How John Cena became the last great crossover wrestling star

John Cena knew his time was up.

- Timothy Bella

For more than 20 years, Cena was a symbol of excellence and inevitability in professional wrestling. Cast as the ultimate good-guy character in World Wrestling Entertainment, he was Superman in jorts — a 17-time world champion (the latest comes after a fresh victory at Wrestlemania 41) and perhaps the last of the monocultural, crossover stars, following the likes of Hulk Hogan, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and The Rock.

But even in the world of sports entertainment, Superman doesn’t live forever. And Cena remembered a promise he had made to the audience: When I get a step slow, I’m out.

“And I'm a step slow,” he said.

The realisation kicked in a couple of years ago. Cena was down 15 pounds from his ideal in-ring weight. He couldn't lift as much. It was time.

“It is not from lack of trying. I’m just [expletive] old,” said Cena, who turns 48 this month. “I’ve never been the best wrestler out there — I know who I am and my capabilities. So, when I can feel myself getting a little slower, it’s time to go.”

Cena says this inside a trailer on a movie set one snowy Sunday morning in early April near Cierne, a small Slovakian village near the border of Poland and the Czech Republic. He was roughly 6,000 miles away from Las Vegas, where he faced Cody Rhodes in the main event at WrestleMania, Cena’s 17th and final time participating in WWE's flagship spectacle. His victory made him the most decorated champion in the history of professional wrestling.

But a set like this has become Cena’s workspace as much as the squared circle over the years. He’s here filming Matchbox, the latest toy-brand-comes-to-life franchise with blockbuster ambitions, and Cena is the top-billed star.