After over 20 years in the wrestling business, John Cena’s final match is just days away. His retirement tour — which he announced last year — will wrap up at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event against either Gunther or LA Knight.
Ahead of the spectacle (which Cena says will open the show), he’s on the media rounds talking the last year of his career. Appearing on The Bill Simmons Podcast, Cena candidly discusses his heel turn and whether or not he regrets it.
“I think a lot of people were wondering, ‘What would happen if John Cena turned heel?’ Then when I did, it left a taste in people’s mouths that they didn’t like,” Cena says (h/t: Cageside Seats). “They wanted other stuff — ‘I wanted a music change, a uniform change, I wanted him to act like this.’”
Time Was Not on John Cena’s Side
Cena understands that there just wasn’t enough time to flesh out the real story that he wanted to sell. He only had 36 confirmed dates on his retirement tour.
“I got 11 months to do this, 36 TV appearances. It takes five years to get a guy over, regardless. If you turn him, it’s gonna take a year or two on television for it really to sink in, especially if you really want to get into it and be able to flip, and then get a performer to get a nice flip on the other side when it’s time to turn again. I don’t have the time to tell the right story.”
He explains that, while it wasn’t perfect, he feels he over-prepared and gave it everything he could.
“The cool thing is, when the audience began to turn, we turned. They helped it out. That dynamic was a little bit ahead of schedule for let’s say Cody and I, but it made for a great showing for the summer. ‘Let’s try John like this, I know we have limited time, but let’s do something really big.’
“Okay, it didn’t work, didn’t mean I didn’t give my all.”
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