John Cena on why he keeps showing up for fans: 'I know one day it will end, but that day is not today'

Dubai: The last question of the panel came from a fan, who wanted to know why John Cena bothers. He holds the record for the most Make-A-Wish wishes granted of any person, and he is forever stopping to talk to people. Why does he love it so much?

Cena did not treat it as a soft closer.

"This is why we're here," he told the room at ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi. "As humans we search and yearn for connection with people. We want to belong to something larger than ourselves."

The 17-time WWE world champion appeared on the Main Stage on Saturday, 12 September, for a group panel at Middle East Film and Comic Con (MEFCC) 2026, alongside Pom Klementieff, Charithra Chandran and Joonas Suotamo. It was his first MEFCC appearance, and it came nine months after his final match in the ring.

Earlier in the session, asked what he most likes being recognised for, Cena had given an answer he came back to at the end.

"I'm honouring the luck that I've been given in my life."

That thread ran through his closing answer too.

"I'm very aware that I've been very lucky in my life, and a lot of that is beyond my control. It is simply just the magic of the universe," he said. "I've longed to be a part of a connected life, a life of love and purpose. And boy, am I grateful that my purpose has to do with all of you."

He described the exchange between performer and audience as a transaction he does not take lightly.

"You give me your attention, and you give me your effort. And that's never, ever, ever lost on me."

Then the line that closed the panel.

"I know one day it will end, but that day is not today. So today I say I'm grateful for it, and I'm just trying to do my best to return the favour."

Cena wrestled for the last time in December 2025, losing to Gunther at Saturday Night's Main Event in Washington, DC, at the end of a year-long farewell tour. His answer on how much he listens to fans made clear how different the two jobs feel.

"When you're doing the thing, you don't have an audience like this," he said. "Live performance is fantastic because I do something, you make noise, and then I can gauge if I'm doing something well or if I suck."

Film offers no such signal. "It's very difficult when you're doing movies because we don't have an audience. You sort of have to listen to your director, you have to make bold choices from within. And then two years down the road, you put it out to the world and you hope you like it."

"I much prefer the live performance thing, so I'm glad to see some WWE fans are still out there. I thank you for showing up," he added, before landing the biggest laugh of the exchange: "It is awful quiet on those movie sets when they say action."

Reminded that he has described himself as retired from physical performing, and that he hoists a co-star onto his shoulder in the season one opening of Peacemaker, Cena adjusted the framing.

"I'm retired from WWE," he said.

"Physicality and physical well-being has always been part of my life for the past 37 years. I don't see myself giving that up any time soon."

Asked which opponent he would choose for one more WrestleMania main event, he picked NXT champion Oba Fem.

"Oba would kick my ass so much, it would reassure me that retirement was exactly the right decision."

The panel turned to teamwork, and Cena argued that in wrestling the definition extends far past the ring ropes.

"In the world of WWE, everybody's part of the performance. The audience, I believe, is the biggest contributor," he said.

"It's a giant team effort, sometimes 100,000 people or more, all creating energy to try to get a particular outcome. So it's not just the person you're in there with. It's not just the referee or anybody helping production. It can also be all the people in attendance."

A fan question about Coyote vs Acme, the Looney Tunes hybrid that reached cinemas in August after being shelved by Warner Bros in 2023, asked how hard it was to play scenes with a cartoon who is not there. Cena turned it back to teamwork.

"With anything that has visual effects or augmented reality, you're only as good as your team, and our visual effects crew on Coyote vs Acme is fantastic," he said. "From actors dressed in green suits to effects teams actually doing visual effects to simulate cartoons, they make it quite easy."

He said losing the ability to pretend would be the real problem.

"As people who create, once you lose your imagination, you lose your creativity. So for me, it wasn't hard at all."

The crew, he said, seemed to enjoy it. "It's a movie that has to deal with jokes and comedy. So any time they tell jokes, I say, you can laugh."

On how much comic-book research goes into a role, Cena was blunt.

"I asked if I should do that, and I was abruptly told no. That was probably a good choice."

He also pushed back on the idea that audiences arrived with a fixed view of the character.

"I would have a different perspective than the question. I don't think a lot of folks were into Peacemaker before they saw Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad."

The host noted that Cena and Klementieff have a colleague in common: Dave Bautista, who wrestled alongside Cena in WWE and played Drax opposite Klementieff's Mantis in the Guardians of the Galaxy films.

Klementieff described someone quite unlike his on-screen presence.

"He's so different in real life," she said. "He's soft-spoken, a gentleman, very kind."

Cena's assessment focused on the rarity of what Bautista has pulled off.

"First and foremost, he's been able to be successful in two lanes of entertainment and transition successfully. That's very hard to do. On top of all that, he's a great human being. He's one of the most generous and kind people that I've ever met," he said.

"He always looked out for me and anyone else that was in his atmosphere when he was performing at WWE. I've yet to work with him on a movie set, crossing my fingers and hoping that'll happen. It's good to know that through all the evolution that Dave's gone through as a human, he hasn't lost his kindness and generosity."

Klementieff faced her own version of the cartoon question: how do you act opposite a talking raccoon?

"It depends on the scenes, but usually [we] try to make it as real as possible," she said.

On the Guardians sets, Rocket was played in the room by Sean Gunn, with Bradley Cooper providing the voice.

"On set, it was Sean Gunn, who was playing the character, making himself really small," she said. "He almost bit my head. I had a real reaction, I was like, oh my god, it's going to bite my head."

Not every scene came with a scene partner. "Sometimes it's just tennis balls or plastic things. But you just adapt, and as actors you have to have a great imagination, so you just have to tap into more imagination."

Asked whether the Guardians would beat the Suicide Squad, with Cena sitting beside her, she made her pick anyway. The Guardians, she said.

She also revealed that Mantis takes less time in the chair than fans assume: around 40 minutes to an hour for the wig, make-up and outfit.

"It was not too bad."

MEFCC 2026 ends on Sunday, 13 September, at ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi. Day tickets for the final day are all sold out, with autograph and photo vouchers sold separately.