John Cena knows not every fan loved the way his WWE retirement tour played out, but he wouldn’t change a thing. Looking back on his final run, Cena says he has no regrets and believes the entire idea was about helping WWE—not himself.
Speaking on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Cena was asked whether he was satisfied with how his retirement tour unfolded despite the mixed reactions to his heel turn and the creative direction throughout the year. His answer was simple: “No regrets.”
Cena explained that the farewell tour was never meant to be a victory lap. Instead, he wanted WWE to use his final year to create interest, grow the business, and create opportunities both domestically and internationally.
“The whole idea of the retirement tour wasn’t, like, an egotistical thing. It was a, like, man, this business invested so much in me. How can we take the IP and really do a good thing for the business? And not just from, like, okay, we got this new talent and we want to put John Cena with a new talent. No. How can we make 2025 a year where you can begin to gain relevance and take that and leverage it into whatever content agreements you have? Or, like, how can we get to a new territory internationally by advertising, ‘Yo, we’ll give you one of John’s last performances.’ You know what I’m saying?”
He also pushed back on the idea that the tour was driven by ego. Cena said simply announcing his retirement on social media would’ve benefited nobody but the platform, whereas turning it into a year-long storyline gave WWE and its fans something meaningful.
“There were perspectives out there of, like, ‘Oh man, this is an ego-driven thing.’ It is a business-driven thing. I think the selfish thing is just to go away because you didn’t alone make yourself this huge thing. Not only did you have a bunch of dance partners, but you had somebody pushing money into the furnace to create the IP. And it was just a way for me to be like, well, if I’m gonna go, I think this might be a good way to do it.”
In fact, Cena revealed that the farewell tour was his own idea. He said he gave WWE two options—either build an entire retirement tour around his final year or let him quietly announce his retirement online.
“And I pitched to WWE, and I was like, ‘Hey, listen, either it’s this or, like, I just post on X that I’m retired.’ Yeah, that post is gonna get a ton of traction, but X is gonna get paid for that. Like, let’s do something that’s fulfilling for the audience, and let’s do something that keeps the company’s lights on. And that’s where the idea of the farewell tour was born.”
Later in the conversation, Cena reflected on the creative itself. He admitted not every storyline landed perfectly, but he was happy that fans stayed emotionally invested throughout the run rather than becoming indifferent.
“And the great thing about the story is it pissed people off. People didn’t like parts. People did like parts. Conversation erupted, but it wasn’t apathetic. We had no empty seats.”
Cena also acknowledged there were hits and misses during his final year, but he never stopped trying to make the story as entertaining as possible. He added that if his retirement tour ends up giving future WWE stars ideas for how to close out their own careers, then that’s another positive to take away from the experience.
“And in between, my job is to swing boldly and make it entertaining. I had some misses. I had some hits. Lack of effort was not one, you know? And I’m very proud of that last year. And it might have set the stage for others to have ideas. They may be able to build off an idea like that when other superstars want to end their career. Who knows?”
Whether fans loved the retirement tour or hated parts of it, Cena doesn’t sound interested in looking back with second thoughts. From his perspective, the goal was always to leave WWE in a better place than he found it, and he feels good about how everything played out.
What did you think of John Cena’s WWE retirement tour? Let us know in the comments below.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
