As noted, John Cena will be hosting the ESPY Awards on Wednesday night on ABC. Cena spoke with ABC News to promote the award show and here are the highlights.
On hosting the ESPYs:
“I know that I love live audiences, I love live shows. I love to show a different side of myself. I love what I do so much, and I’m not ignorant to how sports entertainment is perceived,” Cena said. “So, an opportunity like this from ESPN to kind of captain the ship on the biggest night of sports and entertainment … it’s vehicles like that that can help change perception, and I don’t look at it like a career goal, I look at it as appreciation for not just myself, for everybody.”
On when he will retire pro wrestling:
“Everybody’s like ‘Okay, when are you getting out of wrestling to do movies?’ And they’re baffled when I’m like, ‘I’m not!’ I want it to be acceptable to do both. Why would I turn off 650 million global viewers? Why would I turn off half a billion social accounts? Why would I turn off the fun? I’m going to do this as long as I physically can,” he added. “There is a definitive end in sight. But man, I’m gonna milk it for all that it’s worth. And not like, ‘I’m gonna hang on to my spot man.’ … I just want to be involved, I want to be able to contribute because the noise and the appreciation, like that is such wonderful psychology to be able to manipulate. I think the second that I become self-aware of like, ‘Hey man, what you’re doing is extremely physical.’ That’s the second where my approach to the creative process will change, the product will change … and that’s when the people say, ‘Okay, he’s missing stuff.”
Cena also said that in five years he hopes to still be doing the “balancing act” in and out of the ring. “I would like to be able to sit at this table and confidently say, ‘See! You can do it all!’”
You can read the entire interview here.
