John Cena Reveals WWE Retirement Plans

John Cena knows when he is going to leave his sneakers in the ring. Big Match John has been a staple of WWE programming for just about the entire 21st century, headlining multiple WWE WrestleMania pay-per-views and collecting 16 world championships to boot. Cena had always been an arm’s length away from Hollywood, making a couple cameos in feature films and starring in various direct-to-DVD movies around the prime of his WWE career, but his phone began ringing at a different level in the mid-2010s. The You Can’t See Me Man took on supporting roles in various blockbuster franchises like Transformers and Fast & Furious, leading his schedule to become more populated with acting instead of wrestling.

Beyond the career switch, Cena’s body is no longer in a place to work a full-time WWE schedule. When fans criticized the pace of his WWE WrestleMania 39 bout against Austin Theory, the 47-year-old Cena noted that that is the best he can give at this point in his life. Cena knows his body’s limitations, and now has a clear picture on when he needs to hang it up.

John Cena Reveals WWE Retirement Window

Big Match John has just about three years of professional wrestling left.

“I never wanted to go out there just for the sake of going out there. I’m gonna be 47 this year. I feel great. Inside I feel great, but I know what it takes to be a WWE performer night in and night out and I don’t ever want to just go out there and do it to do it,” Cena told ET. “I want to have the passion, the same passion as the fanbase, and I want to give them exactly what they give me. The miles on the speedometer say, ‘Hey, that’s got to be done before 50.’”

It’s unclear as to how much of a hard-stop that retirement will be. Cena has only wrestled 25 matches since 2021, the majority of which have come in tag team affairs on non-televised live events. He is already very much working a part-time schedule, with his most recent run only being made possible due to the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Cena is more active than stars of yesteryear like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, but even The Rock does not consider himself to be completely retired from professional wrestling. When Cena was asked if he will still pop into WWE from time to time, he emphasized that he wants to maintain one particular streak.

“I’ve never missed a year,” Cena said, referencing that he has wrestled at least one WWE match every year since 2002. “And as long as I can perform, I don’t intend to miss a year.”