John Cena Talks WWE, Retirement, & His Legendary Career | FAN EXPO Canada 2026

When people come up to get a photo and be like, where is he? I can't see him. Honestly, I never get tired of hearing it. I'm super grateful for it because it allows me to know that I made an impact on somebody's life. Cue the music. Passion that CM Punks brings to every, every feud. He's kind of stepped in the same situation that he kind of made fun of me about like 15 years ago. So he's in a real polarizing situation and it's cool to see him handle it in stride. I think his selling is somehow gotten better and it was already really, really good. I think his storytelling is deliberate and passionate. I think he brings the best out of his opponents, which is very important. You can be a good performer, but if you can't bring that out of your opponent, I honestly, it's crazy to say this because I want to selfishly say that the chemistry we had was the best, but in my opinion, he's doing his best work. How difficult is this transition from wrestling to movies? What is your motivator and the mental stimulus or a regime you go through? So a lot there, right? How difficult is it to learn a new skill is what I'm hearing. Very difficult. But yeah, I understand. I did my first film in 2004 and it came out in 2006. Thank you for saying a lot of nice things about the roles I've been playing. It's also because I've had 20 years of practice. So I really, it's almost like in WWE, when I broke in, I learned from veterans. I shut my ears and just let them lead. And then we had a situation where veterans and I could collaborate. And then I became the veteran and I began to lead talent. So I now feel a level of comfort on screen where it kind of feels like that tipping point where I'm ready to guide folks. I have confidence, but it didn't come overnight. It's been 20 years. So thank you for noticing. I'm really trying to put in some hard work over there. So I appreciate it. Also, great follow-up. What is your motivator? What keeps you going? I'm a human being. What keeps us getting up every day? Guys, the powerful play goes on. Life exists. And I realize I'm the luckiest person alive. And every single day, I just want to wake up and try to earn that luck. So I never want to let life down because life's been real good to me. I'm not perfect. I have some crabby days. I'm a POS some days. I try to do my best. And just every day, I try to earn the luck. And that keeps me motivated. Thanks, John. We love you. All right. Here's the cool thing about memes, right? You don't control. What a nice lesson in life. Sometimes, you do something. And you make an impact on people. And people remember it. Or it resonates with folks. And it's way beyond your control. So what can I control, right? How I react to it. His name is John Cena. Man, I have... Have you heard that prank call? I can't tell you how many times people come up. Yo, have you heard that thing they do about the phone call with you in the end? And how can I react to it? I can be angry or upset. What does that do? That causes conflict between the person that's asking me. I take myself way too seriously. Or I can embrace it and see how far it goes. And I think that call was in 2012. So here we are 14 years later. And we're still bringing it up and talking about it. I'm grateful for it. It's the same way I feel when people come up to get a photo and be like, where is he? I can't see him. Honestly, I never get tired of hearing it. I'm super grateful for it. Because it allows me to know that I made an impact on somebody's life. Thank you. I'm going to honor your request. One hug per Q&A. It's going to be right here. I'll meet you right down right now. Hi, Goshu. How do I want to be remembered? It's not up to me. You will all remember me however you want to remember me. And I said it just as I was going to retire. It's August. It's been eight months. Man, you're not supposed to remember me. If the talent does their job, their time. Like my theme song was my theme song for a reason. Because I believed in it. Like your time is up. My time is now. I am here. And now that I'm gone, it should be like my time is up. Your time is now. I got to live that life, dude. I got to live it. You know what I mean? I am trying to be a wrestler as well. But I wanted your advice on dealing with hate. Or just like bullies. Or people that don't believe in the dream. Three different types of folks. You're putting your work out there to be judged by people. You got to deal with all that. So if you want to be a wrestler and you think it's going to be a negative free experience, you're wrong. I was one of the most hated good guys for one of the longest time. I always looked at it objectively. It's my work I put out for the public to react however they want. I started shaking my boots a little bit if there was silence. Like right now. I know you guys are listening. An attentive silence. But in a WWE ring, you do not want to hear this. Because that means you're not doing good. So whether you were booing me or cheering me, I knew something good was happening. So hate. You got to get used to it. You know, a wise man once put on a t-shirt. You should rise above it. I always went out there with a smile. Even when y'all were telling me to F off. I appreciate the fans for all those moments because you taught me humility. If I ever thought my head was getting too big, boy, you were there in a resounding chorus to bring me back to earth. You even renamed my theme song. John Cena sucks. I hear it in my head. You're in a business of mixed emotions. Please understand what you're signing up for. You're also in a business where the math is not in your favor. There's not a lot of professionals. You take this room corner to corner. There's more people sitting in these seats than there are active professional wrestlers. And I'm talking not just WWE. I'm talking like paid, making a living wage. So the math isn't in your favor. Never forget why you want to wrestle. I used to perform in front of three people in a boxing ring in Orange County. And I loved it. I didn't think I'd make it past those three people. I never planned on any accolade I have. I just wanted to perform. And once I knew you could be a professional, I was going to do it by any means necessary. If I made 50 bucks on the weekend, I was a pro. I was getting paid to do it. But to make those 50 bucks, I had to work 65 hours a week and ask for the weekends off. If you ever lose the curiosity to do that stuff, walk away. It's not for you. It's okay. Just remember why you're doing it. A lot of new talent are like, how do I become a champion? I say, yeah, that's way out of your control. Because it is. How do I become a wrestler? Get trained and start doing shows. And as long as you want to be a wrestler, always be curious with your training and always be enthusiastic for any performance you get a chance to do. I hope that helps. Oh, thank you. The greatest part about retirement is I get to be a fan. I used to go to the shows, even if I was injured, I would go to shows and still, if the show kind of sucked, you're watching like, man, we can just change this. Now I just, I'm a fan. And I can be critical of the product and I can appreciate the product and I don't ask anyone what they're doing. I don't want to know. I just want to go out and sit and watch. It's one of the things I'm most looking forward to about the classic because I'm putting it on. This is a nice little detail. I'm hoping, cross my fingers, they give me a ringside seat. So I get a day to be a fan. I get to sit with my bride and watch a great product. Who is your hardest opponent to face? Brock Lesnar. Yo, I saw in your face when you were like, who? And I wanted to answer right then. Brock effing Lesnar. There is nobody tougher. Absolutely. Yes. Even when you win, you feel like you lose. Yeah. Brock Lesnar. Easy answer. Yeah. What are your top five favorite shirts that you enjoyed wearing when you were in WWE? Who? Asking the Fruity Pebble. The name is Favorite Cereal. Son of a bee sting. The Super Mario parody because it was an enormous failure. The G.I. Joe shirt was great. There was one shirt literally that simply said Rise Above Hate. Love that one. I love the Rise Above Cancer initiative because we got to raise money to do something good. I would say the Last Time is Now Washington, D.C. farewell shirt because there's a lot of inside baseball hidden messaging on that, which I appreciate. I've never thought about the top five. Thank you. That's a great question. Thank you so much, Tina. Was it hard when you were going heel? Wow. I mean, very philosophical question. It was difficult because essentially it didn't work. You guys saw the good in me and you wouldn't let me be bad for too long. We all had our fun. We had a moment. That moment happened in here in Toronto. So a lot of it, a lot of people were cheering. Some tears were shed. It was all good. But then very quickly, we righted the ship. Do you have a favorite championship run that you went on? For me, the real fun one was the IC title in Boston. Nice. My family was there. I got to be in the ring with an incredibly young and talented individual. Gosh, I got a fun moment in my hometown. Might have had one too many pints afterwards in celebration. The IC title in Boston was very fun. Thank you, John. I appreciate it. Do you ever intend to release your heel song, Fear My Name? No, no, no, no. Why is that? I've learned over the years that some things and some ideas can stay mine, and that's okay. In the creative process, we come up with a ton of stuff. It's well known that I got like singlets made, robes made, WWE filed for the trademark, I made the song. Basically, I was prepared. The reason I don't want it to get released is because y'all will spin a narrative in your head of what could have been. It wasn't. What we had was what we had. Also, I like the folklore as a lesson to talent. I only did all that stuff because it could possibly happen. I went out and redid all my gear. I did new entrance music. I crafted a new persona. I imagined how I would walk, how I would move through space, the moves that I would do, only because I heard that this might happen. A performer nowadays that I see putting in that amount of time in things that might come true is Chelsea Green. She takes every single inch and turns it into a mile. She never lets anything become unimportant. Just the fact that like, oh, this might have happened and you had this whole plan is hopefully a lesson to talent to be like, always be prepared and prep as much as you can and stuff will get canceled and that's okay. Just keep the ideas coming. What's your Mount Rushmore of new wrestlers? How old are you? 11. Who do you like? I want to hear from young fans. Who do you like? Because I know who I like. So who do you like? I like Carmelo Hayes. Yeah. Why do you like him? He's just like a good wrestler. Just a good wrestler. Yeah, overall. I'ma see him soon. I'ma tell him you said that. Carmelo, what's up, man? I met this kid in Toronto, T-Doc. He said you were just a good wrestler. I'ma say it like that. Okay, so we got one. What's the next one? Oba Femi. Okay, why do you like Oba? Yeah. Why do you like Oba? He's a big guy. He can destroy all of his opponents. He seems like a nice guy overall. So what a great takeaway. So I agree with you on your first two. He's a big guy. Seems like he can destroy all of his opponents. The last thing you said was the most profound. Seems like a nice guy. Seems like a guy that would actually be friends with you. I like Oba for the very same reasons. That's a really good analysis. Who else you got? Trick Williams. Trick? It was Lil Yachty's birthday a couple days ago. You know, he's got a match coming up. You might have one tomorrow, right? Is it tomorrow? Next week? All right. Wait, so what do you think about Trick? What do you like about Trick? He has a really good entrance. And I like how he uses Lil Yachty by his side. Any advice for Lil Yachty on his match? And beat him up. Beat him up? You seen Lil Yachty? All right, cool, cool, cool. Right on, right on. And we got a fourth. We got a fourth. Javon Evans. Wow. Okay, first of all, I want to see why you like these. Why do you like Javon? He flips a lot onto his opponents. And he's a really good wrestler. We got Kamalo Hayes is a good wrestler. Yeah. Obafemi is a beast and kind. Trick Williams has got charisma. And you got Lil Yachty. And Javon Evans is an aerial specialist and a high flyer. Those are like all four of the pieces to be the future of what's going on in the business. I think you've chosen well. I have to agree with you. Whatever I had in my head. My four is now your four. What a teachable moment. An 11-year-old fan giving me my four favorite WWE superstars. And on that note, I couldn't think of a better way to shut it down. Thank you guys so much. I appreciate everybody. Toronto, you've always been great to me. Thanks for giving me another round. Until next time.