John Cena recently explained why his final WWE match wasn’t held in Boston, despite fans expecting it to happen there.
Speaking with Bill Simmons, Cena said the decision was out of his hands. When Simmons asked why the match wasn’t in Boston, Cena replied, “That’s way beyond my control. I don’t book the live event calendar… If it was up to me, every match would be in Tampa.”
He joked, “The mistake is I didn’t have 36 matches in Tampa.” Simmons pointed out that Boston is Cena’s “home team,” and Cena agreed it felt special to wrestle there one last time. But he admitted there are many behind-the-scenes factors fans never see.
Cena said, “You never know… you don’t know the routing, you don’t know live event hurdles… I don’t know if the Garden was available.” Cena also talked about the emotional stretch of doing so many “lasts” – his last SmackDown in Chicago, last time in TD Garden, last time in MSG, last RAW, last PLE in San Diego, and finally his last match.
According to him, WWE originally planned a big tribute show for his final match, but he pushed back. He explained that he called Triple H and said, “I think if we do a tribute show, one of two things are going to happen it’s either going to be too much or too little, which means it’s not going to be good.”
Instead, Cena pitched a way to use WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event to highlight WWE’s future stars. Cena said he told Triple H, “Everyone knows it’s John Cena’s last match… show the future of your business.”
He added, “Bring top WWE Superstars CM Punk, Charlotte Flair, have them wrestle the future, bring kids up from NXT, let them feel real noise and bright lights. Maybe they’ll think, ‘I want to be here.'”
Cena wanted the show to inspire fans to follow the next generation, saying, “I want people tuning in for me to say, ‘Yeah, but did you see that other kid? I’m watching next Monday because they’re awesome.'”
He concluded by saying that this was the best way he could “tip the cap and try to keep the thing going” and help keep WWE’s momentum going.
Read More: John Cena Shares His Post-Match WWE Retirement Plans
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