John Cena “Doesn’t Care” About Leaving A Legacy In WWE
By Craig Ballantyne on 7 August 2025
John Cena has explained why he isn’t worried about leaving a legacy when he retires from WWE.
At the end of 2025, John Cena’s legendary 25-year career will come to an end. The star was the face of WWE for over a decade and earlier this year won his record 17th World Championship in the company.
Despite having the sort of career most wrestlers dream of, though, Cena would be happy to be forgotten after he retires. Speaking to Stephanie McMahon on ‘What’s Your Story?’, Cena explained that he is grateful for having had the chance to be “the man in the arena.”
“A lot of their retirement questions have been like, ‘what do you want your legacy to be.’ I don’t care. What I’m grateful for is I had a chance to be the man in the f***ing arena. That is beautiful, and I realized that, you know, I might have a chance to do this, and I’m gonna do it, like that’s it for me.
“I don’t care what anyone else thinks. I don’t care. The best thing for business would be for me to never be spoken about again, because that means the class that is present is running at full speed, and they don’t… you don’t need to remember anything about that.
“If when December comes and the final thing happens, and I’m out and like, I’m never talked about again, I’m still good, and it’s not gonna short-change any of the seconds that I spent in the ring.”
John Cena Leaving WWE In A Better Place Than He Found It
Cena says he does believe he is leaving WWE in a better place than he found it. The star says that he came in when business was “lean,” and his exit comes at a high point, both monetarily and in terms of how talent is treated.
“Do you feel you’ve left WWE in a better place than how you found it? I do, I do… Strictly from an analytic standpoint, sure, I came in, you guys are trading at five bucks… I came in with a name change, everybody either hurt or left, and the XFL… And then the housing crisis. I remember some lean years… And now here we are at like, $135 and it’s TKO, and it’s completely different company. The evolution… A lot more talent-friendly. It’s, it has become a lot more of a media company.”
After the events of SummerSlam, it looks like John Cena’s next stop on his retirement tour will be a match against Brock Lesnar, who brutally assaulted the star to close out the Biggest Party of the Summer.
What do you think John Cena’s legacy will be? Is he responsible for getting WWE to where it is today? Let us know your thoughts below!
H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the above transcription.