John Cena Says “The WWE Does Not Need Me”

With his budding career in Hollywood, John Cena has kept himself busy as his WWE appearances have become increasingly rare. Even though WWE’s television ratings have been hitting or nearing record-lows in recent weeks, Cena believes the company doesn’t need him.

“I think I would have left the WWE high and dry, so to speak, [but] now they have so much talent and so many definable Superstars. There was a time when I could genuinely say, from a financial standpoint, they needed me — that time is up,” Cena said in an interview with TheWrap.

Cena believes WWE is creating new stars at a much faster rate than when he had the rocket strapped to his back in the early 2000s.

“I only got a chance to be on television because Brock Lesnar left, Steve Austin left, Dwayne Johnson left, Mick Foley got hurt, Triple H got hurt, The Undertaker got hurt. [McMahon’s] class of the Attitude Era changed and they had to rely on new people. In doing that, they took a tremendous financial hit up front, but in the long term it ended up going strong for a decade and a half,” Cena said.

“[WWE is] certainly in a better place now than they were in let’s say 2003, and I know Vince will say on a quarterly call that he needs his stars, but he’s also aware that he’s developing them at a more rapid rate than he did when I started. So I think the future is tremendously bright for WWE.”

“The WWE does not need me. I need it and I love it, and I love every single moment I’m associated with it. But I felt it the first time this year at WrestleMania: I took a step back and looked at everything and (realized) it is such a powerful machine.”