Last year, John Cena announced that in preparation for his in-ring retirement, he'd be going on a year-long tour with about three-dozen dates, one of which pitted him against his former rival CM Punk at WWE Night of Champions. While appearing on "Pardon My Take," Punk addressed whether he'd approach his own future retirement in the same manner as Cena. Admittedly, he wouldn't.
"I think you can't [do a year-long tour] because he did it," Punk said. "I said this on the microphone with Cena, one of the segments we did, I said 'We are on the same path. I'm just not egotistical enough to announce it.' Honestly, it's the truth. He's a little bit older than me. It's one of those things where I know it's looming. When I came back to WWE and I blew my tricep right away, there was part of me that was like, 'Oh, is this it? This sucks.' Yeah, I came back for it in record time. Pat myself on the back. Six months [later], I was back in the ring and I was doing the best work of my career in my opinion. But after a while, it's not so much the injuries because you can rehab and come back from anything, but it's just, man, do I want to do this again?
"Do I want to bust my ass and work impossibly hard and it's not recognized because all the hard work goes on when people aren't watching?" he continued. "Am I setting myself up to hurt something else? But we're all banged up."
Cena, at 48 years old, will reportedly lace up his boots for the final time on December 13 at WWE Saturday Nights Main Event in Washington D.C. Punk, who turns 47 next month, will continue to be active in WWE beyond that. Most recently, Punk and real-life wife AJ Lee defeated Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins at WWE Wrestlepalooza. At the same event, Cena lost to Brock Lesnar within minutes.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Pardon My Take" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
