Triple H believes John Cena when he says his in-ring career is finished, even as Cena returns to WWE to host WrestleMania 42.
Speaking with Joe Tessitore, Levesque reflected on Cena’s retirement and what it has been like watching him transition into an ambassador role while maintaining a deep connection to the business.
“It’s incredible. In any sport or business or anything else, certain legends that transform the business or the sport itself, John is one of those, right? John has become a household name globally, and there’s a period of time where your body just can’t do what you want it to do anymore, and I think for John, to have the moment where he gracefully bowed out in the way that he wanted to was phenomenal for him. But he loves this, and still has this incredible passion for it. It’s funny, he can be on a movie set somewhere and he’ll call me and I’ll talk to him for five minutes and the intensity and the emotion of which he will talk to me about what he wants to talk about, there’s oftentimes where I think to myself, I wonder if he’s that passionate about the movie he’s making? That can be an arduous task, and is he in this moment, like, when he goes back to talking about the passion for this, it’s a different level. I don’t know that answer but, I just know that he loves this. I do believe in his commitment that he will never wrestle, perform in-ring again,” Levesque said.
Cena retired from in-ring competition in December 2025, losing to Gunther via submission at Saturday Night’s Main Event. His last WrestleMania appearance came in 2025, when he defeated Cody Rhodes to win his 17th WWE World Championship in the night two main event. He returns to WrestleMania 42 as the host for both nights on April 18 and 19 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit Joe Tessitore’s interview with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
