It was anticipated before but it is now confirmed that after this week, John Cena will be taking a hiatus until late December. This period will see him filming the second season of American Grit, the same thing that kept him off the shelf from October to December last year.
Cena’s last scheduled date is this Saturday in a live event at Pheonix, Arizona. Surprisingly enough, he is advertised for Survivor Series on November 20th which takes place in Toronto, Canada.
After that, he is advertised for the Monday, December 26th Smackdown Live house show at Madison Square Garden, after which he will presumably make a full-time return until his next outside stint which requires his time away from WWE.
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It was very obvious John Cena was not going to win the World Championship for two reasons – One, his 16th World Championship win will most definitely not be in a B-PPV such as No Mercy, and two, everyone knew he was taking time off. He has transitioned into a very different role right now with the WWE.
For over 10 years, he has been a workhorse being the face of the company, constantly on his feet. Although it would be hard to call him a part-timer, he definitely is not a full-time star anymore.
It is quite surprising that he has only been back since May 30th this year. Counting the fact that he was kept off television for 20 days between Summerslam and Backlash, that makes it only about 3-4 months he has been with WWE this year.
He was supposed to face The Undertaker this year at Wrestlemania 32 in what was presumably going to be The Phenom’s final match, but plans had changed as he suffered a torn rotator cuff in the beginning of the year. It was anticipated that he would be out for another 7-8 months, but John Cena being John Cena, came back in just 5.
As a result of his injury, Shane McMahon took his place and faced The Undertaker in a Hell In A Cell match.
It was reported by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that there are two plans penned in for Cena at Wrestlemania 33: 1) The Undertaker retirement match, and; 2) Cena winning his 16th world championship.
Either scenario looks like Cena may very well be getting the main event spot for next year’s Wrestlemania. Many believe that Cena should face The Undertaker as he is a deserving final opponent for The Phenom.
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