John Cena's retirement match takes place at Saturday Night's Main Event on December 13, where he'll either face Gunther or LA Knight. Still, when wrestlers like Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels have stepped back into the ring after retiring, not everyone is convinced that Cena is done.
Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! yesterday evening, the Leader of the Cenation made it clear that there will be no "one more match" for him.
"This has really never been done in WWE history, WWE superstars don’t necessarily 'retire,' they kind of hang on for one more match," Cena told the host. "I am absolutely 100% done. The 13th of December on Peacock is my last in-ring performance. I will never wrestle again."
Addressing the doubts many fans have about his send-off, the 17-time WWE Champion added, "It’s weird because there’s a lot of scepticism out there because this has never been done before. I just hope people can come to grips with that. And if you’re one of those people who’s like, 'You’re never gonna retire,' after the 13th is going to be weird because you’re not going to have the closure you want."
"The reason I wanted to give people so much lead time is being able to perform for two decades and people allowing me into their living rooms week after week for 52 weeks a year, no reruns, you do feel a connection with people, and touring the world in this last year, it really has been beautiful," Cena added, explaining why he wanted a "retirement tour."
He concluded, "Meeting audience members and them sharing their stories has been great, and I wanted to give those people a heads up so people could process whatever closure they wanted for the 13th."
The rest of Saturday Night's Main Event card is expected to be made up of exhibition matches pitting main roster stars against NXT talent. None of those bouts have been announced as we write this, and it's unclear what the plan is for them right now.
You can hear more from Cena in the player below.