"It would feel disingenuine" - Major star comments on John Cena's upcoming WWE Retirement Tour
John Cena's upcoming WWE Retirement Tour has built hype around the product in advance. Meanwhile, former World Heavyweight Champion Dave Bautista recently opened up about The Franchise Player's Farewell Tour, claiming that he wouldn't have done the same.
In 2019, Batista had his last match for the Stamford-based company at The Grandest Stage of Them All in New Jersey against Triple H. The Animal has since stated he's retired and won't participate in in-ring competition under any given condition. In the coming year, John Cena is set to retire from in-ring duties after his Farewell Tour.
In an interview with Chris Van Vliet on INSIGHT, the former WWE Champion addressed The Leader of Cenation's upcoming Retirement Tour. The 55-year-old stated he would never do such a tour, as it would ''feel disingenuine'' to him.
"This is how we [John Cena and I] are different. I would never do this [Retirement tour]. I wouldn't. I couldn't. It would feel disingenuine to me to go around. I just couldn't. I see his point where he wants to go around and he wants to personally thank the fans. But there's something in me that I couldn't do it. It would feel uncomfortable to me. Like, accolades feel uncomfortable to me," Batista said.
He added:
"I could never be a type of babyface saying good stuff because I want to get the crowd to cheer for me. I couldn't be that guy. I love and respect what he's doing with his whole tour to say, you know, thank you to the fans, but we're just different that way.'' (From 31:13 to 31:50)
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6-time WWE World Champion on real-life heat with John Cena
After coming together from OVW, John Cena and Batista have stacked many World Titles in WWE. However, the two crossed paths in the promotion on a handful of occasions, as many believed there was heat behind the scenes.
In the same interview, Dave Bautista cleared the air and stated he had no issues with The Greatest of All Time. The two-time WWE Champion and four-time World Heavyweight Champion claimed he respected John Cena a lot for the latter's contribution to the business.
It will be interesting to see if John Cena responds to his former in-ring rival's comments in the coming days.
If you use any quotes from the article, please credit Chris Van Vliet and provide an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.