John Cena discusses scaling back his WWE schedule.
With John Cena making less and less WWE appearances each year, fans have begun to wonder if Cena is officially done as an in-ring performer. While he made special appearances at WrestleMania 35 and Raw Reunion, he hasn't wrestled since January 14 and even missed the Royal Rumble after initially being advertised.
?When do I walk away? And when do I walk away with essentially a sense of mental and physical sanity? And I?m right at that precipice. I feel great. I?m in the best shape of my life. It?s not that I couldn?t continue. But I think from this point on, me continuing, I run the risk of tipping that balance the wrong way," Cena told Sunday Today host Willie Giest.
When asked about walking away, Cena said, ?No, no. I will never walk away from WWE. That?s the great thing about WWE; you can perform in any capacity. And as long as I?ve made a promise in the in-ring aspect of things, as long as I can keep up with the current product, I will perform."
Cena now has a full-time movie schedule and, according to IMDB, is slated to appear in five films that are currently in production or filming.
"Now, the opportunities that I?ve been awarded keep me from being in the ring, and I actually think that?s good because it makes any time that I?m invited back to WWE super, super special. And that?s the way it should be," said Cena. "If I didn?t have these opportunities, I still would be taking, actively taking more time off. Because my body just can?t handle the schedule anymore. It?s a lot of performances a year. And I love it so much; I don?t ever want to take time off. I wanna perform. You can essentially take as much time off as you want. But when I turned 40, I honestly looked in the mirror and said, ?Hey man, I know you really like this. But instead of 250 performances a year, from here on out, just do it 100 times a year and do it well.? And then it became, ?Just do it 50 times (a year) and do it well.? And now it?s like, ?Hey, you really have to prepare to get ready to perform, and then really recover after a performance. What?s that country song? ?I?m not as good as I once was, but I?m as good once as I ever was.'?
It is unknown when Cena will return to WWE television. Fans can catch Cena on the big screen in "Playing with Fire," which releases in theaters on Nov. 8.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit Sunday Today with a h/t to Fightful for the transcription.