"It was a catastrophic failure" - John Cena apologizes for WWE's latest failed experiment

At SummerSlam, WWE and John Cena revealed a pretty cool new t-shirt inspired by Super Mario Bros. 3. The only problem was the huge price tag of $1,000.

Cena recently appeared at Florida Comic-Con to speak to the WWE Universe. During a question and answer session, he revealed that they only managed to sell 37 of those NFT kits due to the steep price tag. Cena went on to explain the reasoning for the price and why it ultimately failed.

"WWE wanted to put together a once-in-a-lifetime fan experience," John Cena began. "This kit is not just this kit, it's the belt, the clothing, an autograph picture, an autographed canvas picture, and an NFT. When it came up with the face value for what it cost, it came up around $500-$600 retail value and then threw in the value of the NFT. I talk a lot about failure. This idea failed. Why is it $1000? Because myself and the folks at WWE thought $1000 was a fair price point. We were wrong. We were absolutely wrong. (This shirt) is number zero of 500. I thought, 'with a value like that, the 500 will be gone.' We sold 37 of them. It was a catastrophic failure."

John Cena admits the price of the NFT package was "way too much"

John Cena said he was super proud of this design, and he put his heart and soul into it. He knows that people liked the design, but ultimately, the price was just too high.

"I design all my stuff," John Cena continued. "I was super proud of this. I love the design. It's one of those instances where I put my heart and soul and did the design and was really close with the work and pieces and market research. 'Yes, it seems fair, I think it will be good.' It sucked. It absolutely failed. I took a chance and missed. I'm sorry because it's obvious that people like the design, but it's way too much."

Are you surprised at the lack of sales for the John Cena NFT package? Do you think this should be a sign that WWE should do away with the NFT experiment? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.

Thanks to Fightful for the transcription from this event.