John Cena's absence and what it really means for WWE

Will Cena’s absence prove costly for Vince?

Can WWE survive without John Cena? That might be the question the McMahon Family will have to answer now that reports have surfaced that the 15-time world champion will be taking time off following the “Hell in a Cell” pay-per-view.

Bill Pritchard of wrestlezone.com reported on Thursday that, “Cena is not being advertised for a number of events following the WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-view, including live event dates and RAW.”

Pritchard also reported that Cena has also been removed from the WWE European tour, which was scheduled to start on November 4th. Furthermore, Cena is actually not featured in any ads for WWE’s November calendar and isn’t listed for any WWE events again until the WWE live event in Toronto, Canada on December 30th.

Things have transformed quickly in Cena’s world after recapturing the United State Championship at Night of Champions last month after dropping the title in controversial fashion to Seth Rollins at SummerSlam. Cena hasn’t been without his fair share of critics of late, having being linked to more controversy out of the ring than in it.

This week hasn’t been a good one for Cena in terms of his personal life either. His girlfriend, Nikki Bella has been in the news as it was revealed her former beau, Dolph Ziggler told her he still had feelings for her on a recent episode of Total Divas on E! Entertainment. There was also speculation the news of the once romantic couple would lead to a Ziggler-Cena feud with the United States Title in play as part of the program.

Last month, Cena was named in part of a ploy to keep the Divas Title around the waist of Bella, allowing her to surpass AJ Lee’s 295-day record as the longest reigning Divas’ champion of all time.

Is everyone as exhausted as I am, right about now? Is this professional wrestling, Love Connection or a bad romance novel? And furthermore, where in the heck does wrestling play into all of this?

If everything is true that you read on websites and what you hear in the news, this may be the push WWE needs to make a statement moving forward. It could also mean many things in terms of programming, character turns and of course, what happens in a Cena-Bella-Ziggler love triangle – should there be one.

All this company needs is another saucy storyline featuring Ziggler and Cena, and no this is not one that involves Lee, who left Cena for Ziggler in the land of WWE make believe. Wow, it seems I have become a gossip columnist all of a sudden.

Can the writers of WWE – and the McMahons get past the Cena-based era in the company just long enough to attempt to fill his shoes? Is there finally a chance that Roman Reigns steps into Cena’s spot? Would a Seth Rollins face turn be the best thing for business and what happens to Kevin Owens, Cesaro and Dean Ambrose in this situation?

The news of Cena taking time off, if true, means there are more possibilities for success. It also means there are just as many opportunities for failure. News like this tends to force WWE’s hand in decision making. Will it do the same thing here? Also, if Cena takes time off for “personal reasons,” does that affect Bella and her push to regain the Divas’ Title and will Cena have a say in off-screen issues, as has been reported before that he has more stroke than he possibly should?

The company has a little under a month to decide how it will handle the change and subsequent temporary loss of its cash cow. In the interim, we will all sit back, watch and see if WWE can stay afloat even if it seems to be treading water with Cena on the active roster.

Oh, things are starting to get a little bit saucy.