John Cena reflects on WWE retirement tour at halfway point

Halfway through his farewell tour, John Cena feels like the reality of his impending retirement has finally set in for fans.

The Undisputed WWE Champion was a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night, promoting his new movie “Heads of State.” Cena also reflected on his WWE retirement tour now that we’re entering the second half of 2025.

“It’s been pretty incredible,” the 48-year-old Cena said. “I think we’re getting now to the point where audiences understand that I’m done in December. Professional wrestling and retirement — there’s no realism there, but I will absolutely be done in December. So I think it was kind of a thing where people didn’t understand what was going on. But now that we’re halfway through it, audiences are — it’s a really good live experience because every audience is different. Some of them like me, some of them hate me, but they’re very vocal.”

Cena has fewer than 20 dates remaining on the retirement tour, which is expected to conclude with his final match taking place in Boston this December.

The biggest storyline development of Cena’s farewell run so far has been his heel turn that took place in advance of WrestleMania. Where the story goes next is up to the audience, Cena believes.

“There is no more adaptable form of storytelling than WWE. WWE can change a story as it happens live,” he told Collider. “You’re seeing, so far over the farewell tour dates, the 18 of 36 so far, we’ve made a ton of pivots, a ton of pivots right there in the moment.

“As we get close to the end of this thing, what dictates those pivots is the audience, and I think the audience will begin to feel differently, because now we are truly coming to the end. So, if you ever had a voice to use, if you ever wanted to say something, I hate to steal my own cliche, but the time is now. I look forward to the road ahead because the audience is going to dictate the direction we go. I think it’s a wonderful time to be a fan. I think a lot of different talent are being able to capitalize on all we’re doing, and I applaud the WWE for always being able to think extended but pivot on a dime in a moment, as it happens. I think that’s their strongest suit.”

This weekend, Cena will be in Saudi Arabia for WWE Night of Champions. He’ll be appearing on SmackDown on Friday before defending his Undisputed WWE Championship against CM Punk at Saturday’s PLE.