John Cena Talks WWE Retirement Tour in 'Late Show With Stephen Colbert' Video

WWE champion John Cena discussed his ongoing retirement tour during an appearance on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night.

At the start of the interview, Cena gave his take on the retirement tour thus far, noting that he believes the fans are truly starting to embrace it now that it is halfway over:

"It's been pretty incredible. I think we're getting now to the point where the audiences understand I'm done in December. Professional wrestling and retirement, really there's no realism there, but I will absolutely be done in December. I think it was kind of a thing where people didn't understand what was going on, but now that we're halfway through it, it's a really good live experience because every audience is different. Some of them like me, some of them hate me, but they're very vocal."

Last year, Cena announced that 2025 would be his final year as an active professional wrestler, and the retirement tour essentially began at Royal Rumble back in February when Cena finished as the runner-up to Jey Uso in the men's Royal Rumble match.

Exactly one month later, Cena competed in the men's Elimination Chamber match at the Elimination Chamber premium live event and won it to earn a shot at then-WWE champion Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 41.

On that same night, Cena shocked the wrestling world by viciously attacking Rhodes at the behest of The Rock and turning heel for the first time since the early days of his WWE career more than 20 years ago.

Cena went on to beat Rhodes for the WWE Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 41 with help from rapper Travis Scott, allowing him to break the all-time world title reign record with 17.

On Saturday at Night of Champions, Cena will face the toughest challenge of his reign thus far when he puts the WWE Championship on the line against longtime rival CM Punk.

If Cena manages to retain, a rematch with Rhodes could be on tap for SummerSlam in August since Cody can earn a world title opportunity at SummerSlam by beating Randy Orton in the King of the Ring finals at Night of Champions.

Night of Champions will essentially represent the six-month mark of Cena's retirement tour, meaning there will be only six months remaining in one of the most legendary careers in pro wrestling history.

Cena is still portraying a villainous character, but there is a great deal of intrigue surrounding whether he will return to his babyface roots in the near future in order to end his career on a more familiar note.

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