John Cena may be finished as a wrestler, but he hasn’t given up on one of his biggest pitches. Cena is still pushing for WrestleMania to come to London, and he believes the city has done more than enough to earn WWE’s biggest event.
Speaking on the Off Menu podcast with Ed Gamble and James Acaster, Cena was discussing his final WWE run when the conversation turned to London hosting WrestleMania. Cena admitted that his role with WWE is now “way more lax,” but that hasn’t stopped him from continuing to campaign for the city.
“My role now is way more lax, and I’m still an advocate. I’ll say it right here to give you guys some good information — I’m still an advocate to try to bring WrestleMania to London.”
Cena then pointed to WWE finally taking WrestleMania outside North America as an important step. In his eyes, that’s proof WWE’s biggest weekend doesn’t always have to stay in its traditional markets, and he believes London deserves its shot next.
“I think London has earned the right to have the event. I am very excited about this year’s WrestleMania because it is the first WrestleMania outside of North America, so it’s like proof of concept that it can be done.”
Cena didn’t stop there either. He doubled down on his support for London and made it clear that the fans themselves are a huge reason why he continues pushing the idea.
“I am still a strong advocate that this crowd, this city, has earned the right to WrestleMania.”
Of course, Cena knows he can’t simply pick a city and make WrestleMania happen. When Gamble told him they needed to get it done, Cena admitted he only has so much pull these days, although he’s deliberately tried to get fans talking about the idea whenever he’s had the opportunity.
“I hope so. I hope so. What little stroke I have, I certainly — I tried to rile up the crowd a few times to say that London has earned WrestleMania, and it did get people talking.”
As for whether anything is actually happening behind the scenes, Cena doesn’t seem to know either. He admitted he’s unaware of where WWE’s talks currently stand, but he’s already thinking about returning to the O2 and making some noise about it again.
“I don’t know where those talks are at, but, you know, hopefully, maybe I can return to the O2 and stake that claim again. We’ll see.”
That led Gamble to bring up Cena’s famous Money in the Bank appearance in London, where he surprised the crowd by openly calling for WrestleMania to come to the city. With such a major statement being made on WWE television, Gamble wanted to know whether Cena had cleared the pitch with the company beforehand.
Turns out, he hadn’t. Cena revealed that the entire thing was simply him putting his own opinion out there rather than delivering some company-approved tease about WrestleMania coming to London.
“That was just me putting it out there. But honestly, it’s just my perspective.”
Cena explained that his support comes from what he’s experienced whenever WWE visits London. Between the crowds, the city’s appeal to international travelers and his own love for London, he believes it has everything WWE needs for a WrestleMania weekend.
“Yeah, I look around, I see the energy and passion, enthusiasm. What a great city for people to come to. WrestleMania is such a travel-to event. Yeah, it’s one of my favorite cities in the world.”
For Cena, that’s enough to keep making the pitch even if the final decision is well above his pay grade. He finished by once again calling WrestleMania the “Super Bowl of sports entertainment” and saying he wants to see that spectacle finally come to London.
“I love London, so I think it’d be a nice piece of culture for people to explore and experience WrestleMania — you know, the Super Bowl of sports entertainment. We need to do WrestleMania here. Just my perspective.”
Cena’s comments come months after the Mayor of London’s office revealed there were general discussions with WWE but no specific negotiations for WrestleMania 2028. Mayor Sadiq Khan has publicly pushed to bring the event to London and previously met with Triple H and WWE President Nick Khan about future opportunities.
So Cena isn’t teasing some secret WrestleMania deal here, and he freely admits he doesn’t know where things currently stand. What hasn’t changed is his determination to keep London in the conversation, even if that means showing up at the O2 again and getting another crowd behind him.
Do you agree with John Cena that London has earned the right to host WrestleMania? 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.
