponents to rap battles. He went on to portray other popular characters, both in the ring and on the big screen.
Cena played starring roles in the films “Blockers” and “The Suicide Squad.” He has made multiple appearances in the “Fast & Furious” franchise and appeared most recently in the comedy thriller “Argylle” and the box office hit “Barbie.”
Hey, good for him. Dude’s 47 years old, his body probably doesn’t react or recover quite as well as it did when he was younger, and he’s got a whole other career that he can pivot to when he wants to stay busy. I have no doubt that his tour will be eagerly anticipated and highly-attended/watched. I can only imagine how big of a deal his last match will be next year. We don’t really watch much WWE in my house, but my kids, especially my 10-year-old, know all about John Cena and his signature phrases and moves thanks to kids in his class being so big on him as a wrestler. I actually enjoy Cena as an actor, if for nothing else than he seems to always be “in” on the joke, like with his stint in the Fast and the Furious franchise or his cameo as MerKen in Barbie. I thought both Blockers and Playing with Fire were fun (in very different ways, haha). I also love Peacemaker and am looking forward to season 2. So, yeah, good luck to John in his final wrestling rodeo, and may this clear the way for a few more seasons of Peacemaker and more mindless, action-packed blockbusters.
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He can go away forever. He defended Vince McMahon, the sexual deviant who is extremely racist and raped countless women. John cena’s public image is all an act.
He’s also granted the most wishes for Make a Wish. People are not all good or all bad.
That doesn’t erase defending Vince for me. Most of the time, when people publicize their good deeds, it’s to hide their dirt.
I thought he retired years ago and was doing shows occasionally. John has an active acting career as well he’s aging so not surprising.
I thought he was already retired.
How do he and The Rock get along? Is the retirement connected to Johnson taking a more active role in WWE’s Board?
They have a very famous rivalry and at least two huge profile WrestleMaina storyline matches. However they are on goodish terms now. I actually believe Cena when he says he’s not physically there anymore and wants to go out on top. He’s always been vocal about wrestling having an end date, which is why he gives/gave his all when he could. He’s been a part-timer for the past few years but retiring means no more major storylines or in-ring pop ups at all.
This tracks and makes sense. Cena is a company man but I felt his last couple of appearances in the ring were not to his elite standards. Not bad at all but you could see the difference. Retiring means he won’t physically be in the ring to get new talent over but I’m sure he’ll still be around for commentary moments.