From his all-time famous “You can’t see me” gesture to short viral clips of him speaking in Chinese, you might have forgotten that John Cena is a professional wrestler.
But it might not be knowledge that you need anymore.
He has since announced on 6 July 2024 that he will be retiring from professional wrestling after over two decades in the ring.
Announces His Retirement at the Money in the Bank Event in Canada
Cena announced his retirement during the Money in the Bank event last Saturday.
After a roaring welcome from the crowd and hyping them up, the 16-time WWE champion responded, “It sounded like y’all showed up to make some noise. That is why you’re here. Why am I here? Tonight I officially announce my retirement from the WWE.”
Cena looked slightly emotional as the crowd erupted in disbelief, with people’s jaws dropped and arms thrown up in the air.
Decked out in his own John Cena merch, the prints on his attire said, “The last time is now,” and “After this, you can’t see me”, which honestly had me snorting with laughter.
We love a good sense of humour, even if it is just for branding.
The 16-time WWE champion continued sharing that throughout his over two-decade-long career, he has seen incredible waves of prosperity like what they had in the stadium, as he gestured to the crowd.
In that, he said that he has also seen tremendous hardship, “and that’s when no one knows your name, nobody wants to be your friend and only the most dedicated, hardcore fans stand by your side.”
He also explained that he chose to make this announcement in Canada because he realised that throughout his career, Canadians would always show up.
He added that he chose the Money in the Bank event because it was “the ultimate symbol of opportunity.”
For those who were unaware like myself, the WWE Money in the Bank is also a professional wrestling event where participants compete in a ladder match to obtain a briefcase that contains a contract for a championship match.
This contract can be “cashed in” at a time and place of their choosing within the next year, which can help to provide opportunities for them to boost their careers.
WWE Wrestlemania 2025 Will Be His Final One
Cena then proceeded to announce his final slate of competitions.
Speaking to the crowd he said, “The 2025 Royal Rumble will be my last. The 2025 Elimination Chamber will be my last. And I’m here tonight to announce, that in Las Vegas, WrestleMania 2025 will be the last WrestleMania I compete in.”
Following the audible gasps in the audience, Cena acknowledged that people would probably have a lot of questions.
Because of that, he said that he would kick off the press conference right after the show to field all questions about his retirement.
In the press conference, Cena stated that he intended to remain part of the WWE family in some capacity, despite feeling like he was at his end physically.
However, he said that in front of everyone, he wanted to say “thank you”.
The 47-year-old was visibly filled with emotion as the stadium began to chant, “Thank you, Cena.”
Choking back tears, the wrestler told the crowd, “Thank you so much for letting me play in the house that you built for so many years.”
A Look Back on His Career
Born in 1977, Cena signed on to be a wrestler with WWE in 2001.
This switch came after he had initially moved to California to pursue a bodybuilding career.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Cena quickly moved up to WWE’s main roster on SmackDoown in 2002, where he became a breakout success after adopting the character of a trash-talking rapper.
After all, for those uninitiated, WWE is more a performance-type show than it is a professional sports event.
However, this villainous character was short-lived as he transitioned into a heroic-type character which he described as a “goody-two-shoes Superman” after winning his first WWE Championship title in 2005.
From that point on, he went on to hold the WWE Championship title for a record 13 times and the World Heavyweight Championship title three times.
Talk about an all-star.
Of course with his success, the following years saw Cena headlining multiple major WWE shows, including five headlining acts at its flagship event, WrestleMania.
Like many other famous people in today’s day and age, Cena’s acts have been met with mixed reception from critics and audiences alike.
Regardless of public opinion, his success has earned him roles in big movies as well, like his first starring role in 2006’s The Marine.
He subsequently gained praise for roles in movies like Bumblebee, The Suicide Squad and two movies in the Fast and the Furious franchise.
As if that wasn’t enough to add to his roster, Cena also has a studio album under his belt that was released in May 2005.
It includes Cena’s iconic track “The Time is Now,” along with 17 other tracks.
In case you wanted to give it a listen and critique his album, knock yourself out here:
But of course, many of us who might not have seen Cena’s actual matches would more likely than not have seen his memes.
To celebrate over two decades of his wrestling career, here are some of our favourites from him.
- You Can’t See Me
“You Can’t See Me” memes originated from Cena’s mocking hand gesture, which indicated to his opponents that he was so good, strong and fast that they wouldn’t be able to keep up with him.
They wouldn’t be able to SEE HIM.
How this meme has evolved into people commenting on Cena’s posts pretending not to be able to see him is hilarious.
- Confused Cena
This came from 7 April 2013’s WrestleMania match between John Cena and The Rock when they wrestled for the Championship title.
During the match, Cena attempts to pin The Rock, who proceeds to kick out of the pin, which results in Cena reacting with this confused expression.
Honestly, it’s such a mood.
- John Cena dancing with headphones
This meme originated from Cena’s appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon back in 2017.
Cena was participating in the whisper challenge, where he had to make out what Fallon was saying with noise-cancelling headphones on.
In early 2023, his little grooves with the headphones on became a CapCut template on TikTok where it went viral with its pairing of Cupid’s song, Fifty Fifty.
- Chinese John Cena
Along with many viral clips of Cena speaking in his accented Chinese, comes the John Xina meme.
This came after a video of John Cena’s Apology to China surfaced, where he apologised for saying that Taiwan was a country.
Poking fun at Cena’s video, this photoshopped meme of Cena as the Chinese communist revolutionary Mao Zedong quickly made its rounds on the internet.
Whether it’s memes or his last WWE bouts, I can’t wait to see what John Cena has in store for us – although I’m not 100% sure we can see him.