What’s the story?
For what seems like years, but has only been a matter of months, John Cena has been absent from WWE television. He’s been off hosting Fox’s “American Grit” and filming several movies.
Now he’s coming back and, appropriately, he’s coming back on July 4th. But, that’s not all! This time he’s coming back as a free agent! But what does that mean?
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The background
Cena’s last appearance for WWE was back in April, at WrestleMania 33, where he proposed to Nikki Bella following their mixed tag match against Maryse and The Miz. Now that he’s ready to head back to the ring, WWE has been hyping up his return with spots proclaiming him to be a “free agent.”
But what does that mean? Will he be staying on Smackdown? Will he jump ship to Raw? Will he be on both shows? Does WWE have the answer?
The heart of the matter
No, it appears that WWE knows about as much as we do.
Well, no, that’s not true. They obviously know what it means. They’re just playing coy. According to a post on WWE.com this morning:
Cena’s status as a Free Agent has the WWE Universe wondering exactly what that means for his future. WWE.com has learned that The Cenation Leader became a Free Agent during the Superstar Shake-up after WrestleMania, but not much else is known about what that status entails. Cena has been Team Blue through and through since the WWE Brand Extension, having been the third selection (seventh overall) of SmackDown LIVE Commissioner Shane McMahon and General Manager Daniel Bryan in the WWE Draft.
Could Cena simply be staying with SmackDown LIVE when he returns? Or will he be saying goodbye to Team Blue and heading to Monday Night Raw? Find out when John Cena makes his return to WWE on the July 4 edition of SmackDown LIVE at 8/7 C on USA Network!
What’s next?
We’ll find out on July 4th – a pretty shrewd move by WWE, considering ratings are typically low for holiday episodes. We can speculate all we want, but knowing WWE, what the eventual plan with Cena will be most likely be decided hours before showtime.
If he does return as free agent, he could be pitted against Roman Reigns on Raw, which is a mouthwatering feud, on paper.
Author’s take
Neither Raw or Smackdown have exactly been lighting the ratings on fire recently, with Smackdown hitting a ratings low for the year this past week. That means that both shows could use the ratings bump that Cena has shown he can provide.
That being said, Cena’s the main event guy and, taking a look at each brand’s world champions and contenders, there seems to be more to work with on Smackdown (especially if they decide to keep the belt on Jinder Mahal at least through SummerSlam) than on Raw.
I also can’t believe I’m starting a sentence with “I’d rather watch Cena wrestle Jinder Mahal” and ending it with “than Cena wrestle Lesnar” instead of something sarcastic.
