John Cena's former rival breaks character to praise him ahead of WWE SmackDown

John Cena is set to make his triumphant return on the final episode of SmackDown this year. Earlier this year, the Leader of Cenation made an appearance on WWE RAW to celebrate his 20th anniversary with the company. Recently, Kevin Owens praised his former rival ahead of their tag team match.

Upon his return to celebrate his 20 years with the company, Cena informed the WWE Universe that it would be a while before he would step inside the squared circle for a match.

Meanwhile, Kevin Owens asked Cena to be his partner to take on Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn of The Bloodline before the year ends. Speaking to the New York Post, the former Universal Champion praised the Leader of Cenation:

“John and I kind of mended fences a long time ago,” Owens said. “We haven’t been on opposite sides of the ring for awhile. He’s been an incredible valuable person to talk to about WWE and wrestling in general for so long. Even when we were rivals, if you want to call it that, he was a great sounding board for ideas and anything I could do to get better as a performer. He was at the very top of the business for so long, I couldn’t have imagined not using that resource.” [H/T - New York Post]

Interestingly, John Cena was Kevin Owen's first major feud on the main roster upon Owens' debut.

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John Cena will be wrestling for the first time since his appearance at WWE SummerSlam 2021

Last year, Roman Reigns was in the middle of his historic reign as the Universal Champion of the blue brand. After successfully defeating Edge, The Tribal Chief was confronted by the Leader of Cenation at WWE Money in the Bank.

The two began feuding on the blue brand, which concluded at WWE SummerSlam 2021. This was Cena's first match after his encounter with Bray Wyatt at WWE WrestleMania 36 Night 2, where he lost a Firefly Fun House match.

Unfortunately, Cena failed to defeat The Tribal Chief in their match for the Universal Championship. Later, John Cena was attacked by the returning Brock Lesnar to end the show.

Earlier this year, John Cena made his return to the company but did not wrestle. It will be interesting to see if Kevin Owens can get the upper hand against The Bloodline with the help of Cena.

Do you think The Bloodline will lose on WWE SmackDown? Sound off in the comment section below.