John Cena Explains the Ultimate Goal of His WWE Career

John Cena has been working in a part-time capacity with WWE over the past few years, putting over the likes of Bray Wyatt, Roman Reigns and Austin Theory. And while Cena's reign as a WWE top star included multiple WrestleMania main events and a whopping 16 world championship reigns (tying Ric Flair's record), he explained on Notsam Wrestling recently that none of that was his goal for his WWE career. He explained how, ultimately, he just wants to leave WWE in a better than when he found it and successfully pass the torch to the next generation. 

"You can track back, and I've missed a bunch of times. I've tried to care and been too quirky, tried to be funny, and failed, but I'm trying. I'm always trying to make you care. That's been the way since I was doing raps. People would want to hear the lines. Then people wouldn't want to hear the lines. 'You can do your rap thing. I'm just going to kick the crap out of you in the ring.' Fine, that doesn't matter. What matters is me making them connect and believe," Cena said (h/t Fightful). "If they believe and maybe they laugh, then they feel sad when people kick the crap out of me. Then I can get away with something like, my ethos is persistence, because years from now, people will be like, 'Yeah, that actually kind of is what he does. He just keeps showing up. He's here a lot.' That's the thing when authenticity. You can't shake hands with someone for the first time, and they know you're sold. I'm blessed enough to be able to, for now, people to reflect and see, 'he is authentically that. He authentically has passion for the company.' My goal is to authentically leave it better than I found it. That's my goal, to pass the torch up."

"I don't ever want to be talked about generations from now. They should be talking about Roman, and whoever follows him, and whoever follows him, because that's how it should be," he continued. "They should be in stadiums instead of arenas every night. That's how it should be. That's the burden Roman has on his shoulders. That's the way it's supposed to go. Too many people caught up in, 'I'm this, I'm that.' I'm a pawn on the chess board, and someone tells me, 'we're going to move you with this guy,' it's the same with movies. I don't call the shots."

WWE Night of Champions Full Card (As of Now)

• World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins vs. AJ Styles
• Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships: Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn vs. Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa
• WWE Intercontinental Championship: Gunther vs. Mustafa Ali
• Raw Women's Championship: Bianca Belair vs. Asuka
• SmackDown Women's Championship: Rhea Ripley vs. Natalya
• Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar
• Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus