Dave Bautista explains why he would never do a retirement tour like John Cena.
16-time John Cena will conclude his in-ring career following a retirement tour throughout 2025. Dave Bautista, formerly known as Batista, retired in 2019, and he has made it clear that he won’t taint his storybook ending by returning.
Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Dave Bautista discussed why he couldn’t do a retirement tour like John Cena. However, he also stated that he could see Cena’s point.
“I get along with John. I respect John a lot, a lot more than people think I do for some reason. I think the internet and I think fans have built this rivalry between us, which there really isn’t, but this is how we’re different. I would never do this [retirement tour]. I wouldn’t, I couldn’t. It would feel disingenuous to me to go around and I just couldn’t.
“But where I see his point where he wants to go around and he wants to personally thank all the fans, but there’s just something in me where I just couldn’t do it. It would feel uncomfortable to me, accolades feel uncomfortable to me. I could never be the type of babyface who was saying good stuff because I wanted to get the crowd to cheer for me. I couldn’t be that guy.”
Dave Bautista: I Retired The Way I Wanted
Bautista reiterated that he retired the way that he wanted. He stated that he loved and respected what John Cena is doing, but he could not do it himself.
“I love and respect what he’s doing with his whole tour to say thank you to the fans, but we’re just different that way,” Dave Bautista said. “I couldn’t do it. I went out the way I wanted. I retired the way I wanted. I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. I announced my retirement on Instagram and I knew I was going to do it. I just didn’t want to tell anybody I was going to do it because I didn’t want anybody to say, no, no, you got to come in, you got to give a speech, you know, the fans. I don’t know, just something about it would have felt false to me. I couldn’t do it.”
RELATED: Dave Bautista Shares Why He Refuses To Go Back To Pro Wrestling Or Tarnish His Legacy
