WWE legend and 16-time World Champion John Cena made his highly-anticipated return to the company on Monday night’s RAW’s Netflix debut from the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California. Cena took part in a promo segment, where he announced that he will be entering the 2025 Men’s Royal Rumble match and intends to head to WrestleMania 41 and capture a record-breaking 17th world title.
Cena participated in the RAW on Netflix post-show press conference, where he discussed several topics, including not mentioning The Rock as a potential opponent for his retirement tour.
Cena said, “What I was doing was speculating on the opponents that you guys have mentioned for myself. I guess what I wanted to say was — I was trying to make a realistic sense of, I don’t have the capacity to come in and demand main events. Because it’s been quite a long time since I put together a string of wins, and I just wanted to set realistic expectations for the audience. And I see a lot of headlines — and by the way thank you, because without your buzz we don’t get the crowds we get and the enthusiasm we get, so thank you very much. But with all the speculation of like, ‘Oh, could it be this person, could it be this person?,’ I’m just grateful to have a chance. And then it kind of struck me out there that there are a few lottery tickets out there so you never know. 17’s been floating out in the universe, and I don’t know if 36 dates is enough time to work my way up from ‘Haven’t won a match in a long, long time’ to ‘#1 contender.’ So if I get lucky in one of these lottery things, I’ll be very happy.”
On Cody Rhodes finishing the story and becoming Undisputed WWE Champion:
“I don’t like the term ‘Finishing the story’ because there’s always another night. If anybody’s story is getting finished this year it’s mine, because I’m gonna be done after this year. I think it was Cody’s way to say, ‘I’m here to get this done, and I’m going to do it.’ So anybody who says they’re going to do something and then gets it done, I’ve got to tip my cap to them. I just tried to say out there that this is my last Rumble, and I know that the Rumble is a crap shoot. It’s literally a lottery ticket. But there is no other competitor, no other Superstar in the Rumble that can say it’s their last. And it is guaranteed my last. So when you’re extra tired, and maybe if you need some extra strength to hold onto the top rope so your feet don’t hit the floor, knowing that it’s your last you take a different perspective on stuff. So I’m hoping that gives me the energy to get a ticket to WrestleMania.”
You can check out Cena’s comments in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
