World Wrestling Entertainment veteran John Cena has announced his retirement in 2025 after an influential 20-year career.
Cena revealed the news to the crowd from the ring during Saturday’s Money in the Bank event at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The wrestler-turned-actor, who has won the WWE championship belt 16 times, said, “Tonight, I officially announce my retirement from WWE.”
Then, the audience started chanting “No!” and gesturing thumbs down before settling down.
Cena continued, saying he’d been with WWE for two decades and had seen it all. He said the WWE is doing better than ever but also reflected on the bad times when “nobody wants to be your friend and only the most dedicated fans stand by your side.”
He thanked the Canadian fans for “always showing up” and helping build the WWE into what it is today. He also mentioned how WWE Raw is heading to Netflix in 2025 through an exclusive partnership, a historical first.
Cena said he would be involved with the Netflix venture to some extent, then said that next year’s Wrestlemania 41 in Las Vegas will be his very last WWE appearance. His fans, who he thanked again, clapped and shouted, “Thank you Cena.”
During a press conference after the event, according to TMZ, Cena said his decision to retire was not up to him, but he had approached WWE executives with the idea. He added that the WWE initiated the talks, thinking “this would be a great span of time if we were ever gonna do it.”
Although Cena didn’t go into details, he did leave the door open to return to the WWE in the future.
He was also asked about former WWE CEO Vince McMahon, who has been accused of sex trafficking and sexual assault, but he refused to answer any questions on that topic.
