John Cena may be done with his WWE retirement tour, but he isn’t done telling the story behind it. The 17-time world champion revealed that he wants to eventually create an entire project covering all 36 dates of his farewell run and explain exactly what was going through his head along the way.
During an interview with Forbes’ Alfred Konuwa, Cena was asked about his experience filming WWE Unreal and reflecting on the end of his wrestling career. Cena admitted that he and several other performers were initially apprehensive about the Netflix series, but its success changed the way he looked at the project.
“I was pretty apprehensive, as were a lot of performers to the start of the show. I also try to live my life in a philosophy that I don’t know everything and I try to be as coachable as I can. And when Season 1 was a success and a success enough to get them Season 2 and Season 2 was successful enough to get them Season 3. Whatever I think is good about business or good for business or whatever I’ve been taught, I have to be coachable at some point and understand that things aren’t the way they used to be. That being said, to be able to sit down and tell my point of view, I’m really grateful because I know my retirement tour had a lot of moments where there was a bunch of different perspectives.”
Cena said those different perspectives are still very much alive, especially when it comes to some of the most controversial moments from his retirement run. He specifically brought up the reaction to his heel turn, his final match and WWE having Brock Lesnar squash him.
“Still are. I mean, still people talk about [my retirement match] because I still stand by my convictions. My goal is to not be remembered. But when people talk about these certain moments, it incites conversation. ‘Oh, the heel turn didn’t work. I hated to finish the last match. Why did they squash him with Brock?’ ‘Just to get my perspective of what I was thinking, maybe elicits a different conversation. So that was really fun to be able to sit down with Netflix. My dream would be one day to go through the tour, even the lead up from me announcing my retirement.”
Cena then explained that he doesn’t view the 36 dates as a bunch of disconnected WWE appearances. In his mind, the entire retirement run was one story, with every segment moving the narrative forward.
“The whole thing, if you watch it without just in its entirety from segment to segment to segment, the whole thing weaves in itself and each chapter is a chapter forward. There’s really no standalone chapters. So after doing that, it kind of ignited a passion to hopefully maybe one day do a project of 36 dates where I sit down and explain what I was thinking and if you agree with my perspective. But at least you hear, it’s like walking around an art gallery with the artist holding your hand saying,” I was thinking about this, “and you can see the picture and be like,” I get that, man, but this is what I feel when I look at it. “I think that that would be a fun project to do. And the idea from that came from me sitting down with Unreal, so it was a great experience.”
Cena’s retirement tour gave fans plenty to argue about, and he clearly isn’t afraid to revisit any of it. If this 36-date project ever happens, fans could finally get Cena’s own explanation for every major creative decision, controversial match and twist that defined the final chapter of his WWE career.
Would you watch John Cena break down all 36 dates of his WWE retirement tour and explain what he was thinking behind every major moment? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.
