John Cena Explains Why His Final WWE Match Isn’t in Boston

John Cena’s last-ever WWE match is locked in for Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13 at Capital One Arena in Washington D.C.—but many fans still can’t get past the fact that the historic moment won’t take place anywhere near Boston, just minutes from Cena’s hometown of West Newbury, Massachusetts.

Cena finally addressed the decision while speaking with Bill Simmons of The Ringer, and he made it very clear that he didn’t control where his retirement match was booked. Cena explained that decisions like this go far beyond superstar preference and come down to logistics, arena availability, and WWE’s routing schedule.

“That’s way beyond my control. I don’t book the live event calendar, if it was up to me, every match would be in Tampa. The mistake is, I didn’t have 36 matches in Tampa.”

He went on to mention that fans often don’t realize how complex scheduling truly is.

“You never know, I don’t know if the (TD Garden) was available. That’s the thing, ‘Man, it would be perfect if…’, perfect for you, like you don’t know the routing, you don’t know the live event hurdles that they have to go through.”

Cena also pointed out that doing a retirement tour across multiple cities allows for different “last time” moments before hanging up the boots for good.

“Then, you can get a bunch of ‘last of’s. The last SmackDown in Chicago where I started, the last time in TD, the last time in MSG, my last Raw, my last Premium Live Event or pay-per-view in San Diego, and then of course the last match.”

And even if Boston isn’t hosting his farewell, Cena confirmed that returning to TD Garden earlier this fall did give him one last emotional moment in the building.

“Trust me, it was great to be able to go back there one last time.”

Cena’s final match is expected to be a career-ending moment, and though Washington D.C. may not be Boston, the WWE icon’s farewell tour has already given fans multiple moments to say goodbye.