John Cena "Didn't Really Want" To Leave WWE To Make Movies

John Cena has revealed he "didn't really want" to leave WWE to make movies.

The 16-time world champion has only made sporadic appearances in WWE in recent years, instead spending most of his time in Hollywood starring in movies like The Suicide Squad, Ferdinand, F9 and Bumblebee.

Cena is currently promoting The Suicide Squad and he told Forbes that he didn't really want to leave WWE, but he decided to make a bold choice and pursue acting.

"I didn't want to really leave in the first place but I was faced with a bold choice and that bold choice is try your hand at another way of entertaining people through movies and television but if you take that risk, then you can't be on the WWE in a full capacity. I could speak maybe or I could be an announcer but you can't participate. You can't have matches because the insurance companies bound you to the production. That's very fair terms," Cena said.

"This is the first time, like Fast came out, The Suicide Squad is coming out August 6. We just dropped the trailer for Vacation Friends. I've been filming movies a lot and that's why I've been away. This is the first time I got a break. I have this block of time, so instead of taking a deep breath and kind of letting it all sink in, I wanted to go home and see my family in WWE, so back to the ring I go!"

Cena's final WWE appearance of his current run is scheduled to be the September 10 Super SmackDown at Madison Square Garden. The Doctor Of Thuganomics hinted he will be sticking around longer, though, because he has to defend the Universal Championship he plans to win at SummerSlam.

On if he can balance his movie and WWE schedule, Cena added: "Man, never say never about the WWE. Like I said, I had a month to myself and here I am back in a ring. So maybe if I get another month to catch my breath, I'll hopefully make another visit back. I'm going to have to defend that championship that I win from Roman somehow (winks)!"