John Cena on Last Year with WWE Before Retirement: ‘Gonna Be Fun’ (Exclusive)

John Cena is busy amid his impending retirement from the WWE!

“Extra’s” Mona Kosar Abdi spoke with John about his new action-comedy movie “Jackpot!” and his recent announcement that he will be retiring from the WWE after next year.

Last month, Cena broke the news of his retirement plans at the WWE’s Money in the Bank event.

He told the fans that the 2025 WrestleMania would be his last WWE event.

Looking forward to his last year in the WWE, John said, “It’s going to be fun and not bittersweet for me. It's gonna be fun. I’m so grateful that I’m in a position where I still have my health and I’m able to carve out a large section of time and perform for a year from January until December and give everyone also a heads-up.”

Cena explained, "A lot of times in WWE, sometimes injuries force retirement all of a sudden, so one day you’re there and the next day, you’re gone. Or sometimes you say you're retiring and it's part of the bit, like you want to attack somebody and get a shot at the championship. This is my way for an audience that has made me who I am after 22-23 years of investment to say, ‘Hey, I’m going to give you six months, that’s your warning,’ and then in January, we’re going on tour and then in December, I’m hanging them up.”

John urged fans to join him for his farewell tour, saying, “Let’s all get together at various spots around the world next calendar year and get loud and rowdy one more time.”

Cena also discussed how his WWE background drew him to “Jackpot!” which is like “The Purge” meets Powerball.

Cena said, “It's a little bit of a stretch, but enough where you could of believe, like suspend disbelief and be like, 'Yeah, this could happen. I kinda get it.' And that is what was really exciting about it when I read it. I I think it was over the top yet realistic, and me coming from WWE, I’m a fan of over the top yet realistic."

When asked if he prefers action of comedy, Cena answered, “Any chance you can get to entertain and call it work, you've gotta be grateful for. I think comedy, there's something special about comedy because everyone laughs. So, when your co-workers, the people on set, when everybody’s laughing, everybody’s smiling. When everybody's smiling, they're having a better day. So, I got a soft spot for comedy. I just think it makes a great workplace environment. But man, anytime you can put on a costume and perform for somebody and call it work, you've gotta thank your stars on that one."

John also raved about working with Simu Liu, Awkwafina and director Paul Feig.

He said, “Simu is, man, so gifted as a performer and Nora became a friend very quickly. I love her approach. She’s a fantastic human being and then, of course, Paul is just nonstop ideas and always has jokes and is a great human being as well, wonderful to hang out with. Being on set was great, it really was a fun time."

John also shared that one of his favorite moments from filming was working with Machine Gun Kelly.

"Man, some of the outtakes when we met Machine Gun Kelly were so fun," he recalled.