John Cena Explains Why He Opted to Retire in December, What He Told Triple H About His Idea

Former WWE Champion John Cena wrestled his retirement match against Gunther at Saturday Night’s Main Event in the nation’s capital in mid-December last year.

When the details of his farewell bout were announced by WWE, fans felt that the event and its timing were not fitting for the man of Cena’s stature to bow out. Many felt that he should have retired at WrestleMania 42.

The 17-time World Champion recently appeared on the No-Contest Wrestling Podcast, where he explained why he opted to pick the month of December for his farewell bout. Cena explained that since December is the least eventful month on the WWE calendar, he felt that retiring in the middle of that month and not waiting until WrestleMania was best for business.

John also revealed what he told Triple H and WWE President Nick Khan while presenting his idea.

On why he picked December as his final month:

“There is a lot of stuff going on in December, and in the WWE calendar, Survivor Series is the last one, and then everyone waits for the Rumble. December is like a month in limbo. They’ve never really been able to crack that code. And with people on holidays, there’s until the holiday season is over, until the 26th, tickets are tough to sell because people are spending on holiday presents. So, it’s a weak month for viewership; it’s a weak month for live attendance. And the fans are like, ‘Wait till January!’ When I presented this idea to Nick Khan and Triple H, they were awesome. ‘Who do you want to work with? What event do you want to retire?'”

“I simply said, ‘Hunter, who I want to work with is up to you; that’s your department. I’ve never been that guy. I don’t want to take this last year and change who I am. You deal with my plan.’ ‘Nick, from a business perspective, the data that I’ve gathered over 23 years of doing business is that December’s soft. WrestleMania is gonna sell itself. So retiring at WrestleMania is selfish. It doesn’t do anything for the business. We retire in December, our weakest month, and take the middle of the month, the dry zone, that desert from the end of Survivor Series to the beginning of the Rumble. We put it like in the middle of December because I know once you do the Holiday Tour, the house will come back, and you guys will make money. Let’s show a profit in Q4. And you put whatever arena you want; it doesn’t matter, no affiliation to geography. Just let’s get ourselves in the best position to have the best December that we can because this, I feel, is an event that people will pay to see,’” John Cena said.

Check out John Cena’s comments below [from 24:45 onward]:

Cena’s farewell bout ended in heartbreaking fashion, as the 17-time World Champion tapped out to Gunther, leaving fans at the arena and worldwide shocked.

Please credit the No-Contest Wrestling Podcast and give an H/T to 411Mania for the transcription if you take quotes from this copy.