John Cena has announced his 2025 retirement tour.
Cena formally announced that 2025 would be his last year in wrestling, indicating that Royal Rumble, WrestleMania and Elimination Chamber would be his last. However, he'd indicated that he'd work 30-40 events during that period. Fightful Select's Sean Ross Sapp has learned more about his WWE Money in the Bank appearance and retirement.
John Cena wasn't exactly hiding in Toronto on July 6, and Fightful Select reported that he was in town for the show. Despite that, the talent we spoke to said that they didn't realize he was going to be retiring until they saw him in his "The Last Time Is Now" merchandise. There were several people in the company that knew the news was coming, but it was kept close to the vest. We're told that it will be a heavily promoted retirement tour, and Cena is expected to be around fairly often throughout 2025.
WWE sources said that there was some discussion over how Cena would be utilized during the retirement tour, how many dates he'd commit to, and how they could work around his scheduled in 2025 to make it happen. We're told that in addition to his WWE schedule, the company is expecting him to still have a number of other obligations. There have also been talks about how Cena will be utilized within WWE following his retirement, but it was adamant that he would be seen on screen again in some capacity following that tour.
With John Cena working in 2025, he'll have worked at least one wrestling match every year from 1999-2025, and specifically will have worked a WWF/WWE match every year since 2000. Though he debuted on screen in 2002, he worked a number of dark matches prior to that. This is something that Cena has taken pride in publicly and privately over the last couple of years.
Several talent have already reached out to Fightful and indicated that they're already angling or have planned to angle to try to work with John Cena during the tour.
This article first appeared on our premium service, Fightful Select and was republished here on Fightful. If you complain about it being "old news," you have to take all of the bumps in SRS' matches for him. Subscribe to get exclusive news every day, and a half-dozen weekly podcasts.
To directly support us and our continuing breaking news, interviews, and the like, subscribe to FightfulSelect.com. You'll get exclusive news sent to you directly before anyone else, and dozens of podcasts monthly including Alex Pawlowski's Sour Graps, Sean Ross Sapp's Q&A, Retro Reviews and more
