I wasn’t too upset when John Cena ended his career by tapping out to Gunther. The controversy fit Cena’s entire career, and we knew he wasn’t giving up on his beloved WWE Universe — just that phase of his time repping the company he loves as much as its fans.
But he said that he would clearly delineate the next phase by changing his look for appearances. At Money in the Bank 2024’s post-show press conference, Cena said:
“Yes, the jorts will be retired — man, just when they were coming back into fashion,
too. I want to make it perfectly clear when I say I am done competing, the uniform will be retired. You will see me in a suit and tie.”
A year into his retirement however, Cena is already showing up on WWE television in “the uniform”. So what gives?
Talking to SI.com’s The Takedown, Cena first pointed out something I and many others did… he wasn’t wearing jorts in his two recent John Cena Classic-promoting appearances:
“Those weren’t jorts in Brooklyn, and they weren’t jorts on NXT. I’m wearing cargo short. I’m not wearing any wristbands, I don’t have a towel and I don’t have any knee pads. So, when I said the jorts are retired, the f—-ing jorts are retired.”
Honestly didn’t catch the lack of wristbands, towel, and knee pads, so I’ll concede that point. It was still “the uniform” though, right?
Cena concedes that, but says the suit wasn’t sending the signal he wanted it to. It also limited what he could do in the ring:
“I don’t wanna confuse the consumer. If I show up in dress shoes in a suit with a pocket watch, hopefully the consumer isn’t gonna think one more match. John’s not really done. That didn’t work. They still chanted one more match. And I love wearing suits. Also, Cody Rhodes gets beat up in suits. So, the one thing I was trying to accomplish was really murky.
“How do I feel most at home here? I love running to the ring. I love when the energy of the audience is there, and I can bounce around the ropes. If you look at WrestleMania, and those events that I show up in Tampa in a suit, I’m walking [very] carefully to the ring. The bottom of those shoes are slick, and I like a fitted suit, so I’m also worried about busting my pants.”
He says “the cargoes, the sneaks, the T-shirt, and the ball cap” are what he would wear to a wrestling show anyway, so he figured why not make that his post-retirement “uniform”. Would he wear his own merch though, I wonder? Did someone figure out they can’t sell suits, but they can still sell Cena’s multi-colored tees?
Anyway… Running the ropes does not mean breaking . That’s why Cena doesn’t want young WWE talent trying to get famous by calling him out:
“The only thing that matters is I control what I do, and if it’s one of those things where a talent is like, ‘Hey, man, maybe I can come out and talk some trash about you.’ Okay, where’s the payoff? Where are we building? You’re wasting your air, you’re wasting space. If you call me out, that’s great. You have a few good zingers about me. Good for you, but you’re building something, and you’re influencing the consumer to something that you’ll never get. We’re never gonna deliver on this. So, use me as a conduit to call somebody else out.”
That part makes sense. I still think the uniform change is a bit of a cop out, but oh well. I don’t want to get used to Cena calling us “the consumer”, but that’s not gonna stop him.
Weigh in on the Never Seen 17’s explanation and post-wrestling WWE life in the comments below.
