WWE legend and 17-time World Champion John Cena discussed with Tom Rinaldi on WWE’s YouTube channel about various topics, including when he realized it was time to retire from wrestling.
Cena said, “The fact that I thought I was going to have this year completely off. And I was willing, like — for the longest, I’ve been a part-time piece. And sometimes, I come back just to deliver the opening monologue. Like, no kidding. And that is the toughest spot in what we do. To come out for 15-20 minutes, tell the audience what they’re going to get, and not deliver anything else. Like, not have a confrontational war of words, not have any physicality. Just show up with the equity you’ve built, hoping they enjoy. And go through 16 talking points, somehow weaving the energy of the crowd, not killing house for the matches about to follow. Like, it’s a very tough spot. So I could kind of see the writing on the wall of, ‘Oh, we need you to come back. Can you come back and do this thing? We want you to open the show.’ ‘Of course you do. I will do it, but okay; you’re right.’ And the situations where I can come back is a lot more of a give back, too. I’ve been paired with new talent since 2013. So that’s kind of the symbol of like, ‘Mabn.’ And just looking at the calendar, me being 48. So I thought I would have this year with minimal commitments. And I began to say, ‘Something is going to happen this year or I have to post on X that I’m going to retire. And either one is okay.’ When I was presented with, ‘Oh, we can do this or we can do this.’ Finally, I just said, ‘It’s either this year or we don’t do it, and I’d like to do it.’”
On pitching it to WWE:
“So then my next hurdle was selling this to the people who would buy it. And that’s not the ticket buyer, that’s WWE. So I had to kind of sit down with them, and present to them, ‘Hey, I know this is kinda catching you off guard. Do you think this is a viable business model, is it something you want to do? And if so, how can I be useful?’ And they’re like, ‘Holy — are you kidding me? This is great! And we kind of went from there.’”
On WWE saying they only needed him for 36 dates:
“That’s when I was like, ‘Oh man, I think I can balance this and some other stuff. Are you okay with me running in two lanes?’ They said, ‘We sure are. We would just like you for this block of time. So it worked out great.”
On what he learned from it:
“It was also a great exercise in just because I think it’s good, doesn’t mean that’s what we’re doing. I had this whole — I mean, I came to them with pitch decks and specs, and ‘This is what I think the projected revenue is.’ Not just talking WWE story out of my butt. Like, ‘Hey, I think this is a good business plan.’ And they’re like, ‘That’s not our business.’ Okay, I’m just gonna torch that plan. They said, ‘This is our business. Would you like to do this?’ I said, ‘That’d be great. Is it okay if I can balance some stuff? They said, ‘Yeah, sure.’ What a great exercise in just because you think you have a good idea, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. It means you think it’s a good idea. But it got us to here and it’s a pretty cool spot to be in.’”
You can check out Cena’s comments in the video below.
