John Cena, who has been WWE’s biggest star for the past decade, has been off of WWE television since October, as he’s in the middle of filming a competition reality show for Fox. He was last seen at WWE’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, where he lost the United States Championship to a returning Alberto Del Rio.
It’s expected that Cena will return to WWE television before the end of the year, and upon his return, he’ll begin feuding with Alberto Del Rio, and he’ll likely win back the United States Championship at some point during that feud.
Cena’s absence has hurt the WWE product, especially since they’re going through a period where several of their biggest stars, like Randy Orton and Seth Rollins, are out of action due to injury, and won’t be returning any time soon. In fact, Rollins may be out of action until next August, and Orton, depending on if he needs neck surgery or not, may be out of action until 2017.
During Cena’s tenure atop WWE, the only time he’s taken off was due to injury, and even when he’s injured, he’s able to come back way sooner than expected. Basically, Cena has been on the road for WWE for the majority of the last ten-plus years.
At a certain point in every athlete’s career, they have to listen to their body, and take their foot off the gas, and Cena, at the age of 38, is finally at the point where he can’t continue to go every single night .
As for how many dates per year Cena will end up working, well that remains to be seen, but while he will be working less dates, he’ll still be on WWE television every single week. So, basically he’s just deciding to cut out working on most of the non-televised live events.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that Randy Orton, who began wrestling at about the same time as Cena, wanted to work a lighter schedule as well, and now with Orton having significant shoulder and neck issues, it looks like he’ll be working fewer dates upon his WWE return, whenever that may be.
It would appear that both Cena and Orton are preparing for life after wrestling, as both of them are approaching their 40’s. Of course, it’s expected that the two will still be regulars on WWE television for the foreseeable future, but the number of live events the two appear at will be significantly reduced.
Most are thinking that Cena is going to venture into Hollywood, as he was praised for his performance in Trainwreck , which was released over the summer.
Cena wanting to work a lighter schedule explains why WWE is so dead-set on making Roman Reigns the new face of the company by the time WrestleMania 32 rolls around, but, up to this point, the company is failing miserably at making its fans want to see Reigns as the new top guy for the next five to ten years.
There have been rumors that WWE is planning on having Cena face Reigns at WrestleMania 32 , hoping that the fans who attend the event, will hate Reigns less than they hate Cena, thus they’ll end up cheering Reigns as Cena passes the torch to him.
There have also been rumors of Cena facing off with The Undertaker at WrestleMania 32 , which will be one of the only times the two of them have ever faced off of a major stage, and it’ll be the only time the two of them have ever gone one-on-one at a WrestleMania event.
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