John Cena Explains Why He Took Time Off From WWE

John Cena has been a mainstay on the WWE roster since 2002 and, unless he’s out of action with an injury, he rarely takes time off because he is the face of the company. However, it was announced on Wednesday that John Cena will host American Grit, a 10-episode military-themed reality competition show slated to air on Fox. The show splits “16 of the country’s toughest men and women into four teams as they work together to face a variety of military-grade and survival-themed challenges.”

Cena did an interview with Zap2It.com and revealed why he felt that now was the time for him to take time off.

“I’ve been a cornerstone of WWE programming since 2002. That’s a long time, it’s more than 10 years,” he says during a group interview with a handful of outlets. “So much so that a portion of our audience has direct complacency with me. ‘Man, Cena holds everybody down. He doesn’t give the new guys a chance,'” said Cena.

Cena was the most outspoken critic of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, but he seems to have changed his thoughts on The Rock leaving the company and making the transition to Hollywood.

“Personally, and this gives me a better perspective on Dwayne Johnson’s path, you get to a certain point and you cannot attract any more fans,” he says. “Essentially, my productivity from a company standpoint . . . I’ve done as much as I can — 15 world championships and a myriad of other accomplishments. I don’t know what left I can do, but I still want to be able to put people in the building.”

Cena says the he’s healthy and he still keeps up with what is going on every week on Raw. He added that he hopes that his outside projects can help attract a new audience to WWE.