John Cena Gives Hard End Date For WWE Career

John Cena’s time was now but now his time as a WWE Superstar is coming to an end as the sixteen-time world champion gives a hard end date for his career.

John Cena has admitted he’s working on his exit strategy to finally hang up his boots as a WWE Superstar following years of dwindling appearances in the ring.

Cena was a large part of SmackDown programming in the fall of 2023 as the writer’s and actor’s strikes shut down film production in Hollywood leaving the star with some time on his hands. But as he gets older, it seems less and less likely that fans will get to see Cena in the ring.

Speaking to ET’s Nischelle Turner, John Cena discussed the impending end of his WWE career and admitted he’ll be done with the wrestling ring within the next three years:

That’s not a maybe. That time is gonna come and it’s gonna come soon.

I made a promise to the consumer early on, to WWE fans, ’cause I know how tough it is to be a fan. You gotta come out of pocket — and WWE has a ton of content — it takes a lot to be a passionate fan and our fanbase is passionate and global. I never wanted to go out there just for the sake of going out there. And I’m gonna be 47 this year. I feel great.

So inside I feel great, but I know what it takes to be a WWE performer night in and night out and I don’t ever wanna just go out there and do it to do it. I wanna have the passion — the same passion as the fanbase — and I wanna give them exactly what they give me. The miles on the speedometer say, ‘Hey, that’s gotta be done before 50.’

John Cena Working To Preserve Hollywood Career

Cena continued noting how tough it is to juggle the demands of Hollywood with the rigors of WWE and says even returning to the ring for a short time takes its toll more the older he gets:

It’s tough to juggle both because, you know, when you’re filming Argylle, Matthew [Vaughn] won’t let you go do anything else because of insurance. So as long as the phone keeps ringing and we’ve had some good opportunities here, I’ll kind of preserve that for as long as I can.

But even coming back for these one-at-a-time things or short three-month periods, it takes its toll more and more and I’ve just had an incredibly fortunate run with my health. I feel great. I just want to continue to feel great the rest of my life.

John Cena’s final match – so far – in a WWE ring came at Crown Jewel in November 2023 when he was decimated by Solo Sikoa.