WWE constantly touts John Cena as the “greatest of all time” these days.
While that’s an arguable point – Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Steve Austin, The Rock, and select others might need to be part of that discussion – it’s obvious why WWE brands Cena this way.
His active in-ring days are numbered. The pro wrestling legend isn’t getting any younger and remains busy in Hollywood.
Cena recently opened up about how close his time in WWE as a pro wrestler is to coming to an end.
Will Be the End of an Era in WWE
Yahoo Entertainment reports, “But, like all good things, it seems that John Cena’s in-ring WWE career may be coming to an end sooner rather than later.”
“During a recent interview with PEOPLE, the Superstar candidly acknowledged his career winding down,” Yahoo noted. “The WWE Universe will be stunned to know that John Cena intends to hang up his boots sooner rather than later.”
The story continued:
“I turned 47 this past year and I don’t have much time left in the WWE,” he confessed.
Interestingly enough, Cena revealed he has been working on an exit strategy for more than two years, as he had always targeted the age of 45 as when he would contemplate stepping away from WWE for good.
“I wouldn’t be who I am — professionally or personally — without the WWE, and I promised myself that I would never simply just be there for my own sake,” Cena stated. “Every time I perform, I want to give my all to the audience. And I’ve got to admit when I hit the 45 mark, I had to begin to try to form an exit strategy and I’m trying to work on that currently.”
Cena Looking for an ‘Exit Strategy
So the question is not if Cena will leave soon, but how soon will he leave?
The WWE legend gave some insight, “I just want to do what’s best for the company. If it’s a big final match or if it’s just a final match, or however I can be integrated into the product to let everyone know that this chapter is over, I’m willing to listen to what WWE has to say.”
Not every wrestler gets some big sendoff. Ric Flair did in his retirement match against Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 24 in 2008.
But it’s still rare.
Hard to Leave
Cena acknowledges that it will be very hard to walk away.
“When you have a certain amount of fluency and you’re fortunate enough to have a long career in something like wrestling and you gain that, I guess you’d say 10,000 hours of mastery, it is tough to step away because you’ve invested so much of yourself in it,” he said.
“I do have almost two and a half decades of wisdom built up where I think I can offer a mentor perspective for sure,” Cena admitted. “So, if I am not integrated with the WWE family moving forward and in perpetuity, then I think it’s a waste for everyone involved.”
It will be interesting to see how John Cena finally puts a button on his in-ring career.
And if you think you can’t see him now…
