10 Wrestlers Who Saw WWE As A Vacation

5. John Cena

Shinsuke Nakamura
WWE.com

There was nobody begrudging John Cena the break when he finally relinquished control of the road in order to chase new goals in Hollywood and beyond in 2017.

'The Champ', for better and worse, had survived the rigors longer than most to ever work atop Vince McMahon's promotion and became the latest to earn the fabled 'Babe Ruth' moniker from The Chairman as he eased towards the part-time life following a record-equaling 16th title reign in January of that year. He willingly surrendered it three weeks later, but a care for the craft seemed to depart at the same time.

Baron Corbin and Roman Reigns were planted so deep in the ground from programmes with 'Big Match John' that they stayed down longer than a mid-2000s Attitude Adjustment victim. 'The Champ Was Here' alright, but he wasn't very f*cking welcome doing anything that required helping others fill the void he'd left.

WrestleMania 34 and 35 appearances were hugely-well received slabs of fun against Elias, The Undertaker and, again, Elias, and he may yet have one or two classics still lingering in his locker, but never has a surprising spell of elite quality looked as outlying as his 2015 United States title tenure.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett