John Cena On Why He Hasn't Had WrestleMania Match With Undertaker, Not Wrestling Full Time Anymore
As noted, the iconic John Cena recently was a guest on Edge and Christian's podcast, E&C's Pod Of Awesomeness. Among many other things, Cena discussed never having a WrestleMania match with The Undertaker and seeing his own decorated WWE career winding down.
On the subject of not having a WrestleMania feud with The Undertaker, Cena explained that it was just not in the cards. The 16-time world champ admitted that he would have loved to have faced 'The Phenom' at 'The Showcase Of The Immortals', but his job is to make the company as successful as possible and sometimes that means doing the best with the hand you are dealt.
"We have to do the best for WrestleMania, period," Cena said. "That event is completely [essential to] the fiscal future of the company and every single year, there were plans to do the right thing for WrestleMania and that match was not in the plans. And that's the best I can say. So many guys complain about not being in the last match, or a main event match, or with a certain partner. Man, if it was only work with people you're comfortable with, I would've had another 10,000 matches with [Edge]. Like that's the easy part. The difficult part as a professional is to take what they need you to do and make it creative.
"In a perfect world, would I want to face The Undertaker at WrestleMania? That's every pro wrestler's dream! That's any WWE Superstar's dream, to work pretty much the maestro of WrestleMania at WrestleMania. That's it! But if our company's success depends on me doing something else, then my job is to do that something else. And I think the way all that went, I don't have any regrets on the way any of that went. I think it was completely put together the right way. Would I have loved to do it? Yes! But I show up to work to do work."
When asked whether Cena could objectively know when to hang up the jorts and call it a career with WWE, he indicated that does not know whether he could wrestle full-time even without his outside commitments.
"Well, I have a different perspective and, like I said, everybody that listens to this will want me strung up from the tallest tree, but I don't see things from my own looking glass. Full disclosure, if I had nothing else going on outside [of WWE], I don't know physically if I can do a full schedule anymore. And if you look at the backlog of Superstars before, I don't think that's a deterrent to anyone who's staring down the barrel of 41 years old. Chris Jericho is the only Cal Ripken I know, and Glenn [Kane] Jacobs, they're the only two Cal Ripkens I know. And Glenn is a big M.F. and he does a lot of his work bruising. And Chris does take a lot of time to perform as a musician, so every time he's booked, he shows up. And, believe it or not, The Miz is another one too that doesn't get hurt and performs all the time.
"But when you look at that timeline and I'm just looking at the pure numbers, when you crack that 40-year-old threshold, you can count on one hand guys that continue to work the day-by-day hustle that is WWE. And that is maybe not even on an elite level. That's being a part of the show, not being the show. So when [Edge] ask[s] me if it's time [to retire], the partisan rumblings between myself and Roman [Reigns], it's the initial response of the audience telling me that it's time. Like, I'd be ignorant if I didn't. I've made my living off of listening to the audience and it [has] been 15 years. Like, the WWE audience has been the most gracious, kind, faithful group of people to me in the world. And I know half of them boo me and all that stuff, but they've continued to show up for so long and I think I'm doing them a disservice by trying to extend it. I'm already way passed, so when is too much enough? And I don't know. I don't know. I've had injuries just like everybody else, but, like, man, I've got miles on me. It [has] been a long, long, long, long, long, long run."
While Cena said having to tell people that he will be spending less time with WWE "sucks", the sports entertainment powerhouse will be is "lifetime home" and he will continue to advocate for the company no matter where he goes.
"I know I've been riding an amazing rollercoaster for such a long time and by no means am I giving it up, but I am saying with all this stuff happening outside or [pro] wrestling because I think it greatly increases awareness for the brand. If you don't believe me, everybody knows Dwayne [The Rock] Johnson, so that's step one right there. And the fact that the WWE is my lifetime home, I will continue to beat that drum until it is busted and it ain't going to bust any time in the near future, so regardless of what I end up getting myself into, my first and foremost will be that I came from WWE, I'm a part of the WWE family, and I believe it is the best form of live entertainment around."
Brother brother. If you use any of the quotations from this article, please credit E&C's Pod Of Awesomeness with an H/T to WrestlingINC for the transcription.
Source: E&C's Pod Of Awesomeness