John Cena misses wrestling, but he’s being realistic about where he is at this stage in this career.
The former WWE Champion returned to the company for a prominent run last summer, as he feuded with WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns heading into SummerSlam. The two megastars clashed at “The Biggest Party of the Summer”, and Cena hasn’t appeared on WWE programming since his loss. Since then, he’s enjoyed even more success in Hollywood, as his Peacemaker series was an instant hit.
During an interview with GQ , when asked whether he misses the touring lifestyle of wrestling, Cena answered in the affirmative, but he made it clear that as a man who will turn 45 in a few weeks, he knows he has to be realistic. He stated that returning to a full-time schedule with WWE would risk hitting “that point of diminishing returns.”
“I miss it every day,” said Cena. “Every single day. But I’ll be 45 on April 23rd, and I was very fortunate to make it as long as I did with only a minor list of injuries. Nothing that has changed the trajectory of my long-term health. I’m strong, flexible, and in really good shape externally, internally. I think now, being a full-time touring performer might start to hit that point of diminishing returns, and I have to be realistic when I look at that.”
Cena also discussed his Hollywood career and explained that trying to thrive as a movie star, even when he entered the field with a huge name, is a different animal entirely. He emphasized that his approach is based on working hard and trying to “catch up” to everyone else.
“Well, the term Hollywood has such a mystique and luster around it,” said Cena. “If you’re skilled at doing one thing, and then you transition into doing another — really, it sounds the same, but it’s a completely different thing. If you have any chance of success, you have to really, really prepare as much as you can. And if you feel you don’t have a head start, you’ve just got to put rubber to the road and work your ass off.
“So that’s kind of where I’m at, dipping my toes back into the screen side of entertainment rather than live events. And I realize I’ve got my work to do, and I’m just trying to work as hard as I can to catch up to everybody else.”
Cena isn’t currently advertised for WWE WrestleMania 38, and it’s currently unknown when fans can expect to see him back in a WWE ring.
