Real Reason John Cena Retired From WWE in December Instead of WrestleMania

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Many were baffled by the company’s decision to book The Last Real Champion to lose his last match via submission. Moreover, a section of fans felt a star of Cena’s caliber should have competed in his last match on The Grandest Stage of Them All, WrestleMania 42. However, the 17-time World Champion had a solid reason behind wrestling his final bout at SNME.

The latest season of WWE: Unreal recently dropped on Netflix. It primarily focuses on John Cena’s retirement tour. In episode two of the show, The Cenation Leader addressed fans who wanted him to retire at The Showcase of the Immortals. He added that WrestleMania didn’t need his retirement match on the card to be a sell-out.

“Everybody from a critical standpoint was like, ‘I want John to retire at WrestleMania.’ Why? WrestleMania will sell out on its own. Let’s do a random Saturday night in the worst financial quarter of the company, so we can bring Q4 up because I know we got some good business,” Cena said.

Cena revealed that he wanted his retirement match to bring good business to WWE in its worst financial quarter. Meanwhile, Triple H added that The Cenation Leader wished to provide solutions to the company instead of leaving a void with his retirement.

“John will wanna do what’s best to move the business forward. Not leaving a gap, but leaving a solution, so to speak,” Triple H said.

John Cena Was Part of WrestleMania 42

Although John Cena retired from in-ring action at Saturday Night’s Main Event, he played a crucial role at WrestleMania 42. Before The Show of Shows, Cena announced on social media that he will host the event in Las Vegas.

Cena was part of several memorable segments at WrestleMania. He was involved in an angle with The Miz, Kit Wilson, and Danhausen. He was also in the ring when Bianca Belair announced her pregnancy.

The Last Real Champion returned to the company at Backlash 2026 to announce the John Cena Classic, a tournament pitting NXT upstarts against established main roster talents.

If you use quotes from the article, please credit WWE: Unreal on Netflix and give an H/T to Sportskeeda for the transcription.