John Cena explained why his plan to wrestle 200 dates in his final WWE year didn’t work out.
A few days ago on The Bill Simmons Podcast, Cena shared that he originally wanted to work 220 dates for his retirement tour. However, his filming schedule made that impossible and he admitted he could physically handle only 36 dates.
Now, Cena has explained why he even wanted to wrestle 200 dates in the first place. Speaking in an exclusive interview on WWE’s YouTube channel after RAW. For him, doing over 200 dates felt like the traditional way to end a career.
However, WWE no longer runs that many live events, and the company’s business model has changed. He said, “It was also a great exercise in, just because I think it’s good, doesn’t mean that’s what we’re doing. I had this whole…I pitched “X” and specs and ‘This is what I think the projected revenue is.”
“Not just talking WWE story out of my butt. ‘Hey, I think this is a good business plan.’ ‘That’s not our business.’ Okay, I just torch that plan. ‘This is our business. Would you like to do this?’ ‘That’d be great if I can balance this.'”
Cena said the whole process taught him an important lesson, “What a great exercise in just because you think you have a good idea, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. It means you think it’s a good idea. It got us to here and it’s a cool spot to be in.” [H/T: Fightful]
Instead of 200+ dates, Cena’s final year shifted to a WWE-approved schedule of 36 dates a workload he could realistically manage. This weekend, he will face Gunther at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event in his final match.
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