After 20 years of leaving it all on the wrestling mat, John Cena has announced he’s calling it quits.
The WWE megastar made the announcement over the weekend, telling the crowd at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena that his wrestling career will soon come to an end.
“Tonight, I officially announce my retirement from WWE,” he told Saturday’s Money in the Bank attendees, being met with a chorus of boos from his disappointed and shocked fans.
If you’re a big Cena fan, however, there’s still plenty of time to get your fix – he said he doesn’t plan to retire until the end of 2025, he’ll still be at the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber events next year and that he’ll try to make as many appearances in as many countries as possible.
He also announced that he’ll wrestle full-time for the next year, something he hasn’t done since 2018.
“Thank you so much for letting me play in the house that you built for so many years,” Cena told the crowd, specifically shouting out Canadian wrestling diehards for their unwavering support.
“Why here?” Cena asked the Toronto crowd. “I want to talk about that for a second, I want to talk about Toronto. Matter of fact, I want to talk about Canada. Matter of fact, I want to talk about Canadians. You see, I’ve been doing this awhile, I’ve been in WWE for over two decades and in that time I’ve seen incredible waves of prosperity like we got right now … and I’ve also seen tremendous hardship.
“So in all those years, one of the most important, one of the most impressive things that I learned was whether the WWE is hot, or cold, Canadians always show up … which in my mind makes this right here the perfect place to say what I got to say!”
During the event’s post show conference, he shared how he and the WWE have had the same vision for his retirement.
“I approached the WWE with this idea and they kind of initiated the talks that this would be a great span of time if we were ever going to do it. Gosh, this is no thanks to me but the business is at incredible heights of popularity and awareness,” he said.
Cena is regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, boasting 16 WWE Championships, more than 1,500 matches and granting more wishes for Make-A-Wish Foundation than anyone else in the program’s history.
Outside of the ring, Cena’s also been making quite the name for himself in Hollywood, starring in many big budget films including Blockers, The Suicide Squad, Barbie and Trainwreck.