Fans haven't seen John Cena on WWE TV since SummerSlam 2021 when he lost to Roman Reigns in the main event.
Cena returned in the summer of 2021 for the Summer of Cena and was present for the majority of TV tapings and live events. Cena has missed WrestleMania in recent years and is not currently part of the WrestleMania 38 lineup. He hasn't been a full-time performer since 2017, but he does miss life on the road.
"I miss it every day. Every single day," he told GQ UK. "But I’ll be 45 on April 23rd, and I was very fortunate to make it as long as I did with only a minor list of injuries. Nothing that has changed the trajectory of my long term health. I’m strong, flexible, and in really good shape externally, internally. I think now, being a full-time touring performer might start to hit that point of diminishing returns, and I have to be realistic when I look at that."
Cena has successfully transitioned to Hollywood following his WWE run with his latest venture being The Peacemaker. Cena has worn his Peacemaker gear while promoting the show, saying he learned from his time in WWE that you have to commit to the character.
"I started doing that with The Suicide Squad. You know, I learned very early on in my WWE career that the greatest characters with the most long-term success — we just dropped a show on Peacock called Evil, which profiles eight of the top WWE quote-unquote “heels” — and a constant thread in all of that is dedication to character. And the reason, like, there’s the perception of John Cena, “Oh, he never changes” — yeah, I don’t. Because it’s the concept of uniformity. And you have to feel like you know me. In the WWE, you couldn’t catch me at an appearance without jean shorts, sneakers, a t-shirt, ballcap, and a bunch of wristbands. I was everywhere in them. And people come to know that’s who you are," he said.
He continued to discuss his dedication by saying, "I was so dedicated to it that meme culture ran with it, in multiple different varieties: the invisible John Cena meme, the unexpected John Cena meme. And a lot of that is based on being so familiar with the look. So in The Suicide Squad, you’ve got twenty to twenty-five characters, and I wanted to make mine familiar. So I asked to do all the press in uniform, and they couldn’t believe that. But I wanted the audience to know who Peacemaker was before they saw Peacemaker. By no means am I trying to score runway points, I don’t have any style aside from wearing a suit and tie, so you might as well wear the costume that people are going to see on screen and have some fun with it."
It is unknown when Cena will return to WWE television.
The first season of The Peacemaker is currently streaming on HBO Max. The show has been renewed for a second season.
