John Cena Discusses Giving Everything He Has at the End of His Run, Feeling Validated by Praise of His Recent Matches

WWE Intercontinental Champion John Cena joined the Raw Recap this week to discuss his upcoming retirement from WWE and wrestling. Cena spoke about hearing the praise from fans that he’s now putting on some of the best matches of his career near the end of his run and how such praise is validating for him in giving everything he has as he nears the finish line of his career. Below are some highlights:

John Cena on if Having Such Positive Reactions and Great Matches Makes Him Wish He Wasn’t Leaving in December

“No, no, and I think the thing that’s helping me push across the finish line is like, there is no tomorrow, so I’ve always given everything I’ve had. What I love is — again, you’re saying a lot of stuff. So, what if love is there’s like, ‘Hey, man, as a fan, I think you’re having the best matches of your career right now. I’ve heard that through many phases of my career. I got to switch to the hip-hop John Cena and was put in a lot of matches to “toughen” myself up. I heard that then. And then the era of Super Cena happened, and I got put with opponents who were supposed to be bad guys, but they loved ’em, Punk’s given a shot, Bryan Danielson’s given a shot, Edge, ‘Hey, you’re having some of the best matches of your career.’ Fast forward to the United States Title Open Challenge, ‘Hey, man, you’re having some of the best matches of your career right now.’ And for you to be able to say that now means a lot because you can pontificate that you can do x, y, and z. But I’ve always wanted to stay curious, and I’ve always wanted to leave the door open for a path of growth. You can never master sports entertainment. You can never master WWE. There’s always something to learn, and me, with all this time under tension, I’m still learning, and I’m still growing, and I’m still trying to perfect my craft.”

On His Body Being Beaten Up

“And my body is beat up. It takes me a while to warm up to these matches, and it takes me a while to cool down. And I want to leave, giving the audience that shows up, ‘Oh, you’re giving the best work of your career. That’s — I will say that’s helping push me across the goal line. That’s keeping my mind fresh. I’m also working with talent that I’ve worked with before; I’ve had new opponents to work with, so they’re bringing new ideas. I’m working with new talent. It’s honestly great in that regard that there is that curiosity to still learn. I don’t think that will ever be extinguished, but I do have to listen to my health. But there’s not one piece like, ‘Hey, it should go past December 13,’ I know there’s a lot of speculation out there. There was, at one point, ‘Oh, they’re just going to run him through to WrestleMania because that’s the end of everyone’s story.’

“That’s just the end of everyone’s story because that’s the way everyone did it before me. I told everybody 15 months ago that I was going to do this. I told ’em I was going to do a year, and I’m gonna do a year. And after this, it’s done, and I don’t say that as a bad thing. I say it as a collective that I’ve been allowed to do this for 23 years at a very high output. And to hear, ‘You’re having some of the best matches of your career,’ in the fourth generation of installments that I’ve heard that, it validates that I’m not the only one who’s exhausted. Every time I come through the curtain, everybody feels emotionally, like, ‘Man, he gave us all he had,’ and I think — or at least I hope after the thirteenth of December, people understand that that’s all I’m trying to do, just keep giving it everything I got.”

John Cena will match up with Dominik Mysterio in a rematch at WWE Survivor Series: WarGames on Saturday, November 29. The WWE premium live event takes place at Petco Park in San Diego, California. It will air live on the ESPN App in the U.S. and on Netflix internationally.

After that, John Cena will wrestle his final match at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13 at the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC. WWE is currently holding The Last Time Is Now Tournament, with the winner going on to face John Cena in his last match.

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Raw Recap, with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.