John Cena Posts Cryptic Marriage Quote Amid Engagement Speculation

Speculation that WWE star John Cena and girlfriend Shay Shariatzadeh are engaged popped up over the weekend when the latter was spotted in public wearing a large diamond ring on her hand. Photos of the couple started going viral late Monday night. Several witnesses told outlets like E! News and Wrestling Inc. that they had seen the ring, despite neither of them announcing any kind of engagement. The pair first started dating in early 2019 and made their red carpet debut in October for Cena’s family comedy Playing With Fire.

Cena, who is famously cryptic on his social media accounts, posted a quote about marriage on Tuesday to help fuel the speculation.

“It’s a wonderful day for a movie premiere and I got a beautiful date,” Cena said at the Playing With Fire premiere. “What’s truly special about this one is that, no matter what projects I’m involved in the future, this one will always have a special meaning because I got to film a special project and meet someone special.”

Cena was married to Elizabeth Huberdeau from 2009-12. After that he started a relationship with fellow WWE star Nikki Bella, which culminated in the two getting engaged at WrestleMania 33 in 2017. However the pair announced they had called off engagement in April 2018, just one month before their planned wedding. Bella has since gotten engaged to Artem Chigvintsev and is currently pregnant with their first child.

The 16-time world champion is booked to appear on the Feb. 28 episode of Friday Night SmackDown, possibly setting up a return match at WrestleMania 36. Now that his acting career is taking off, Cena has discussed his in-ring career winding down in various interviews.

“That’s been three years of hard conversations with that dude looking back in the mirror and I’m at peace with where it’s at,” Cena said in an interview in January. “I want to contribute where I can. I’ve even talked about coaching or mentoring. Like I said, it’s the environment I feel the most fluid, so I can sit down and talk to you about WWE as long as you want to talk, but what I don’t want to do is take somebody who has spent 50 bucks on a ticket for themselves, their partner, their families, they bought souvenirs, they bought popcorn and paid for parking and have look at me like, ‘He used to be something.’ You know?”