John Cena opened up about his plans once the SAG-AFTRA strike ends — and they do not include WWE.
“I’ve made it perfectly clear you can’t do both because of the liability insurance,” he explained at a post-show press conference at WWE Fastlane in Indianapolis on Saturday, October 7. “If I were to try to juggle both that would be incredibly selfish because I’d put a lot of people in the movie business out of work if something happened to me.”
The Suicide Squad actor, 46, returned to WWE in June. When the SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) strike began, the 16-time WWE Champion was filming a new Prime Video film titled Heads of State with Idris Elba and Priyanka Chopra.
“I’m crossing my fingers and hope we can find a resolve that everybody’s happy with,” he said. “For right now, I think this is the best way I feel I can help, to come back home to my family.”
About 160,000 actors who are part of SAG-AFTRA have been on strike since July, fighting for fair wages, better streaming residuals and more. While the Writers Guild of America reached a tentative agreement on a three-year contract with AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) on September 26, SAG-AFTRA is still on strike.
Cena, who made his WWE debut in 2002, transitioned into acting during a break from the sport. During an interview with Chris Hardwick in August 2021, the Barbie star revealed he wasn’t sure when he would completely retire from wrestling.
“If physically, I’m slower, I’ve said openly to everyone that I will keep doing this until I feel I’m offending the customer. I will continually go out there and do what I can to contribute and add,” Cena said at the time. “I don’t want to go out there and be like, ‘OK, just let him go out there and do his thing.’ I’m not into that because I know what it’s like to pay for a ticket.”
He continued: “If I were to get that on this go-round, it’s a humbling and tough thing that I will have to hurdle. If I get the opposite and it’s like, ‘You’re quicker and can do some things better and define a new personality,’ then that’s a new conversation because I do not have much time left and if I want to give it like, ‘Let’s really commit to this thing and really go all in,’ that’s an honest choice where other stuff will have to take a backseat.”
