John Cena on Reason for His In-Ring Retirement Decision & His Original Plans for His Retirement Tour in WWE

John Cena is currently scheduled to retire from his in-ring wrestling career at WWE’s upcoming Saturday Night’s Main Event show on December 13th in Washington, D.C. Cena will be facing off against the winner of The Time Is Now Tournament for his final opponent of his wrestling career.

A recent episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast featured John Cena as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Cena’s thoughts about the main reason for his decision to retire from his in-ring wrestling career this year.

“This is something that I’ve heard a lot this past year. Man, you are going out on your own terms. That’s bulls**t. I want to do it forever.

Like, to anyone out there who doesn’t understand what WWE is, just go live. When you step into that building live, it’s just a different energy. I never want to let that go. But, my body hurts, I’m a step slower. I promised myself and the fanbase when I started, before I won that first championship, when I am step slower, I’m Out.”

In response to host Bill Simmons’ comments about his belief that Cena has been arguably delivering some of the best matches of his career now, Cena responded stating:

“Yeah, but it’s all I have left. That’s people don’t understand. I want to go out at a level that is still passable and in some twinkles, admirable. And, not have to rely on luck.. You know, I got one date left. I have given my heart and soul to this year. It has taken a lot to just do 35 dates whereas before I’d do 220 in my sleep. Like, it is time to move on.”

Cena also gave his thoughts about his busy work schedule between his acting and wrestling careers during his retirement tour.

“Hey man, 36 dates must have been easy this year.’ I did too many jobs. I was in Budapest, flying to Indy, do Indy, fly back, land, go film. Doing that until post-WrestleMania. Back and forth to Morocco, Budapest, all these crazy places that weren’t easy commutes. You think you can do it, ‘I’ll sleep on the plane.’ You don’t. It doesn’t happen. Then, you get upside down and you’re super fatigued. I threaded the needle just enough.”

Cena also gave his thoughts about what was his original plan for his retirement tour.

“The plan, originally, was to do a full year. This goes to show my ignorance of the business. I wanted to do 220 dates. Just take the year off from everything, hop on a bus, do a full WWE calendar, and totally say goodbye. Thank goodness the business isn’t like that anymore. I’d be done. They only needed me for 36.”

Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com, Fightful.com