John Cena is passionate about both acting and professional wrestling, but nothing beats love!

The Heads of State actor and reigning WWE Champion, 48, sweetly gushed over his wife, Shay Shariatzadeh, when asked if acting or wrestling was his “number one passion.”

“My number one passion is my wife,” Cena told Extra Tuesday, June 24, at the New York City premiere of Heads of State. “Absolutely. That is the first on the list. I’d say right behind that is my health so I can be the best husband to my wife.”

Cena and Shariatzadeh met in February 2019. He proposed to her during a low-key date night at home a year later on Valentine’s Day. The couple tied the knot in October 2020.

John Cena and wife Shay Shariatzadeh’s low-profile relationship made their October 2020 wedding all the more surprising. The pair were initially linked in March 2019 when they were spotted holding hands after a dinner date in Canada. The relationship marked the first time Cena had been spotted on a date since his engagement to Nikki […]

“It was beautiful,” he said of the proposal during a February 2024 appearance on The Howard Stern Show. “And I had the ring in my pocket because I was afraid I’d lose it in my bag, by chance, and I [decided to] ask her right now. So I blew all the special plans and just said ‘Hey, there’s no better moment,’ because there wasn’t — it was so beautiful, still, we were both so open and it just happened right there.”

“I would have done it in three months,” he added. “It might have been a little weird, yes. I don’t want to speak for her, but she didn’t say no when I asked.”

Cena previously spoke about his wife in a July 2024 interview with WSJ. Magazine.

When asked what his most prized possession was, the 17-time world champion replied, “The relationship with my wife.”

Cena also dished on the key to a happy marriage and relationship. “Honesty, communication, genuine love, gratitude and vulnerability have helped us tremendously,” he said.

The Peacemaker actor is set to retire from WWE this year after more than 20 years of in-ring competition. However, he said he will always remain part of the WWE family.

“This is my final year in the WWE. I’m retiring this year,” he told Extra on Tuesday. “We’re about halfway through, so I look forward to officially closing the book on in-ring competition. I will forever be an ambassador of the WWE. I’ll be part of that family till they ask me to leave.”