John Cena on Being at WWE WrestleMania 38, If He’s Done Wrestling

John Cena has been working an extremely limited part-time schedule with the WWE for several years now. His last run with the company, dubbed the “Summer of Cena,” started last July when he made his surprise return at the end of the Money in the Bank pay-per-view. From there he wrestled 15 untelevised matches at WWE live events along with unsuccessfully challenging Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship. Shortly after that loss, the 16-time world champion confirmed he was going back on hiatus to further his acting career. His latest project, an HBO Max spin-off of The Suicide Squad dubbed Peacemaker, drops this week. 

“I think I will try to do the best I can until I feel I’m offending the consumer,” he said on Good Morning America days later. “There’s nothing like the energy of being in that ring with the audience around. I’ve had the fortunate opportunity to do a whole lot of stuff. That energy is indescribable. That place is my home. I wouldn’t be who I am without it. The audience is my family — I want to be kind to them — I still feel good even though I finished second so I still feel I have something to contribute.”

While promoting Peacemaker on The Ellen DeGeneres Show this week, Cena addressed the possibility of being back for WrestleMania 38. The two-night event will take place at AT&T Stadium outside of Dallas, Texas in early April.

“WrestleMania is usually in the cusp of late March, early April. I don’t know if I’m going to make it this year,” Cena said. “That’s a good conundrum to have because there are a lot of good opportunities coming up, which I would love to take. If all those things line up, I don’t know if I’ll be able to make WrestleMania. I will tell everybody watching, I’m not done with WWE by a long shot. That’s my home, I love it. I was able to go back during the summer for a few months and entertain audiences when they welcomed audiences back to arenas and I’ve far from had my last performance.”

No matches have been confirmed for WrestleMania so far, though a title vs. title match between Reigns and Brock Lesnar was teased on this past week’s SmackDown and has been a rumored main event for several months. Cena has not competed at a WrestleMania since WrestleMania 36, which wound up being the cinematic Firefly Fun House Match with “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt.