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What's the story?
John Cena may have just returned for Survivor Series and is set to return for the Christmas Day edition of Monday Night RAW possibly in a title match, but he seems to be focussing on his film career with animated film Ferdinand set to be released imminently, In a recent interview with Wrestletalk he confirmed he was done with a full-time schedule in the WWE.
In case you didn't know...
In the last few months, John Cena has significantly reduced his appearances on the WWE, acting as a 'free agent', who is able to compete on both RAW and SmackDown LIVE as he pleases. Most recently, he moved over to RAW to take on Roman Reigns in what was somewhat of a passing of the torch, before helping team SmackDown LIVE at Survivor Series.
The heart of the matter
As John Cena completes his press rounds for the movie Ferdinand, in which he provides the voice for the lead character, it really seems like we're witnessing the winding down of the career of the biggest wrestler of the last decade. He spoke about it in depth during an interview with Wrestletalk to promote his film.
First of all, he mentioned that because he's making the decision to focus on his film career, he has had to make a choice between appearing on the WWE or acting in films, mainly because it's hard to do both at the same time.
"To change everybody's mind, you've got to do one or the other. Here is the absolute fact, when you sign up to do a movie insurance doesn't let you wrestle. The movie only shoots for so long and then you've got to plan to do stuff like this, you have to promote an event. That's like having Wrestlemania and not letting everybody know where to get a ticket, nobody would show up, so you do have to make time to promote."
However, Cena does go on to add that at forty years old, he's starting to feel the strain of the more physically demanding aspects of professional wrestling and doesn't feel that he can keep up with a full-time WWE schedule.
"I don't ever want to rob the consumer and phone in a performance and I don't feel at my age that I can do a full WWE schedule, but I know that I can still contribute and I will contribute in any way shape or form, even if it's being a surprise entry into a Survivor Series team, I will be happy to be on the team because I love WWE, so my role in the future will change. It will certainly be up to, one, what I'm available for and, two, creatively what they're asking me to do, but I'm ready for it all."
What's next?
Cena is currently on another hiatus from the company after appearing in a spontaneous losing effort as part of Team SmackDown at Survivor Series. Cena's return date is unclear but there are rumours circulating that he'll be appearing on the Christmas Day episode of Monday Night RAW.
Author's take
Like him or loathe him, John Cena undoubtedly has that big-match quality that sells pay-per-views and puts the bums of the WWE Universe in seats. His cutting down of appearances in the WWE will be a huge loss, not only to the WWE themselves, but also fans of wrestling worldwide.
