John Cena Explains Why He Grew Facial Hair

John Cena is finally coming clean about why he stopped being clean-shaven.

In the midst of the ongoing relationship drama between he and Nikki Bella, Cena was spotted out in public several weeks back taking photos with fans while sporting a mustache and the early stages of a beard. Considering Cena was always shaven during his days in the WWE, many fans couldn't help but laugh at the new look on social media.

During a recent ESPN interview, the 16-time former world champion explained why he finally let his facial hair grow out, saying it was a personal challenge.

"I've just been put in a peculiar place recently where I'm challenging myself to do things I've never done before," Cena said. "I've never grown facial hair. I had a few days free, but I since shaved it off before I did the Today show. I'm clean shaven and I'll probably go clean shaven from here on out, but I have some projects coming up that might have called for a look like that and I wanted to make sure before we did it that it was possible and it looked OK."

Based on that answer, it doesn't look like fans will see a bearded Cena again in the near future.

During the same interview he addressed his future with the WWE. His schedule has shifted into a part-time role over the past year, as he hasn't appeared on either Monday Night Raw or SmackDown Live since losing to The Undertaker in quick fashion at WrestleMania 34 in early April.

"I'm far from done with the WWE," Cena said. "The WWE will always be my home, but in this current state of affairs right now with all this extra cool stuff that's going on, it's fun to try. It's a great time to be able to take a chance and I'm so eternally grateful to the WWE and its audience for bringing me to this point. I realize I'd be nowhere without them and I never forget them. I promise as soon as I have any sort of downtime, like I had when I was at the Greatest Royal Rumble and the string of shows I did before WrestleMania, anytime free time I get will not be free, it will be spent at my home in the WWE."

Cena is currently working on a number of television and film projects outside of the WWE. His Transformers spinoff Bumblebee is currently in post-production, he'll provide the a voice acting role in the TV series Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the film The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle and he'll star in the upcoming action film The Janson Directive.