John Cena Says He Isn't Retiring From WWE On His Own Terms

The John Cena retirement tour in WWE is almost over.

After announcing at SummerSlam in 2024 that this year would be his final year of in-ring competition for the company, he's got two more in-ring dates left. The first will be at Survivor Series, where Cena will defend his WWE Men's Intercontinental Championship against Dominik Mysterio. The second will be his actual last match at Saturday Night's Main Event on December 13.

On the John Cena retirement tour this year, WWE fans have seen it all for better or worse. Cena turned heel at the beginning of the year, he wrestled in the main event of WrestleMania, he won the world championship for a record 17th time, and he wrestled in the main event of SummerSlam.

Cena also wrestled some nostalgia matches as nods to his career throughout his final tour, taking on Randy Orton, CM Punk, R-Truth, Sami Zayn, and more. Still, with all the attention paid to the end of his in-ring career by WWE, Cena says he isn't going out on his terms.

Despite long WWE retirement tour, John Cena isn't leaving on his own terms

In a new interview on the WWE Raw Recap show, Cena talked about his retirement. Though it may look like a fairy tale ending for him, he's not going out the way he wants because he doesn't really want to leave at all.

“I'm not going out on my own terms. If I could do this in infinity, I would do it ... I made a promise to the fan base when I started that when I got a step slower, I gotta walk away. Yeah, I could probably squeeze out more matches, but at what cost? I do harm to myself, I do harm to the product, and you as a fan who's allowed me the opportunity for over two decades to spend time with you, you leave feeling bad or sad."
John Cena

The WWE audience doesn't yet know who Cena's final opponent will be at Saturday Night's Main Event on December 13, with the company holding a tournament to crown that opponent. This week on WWE Raw, Gunther and Solo Sikoa both advanced.

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This week's episode of Raw was also Cena's last. Cena opened the show and was then confronted by Dominik Mysterio. That confrontation not only led to their Survivor Series match, but a six-man tag that pitted Cena, Rey Mysterio, and Sheamus against Dominik, Finn Balor, and JD McDonagh. Cena's team was victorious.

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