John Cena wanted to do 200 dates in his WWE retirement tour; reason why he only did 36

John Cena at SummerSlam
John Cena at SummerSlam [Photo: wwe.com]

John Cena's retirement tour will finally come to an end this weekend at Saturday Night's Main Event on December 13. The Franchise Player will face the winner of the Last Time is Now Tournament, Gunther, to draw the curtains on his legendary career.

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In a recent interview with Tom Rinaldi, Cena revealed that he wanted to do 200 dates on his retirement tour to "say goodbye" to every place that he had been as a WWE Superstar. However, the company's business plans limited him to only 36 dates in 2025.

"I wanted to do 200 dates just to say goodbye to everybody. I wanted to try to go everywhere I've been to just say thank you, and WWE came back and said, 'We can only do 36.' And that's when I was like, 'I think I can balance this with some other stuff, are you guys okay with me running in two lanes?' And they said, 'We sure are, we would just want you for this block of time.' So, it worked out great."
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WWE rejected John Cena's pitch for his retirement tour

In the same interview, John Cena revealed that he had an incredibly detailed plan for his retirement tour, complete with a pitch deck and estimated revenue. However, the company decided to go in another direction for his final year as an active in-ring performer:

"I came to them with pitch decks and specs and like, 'This is what I think the projected revenues are.' And not just talking a WWE story out of my butt, 'Okay, I think this is a good business plan.' And then they're like, 'That's not our business, this is. Would you like to do this?' And I said, 'Yeah that'd be great.'"
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John Cena's retirement tour featured a heel turn for the first time in 20 years, him breaking the record for the most world title reigns in the company, as well as becoming a grand slam champion by winning the Intercontinental Title right before Survivor Series.

If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit WWE and give an H/T to Sportskeeda for the transcription.

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Edited by Arsh Das
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