WWEhas confirmed that legendary wrestler John Cena will be returning to the company before the year is out to wrestle on an episode of Friday Night SmackDown. John Cena is one of the most popularWWEstars in the company’s history, with 16 world championships and numerous pay-per-view main events under his belt. Recent years have seen Cena focus on his Hollywood career, including a critically-acclaimed turn on HBO’sPeacemaker, but he’s making his long-awaited return to the squared circle.
Following a stint in the company’s Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) development territory, John Cena debuted on WWE’s main roster in 2002. Cena quickly became one of WWE’s top stars, winning the WWE Championship a record 13 times and the World Heavyweight Championship three times before he started winding down his in-ring career. While he made an appearance on Raw earlier this year to celebrate the anniversary of his in-ring debut, the last time Cena was regularly featured on WWE programming was the summer of 2021 when he facedRoman Reignsfor the WWE Universal Championship in a losing effort.
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On the latest episode of SmackDown, John Cena interrupted an in-ring promo that was being conducted by Roman Reigns,Sami Zayn, and other members of The Bloodline group. In the pre-recorded message, John Cena said that he received a text from Bloodline rival Kevin Owens, who pointed out to him that Cena was in danger of breaking his 20-year wrestling streak. In an effort to keep the streak alive, Cena confirmed that he would be returning on the Friday, December 30 episode of SmackDown to team with Kevin Owens in a tag team match against Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn.
John Cena’s impressive 20-year streakof wrestling at least one match in WWE every year since his debut in 2002 will be kept alive by this tag team match against The Bloodline. Beyond keeping Cena’s streak alive, the match will also be used to further the ongoing feud between Kevin Owens and The Bloodline. This will likely help build to the Royal Rumble event in January, so WWE fans will definitely want to tune in.
As far as 2023 goes, John Cena is not currently scheduled to make any WWE appearances, but that could change.Logan Paul has said he wants to wrestle John Cena at WrestleMania, and while the match hasn’t been booked at the time of this writing, such a bout would generate significant media interest, to say the least. Before WWE fans worry about what 2023 has in store, though, they have the December 30 SmackDown and John Cena’s return to look forward to.
