You might assume that John Cena is at a crossroads in his career.
Having been the face of WWE for most of the last 15 years, the physical specimen has recently turned his talents to acting. Cena has thrived, too, as he was one of the funniest performers in “Trainwreck” opposite Amy Schumer, while he is even more impressive in “Blockers,” which he leads alongside Leslie Mann and Ike Barinholtz.
Cena will follow up “Blockers” with a leading role in the “Transformers” spin-off prequel “Bumblebee: The Movie.” But while the athlete’s stock in Hollywood is clearly on the rise that doesn’t mean that he is planning on retiring on from wrestling anytime soon.
Cena insisted as much to me over the phone earlier this week when I asked him straight out if he now plans on combining his burgeoning acting career with his wrestling efforts.
“Yes, yes. Absolutely, absolutely,” was his emphatic response, which then led him to admit that he does expect his wrestling commitments to dwindle.
“I am not at a point in my health where I think I can handle, and I know what the schedule of top tier performers is, it is 250 live events of the year. I am 40-years-old. I’m not sure that my body can handle that many live events a year.”
“But I know my body can handle more than zero. So I am definitely still in it and performing as much as I can and I still love it as much I did the first moment I walked out the tunnel.”
Cena has clearly captured the acting bug, though, because he then admitted, “But I also love being able to do stuff like this. People are seeing the movie and laughing their asses off.”
“It is a fun movie. It is obvious I enjoyed making it. I am talking to you about it, which means that I really enjoyed making it. It is a wonderful experience that brings me the same amount of joy as being in a ring.”
The wrestling itch is still there, too, because when I asked Cena for an update on his rumored match with The Undertaker at Wrestlemania 34 he underlined that even if it doesn’t happen he will still be in New Orleans on April 8 as a fan.
“From a performance standpoint, if you look at my Wrestlemania performances over my career I just want to be a part of it. This year it was almost not on the cards for me to be a part of it. So I kind of became proactive.”
“At the same time, I am like, ‘You know what, if someone decides that it is not the right time. If The Undertaker decides that what he did last year was enough, and he doesn’t want to come back, my match, my role is to be a fan. And I will be the best fan I can be.’ It’s out of my hands, though, so we’ll see what happens.”
That will be a very busy weekend for Cena, because “Blockers” arrives in cinemas 2 days before Wrestlemania 34, as it is released on April 6.
