John Cena On His WWE Career: 'They Don't Need Me'

As he becomes more and more of a success in Hollywood, the distance grows between John Cena and the WWE.

Cena recently took part in an interview with The Wrap in promotion of his new project, Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?. The publication asked him about whether he still keeps up with WWE despite not being around the product as much these days.

"It doesn't mean that my heart doesn't lie with WWE, I've often said that if I'm doing something like this then it's impossible to do something like that," Cena said. "I'm older now, I just turned 42. I watch WWE on a regular basis and the talent is getting faster and more precise, and I've always been referred to as 'unorthodox' so I'm not exactly the most precise."

Cena did appear at WrestleMania this year, doing a musical segment with Elias. However, he has not wrestled for WWE since the January 14th edition of RAW. That night, he wrestled Finn Balor, Baron Corbin, and Drew McIntyre in a match to determine the WWE Universal Championship's number one contender.

All in all, Cena has worked 17 televised matches since January 2018 (approximately 18 months), plus more matches at untelevised live events. Cena is comfortable with his time mostly being spent out of the limelight in WWE these days as he doesn't believe the promotion needs to rely on him any longer.

"They don't need me, I am grateful for everyone who says 'we miss you,' and there was a time when I could genuinely say from a financial standpoint that they needed me, that time is up," Cena said.