John Cena announces retirement from WWE in-ring competition in 2025

John Cena has announced his retirement from WWE in-ring competitions but will stick around until 2025.

Part-time WWE superstar since 2018, Cena has seen immense success as a 16-time World Champion wrestler – a joint record he holds with Ric Flair. However, 2024 has seen much speculation surrounding the possibility of his retirement from WWE.

The 47-year-old revealed he didn’t plan on continuing his wrestling career past the age of 50, and previously shared a possible timeline for his retirement and dream final venue.

With this in mind, many fans were still hopeful that Cena would continue for another three years, but it looks like he will be departing from the sport earlier than expected.

Cena made an appearance during WWE’s 2024 Money in the Bank event on July 7, where he announced the time had come for him to step away from wrestling.

In an emotional promo, Cena declared that he was “officially” retiring from the WWE – news that was met with a devastated uproar from the crowd.

Nonetheless, the wrestling champ added that “this farewell does not end tonight”, assuring he would stick around until 2025.

Before giving up in-ring competitions for good, Cena shared that he would still wrestle at the Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber, and be part of Raw’s move to Netflix.

He also confirmed that Las Vegas WrestleMania 2025 would be his final match as the crowd began chanting “Thank you, Cena”, a motion that visibly touched the WWE superstar.

“What an incredible gesture of kindness,” Cena said. “I want to say thank you. Thank you so much for letting me play in the house that you built for so many years. Thank you so much always for your voice because it’s really loud, and your honesty because it’s beautifully brutal.”

Fans have already taken to sharing their grief over Cena’s departure online, with many admitting they “can’t imagine” WWE without him.