Vince McMahon Thinks John Cena Could Still Be In WWE At 70

Plus, Vince shoots on dirtsheets and compares WWE to Disney.

By Grahame Herbert /

Vince McMahon has put over John Cena as "everything" to WWE, and he believes the franchise star will try to go until he's seventy years old. Speaking with Bryan Fritz of The Orlando Sentinel following the WrestleMania 33 press conference, Vince was gushing about Cena's passion for the business.
"John is Babe Ruth, he's everything to us. And a real warrior. I don't know how long he's going to pursue this ... I don't know if it's going to be 70 like me, but he'll try. It's just in him and he loves it so much, even when he was a little kid. I don't know if you've seen some of the videos where he'd have a mini-championship belt made out of cardboard and all that kind of stuff. And on top of it, he's a hell of a guy."
Despite what Vince said, it is worth noting that Cena has talked in the past about getting out of the business early. He didn't want to be one of the guys in their forties and still bumping around. Multiple business opportunities, like his recent reality television show and movie roles, will undoubtedly pull him away from WWE in the coming years, but he'll forever be some part of the company. Vince also used the interview to take a shot at the dirtsheets and sites like WhatCulture.
"I€™ll always be anti-some members of the media, so-called dirt sheets or whatever it is. I€™ve always disliked them. Not because of their voice and certainly not because of their opinion. No one respects the First Amendment more than me. Their opinions, negative or positive, they€™re entitled to. I€™ve always appreciated that because, quite frankly, some of the things I€™ve learned from. I learn from everybody. It€™s that they want to be a spoiler. No! No! Don€™t spoil this. Don€™t spoil it for the public. But I know that€™s a part of their job."
It sounds like he has mellowed a bit on his once bitter anger towards the internet. He can respect now that there's a demand for information, and people have a job to do. He stated that in keeping things quiet, like the Shane surprise, they'll tell almost nobody in the company. Shane was hid in a bus and not event the tech people knew about his return up until a few minutes beforehand. Something else that was interesting was Vince comparing WWE to Disney. "The organization that we built and the depth and talent from a corporate standpoint, It'll put us up against Disney," he said. That's quite the statement, as Disney is clearly several times bigger than WWE. But there are business similarities with characters and franchising. It speaks of Vince's ambition that he perhaps sees his company on that sort of massive Disney level. And John Cena is undoubtedly the Mickey Mouse of professional wrestling.