John Cena Misses Wrestling Daily and Compares Triple H With McMahon
Cena says he misses performing every day but stands by his retirement, and thinks Levesque's WWE reacts to the crowd in a way McMahon's did not.
John Cena has said he misses wrestling every day, less than a year after his final match, but he still thinks retiring was the right call. In separate interviews this week, the 17-time world champion also explained how he sees Paul "Triple H" Levesque booking WWE differently from Vince McMahon, and why that leaves room for an upset at Money in the Bank on Saturday.
Missing the ring
Cena was speaking at the New York premiere of Matchbox: The Movie on October 5. The film, in which he stars alongside Jessica Biel, Sam Richardson and Danai Gurira, starts streaming on Apple TV on October 9. Asked about life after WWE, he did not hide how much he still thinks about it.
"I miss all of it every day. I miss performing every single day."
He drew a line between that feeling and the decision itself. Pointing to his heart and then his head, he said: "Just because I miss it here, doesn't make it the right decision here."
Cena announced his retirement from in-ring competition at Money in the Bank on July 6, 2024 and spent 2025 on a farewell run. His last match came on December 13, 2025 at Saturday Night's Main Event, where Gunther beat him by submission. The John Cena Classic, a tournament he announced earlier this year for wrestlers from Raw, SmackDown and NXT, is expected in December, although WWE has not confirmed a date or venue.
McMahon and Levesque
The booking comments came in a radio interview a few days before Money in the Bank, when Cena was asked whether LA Knight has a real chance of taking the World Heavyweight Championship from Roman Reigns. Cena said the company works differently now from how it did for most of his career.
"Now more than ever," he said, the business "is reactive to the audience, and reactive to zeitgeist moments in our audience." He described McMahon as someone who picked a direction and kept to it. "Vince was so steadfast in his direction, and that was very important to him, and that's how he ran things," Cena said, adding that he respected that approach.
He gave Levesque, who has run WWE's creative side since McMahon retired in 2022, credit for something else: "I also respect Paul's open mind, open ears, and open eyes."
On Saturday's match itself, Cena said "the math is heavily in Roman's corner", but argued that if WWE were ever going to change a planned finish late in the day, a match like this one would be where it happened. He also reminded listeners that nothing in wrestling is certain. "I never say never, and that's coming from someone who lost to Kevin Federline," he said, a reference to the singer's win over him on Raw in 2007.
He was full of praise for both men. He put Reigns in his "conversation of greatest of all time" and singled out Knight's psychology and presentation.
The match he was asked about
Reigns defends the World Heavyweight Championship against Knight at Money in the Bank on Saturday, October 10 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. Knight had been calling for a title shot since SummerSlam. After Reigns retained against Penta on September 14, Knight came out and hit him with his BFT finisher, and Raw general manager Adam Pearce made the match official the following day.
The same show has the two Money in the Bank ladder matches, Stephanie Vaquer defending the Women's World Championship against Liv Morgan and Becky Lynch, and Oba Femi against Bronson Reed.
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