John Cena Gushes Wife Shay Shariatzadeh Is His ‘#1 Passion’ in Life (Exclusive)

John Cena enjoyed a date night with wife Shay Shariatzadeh at the NYC premiere of his new action comedy “Heads of State.”

“Extra’s” Mona Kosar Abdi spoke with John, asking if acting is his number one passion now that he's retiring from the WWE.

Cena shared, “My number one passion is my wife. Absolutely, that is first on the list. I'd say right behind that is my health so I can be the best husband to my wife.”

John said of getting ready to say farewell to wrestling, “This is my final year in the WWE. I'm retiring this year. 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."

As for how the action in “Heads of State” compares to the WWE, John said, “A lot of the comedy here is a head of state figure who thinks he's actually tough in my lane and is not, is punching way above his weight class. So I just basically had to get beat up, and I've been doing that for 25 years, so it's just another day in the office.”

Cena didn’t base his president character on anyone. He commented, “I think it's all in the writing, and I think what's important about ‘Heads of State’ is... I know in WWE, I always relate everything back to that. You want to be able to define your character as soon as possible. When the music hits and you come through the curtain, if somebody can be like, ‘Oh, that's this guy, like, the Undertaker, that's the Dead Mortician, Stone Cold Steve Austin’ — you know who they are.”

He went on, “When you attach a name like the President of the United States, just when I say those words, everyone has a vision of what that means to them. And then you read the script and you take terms like aloof, super positive, really stubborn, overly aggressive, like, I can take those personality traits and put together an idea what I think we should look like, and then the last secret sauce is be coachable. When the director comes up and is like, ‘Hey, all those ideas, throw them out. Let's try one like this.’ As long as you're coachable, we'll end up getting what the director wants, which is hopefully the best movie.”

John also reflected on how his Hollywood career has taken off.

He noted, “I know how hard it is to get any sort of role. I saw some footage today, which was one of my first roles as a background actor and man, it really warmed my heart. I don't carry any guilt or shame when I see that, because I got to be on screen, I got to learn a little bit about the business. It allowed me to reflect on how far I've come, so, gosh, I just want to make the most of the chances that people take on me."

John doesn’t have his sights on a specific role next. He explained, “I don't approach life like that. I don't want to set expectations for myself of things I don't control. Things I can control are how I react to the opportunities I'm given in life, so if something comes my way that I think will push me out of my comfort zone within reason and something that it's, you know, it's a stretch goal that's attainable, I'd love to give it a try.”

Could he bring his co-star Idris Elba to WWE Universe? He answered, “WWE welcomes anyone, anytime, anywhere. If he's got the guts, I think we got a home for him.”