John Cena Talks Impending WWE Retirement: “That Time is Gonna Come Soon”

Is John Cena ready to hang up his wrestling boots for good?

Recently, the 46-year-old superstar further discussed his plans to retire from the WWE with ET’s Nischelle Turner. Cena — who was on hand to promote his new action film, Argylle, in London — said he intends to retire from wrestling soon. “That’s not a maybe. That time is gonna come and it’s gonna come soon,” he said.

Cena notably made his WWE debut 22 years ago in 2002.

He continued: “I made a promise to the consumer early on, to WWE fans, ’cause I know how tough it is to be a fan. You gotta come out of pocket — and WWE has a ton of content — it takes a lot to be a passionate fan and our fanbase is passionate and global. I never wanted to go out there just for the sake of going out there. And I’m gonna be 47 this year. I feel great. So inside I feel great, but I know what it takes to be a WWE performer night in and night out and I don’t ever wanna just go out there and do it to do it. I wanna have the passion — the same passion as the fanbase — and I wanna give them exactly what they give me. The miles on the speedometer say, ‘Hey, that’s gotta be done before 50.'”

The Argylle actor will be turning 47 on April 23 and he says that’s “the timeline I’ve put on myself.”

“It’s tough to juggle both because, you know, when you’re filming Argylle, Matthew [Vaughn] won’t let you go do anything else because of insurance,” he joked. “So as long as the phone keeps ringing and we’ve had some good opportunities here, I’ll kind of preserve that for as long as I can. But even coming back for these one-at-a-time things or short three-month periods, it takes its toll more and more and I’ve just had an incredibly fortunate run with my health. I feel great. I just want to continue to feel great the rest of my life.”

When asked if he plans to dip his toes back into wrestling after he retires, similar to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Cena noted that he’s “had at least one match every year in WWE for the past 23 years.”

He added, “I’ve never missed a year, and as long as I can perform, I don’t intend to miss a year.”

WWE’s big WrestleMania event is coming up in April, and Cena teased the possibility of him attending. “I don’t know if I’ll be free that weekend, but it is a weekend and movies don’t shoot on the weekends,” he playfully said. “But when I say I’m done — in WWE, they say never say never and a lot of people retire and come back — I’m just being honest with myself. There’s such a great new generation now as well. It’s time to pass the electric energy on to the folks that can be there every day.”

Based on an unpublished fourth book in a series by author Elly Conway, Argylle also stars Dua Lipa, Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell and Ariana DeBose. The spy thriller hits theaters on Feb. 2.