John Cena Makes Heartbreaking Admission About WWE Retirement

John Cena officially retired from professional wrestling on December 13, 2025, after losing his singles match against Gunther at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event, which took place at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.

While his in-ring career is over, Cena signed a five-year Ambassador contract with WWE, allowing him to remain a brand representative and mentor for future talent.

Following his retirement, John Cena joined O’Shea Jackson Jr. and TJ Jefferson for an exclusive interview on No Contest Wrestling. During the interview, Cena made a heartbreaking admission about his decision to retire.

He revealed that one of the main reasons he stepped away from the wrestling business was that he had realized his “institutional knowledge” of the industry had become “obsolete.”

I always try and the reason I retired is because physically the business is passing me by. It’s changing in many aspects of where my institutional knowledge is obsolete and I’m recognizing that. (From 53:05 – 53:16)

A month after Cena’s retirement, AJ Styles also hung up his wrestling boots at the Royal Rumble 2026. Styles was forced to retire because he lost his match against Gunther. Therefore, many fans are still holding out hope that Styles might not return to the ring.

John Cena Believes AJ Styles Has Retired For Good

However, speaking on No Contest Wrestling, John Cena stated that he believes AJ Styles’ career is truly over.

I always search for a good explanation.

AJ Styles. Debuted at the Rumble. Wanted to retire at the Rumble.

I kinda wanted to push the idea of like ‘Dude you’ve been doing this a long time. There are people who would really like to say goodbye. You may wanna think about this model (Cena’s model of doing a retirement tour).

And he turned to me and said ‘I’m 49.’ and as soon as the words left his mouth, I was like, ‘That’s a good explanation’.

So AJ’s perspective was ‘My debut meant a lot to me. My circle of life where I retire. I leave the same day I came in at the same event. That’s a good explanation. (28:23 onwards)

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