John Cena is set to wrestle for the first time this year at the December 30 edition of SmackDown.
The longtime star-turned-Hollywood actor will tag with Kevin Owens against Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn. John Cena has not wrestled since his SummerSlam main event loss against Reigns last year. In that time, Cena has been focusing on film and TV work, including the popular HBO series Peacemaker.
As per the Wrestling Observer, several angles for John Cena at next year's WrestleMania could be implemented in next week's match. Despite interest in seeing the 16-time World Champion perform at the Show of Shows, it's not yet definite he will be able to. The former face of the company is very busy with other commitments at the moment but it's believed he will manage to make the Mania event.
Due to his show business commitments, John Cena will be unavailable for much of February and March. This could make building his WrestleMania angle troublesome.
Who Did Vince McMahon Want Cena To Face At WrestleMania?
Before his retirement earlier this year, Vince McMahon was apparently keen on John Cena facing Austin Theory next year. Seeds for a feud were seemingly planted at Cena's 20th Anniversary celebrations on RAW earlier this year. Theory was in his first run as US Champion at the time. The rising star cut an aggressive promo on "The Doctor of Thuganomics".
Since then, Theory has lost the US Title, won and failed to cash-in the Money in the Bank briefcase, and regained the US Championship. The title's long been synonymous with John Cena due to both his early years in the WWE midcard and his acclaimed 2015 title run. Therefore, a US Title bout between the two could work as a passing of the torch-type angle.
Vince McMahon reportedly considered Theory the next John Cena-level star. However, Cena has been inserted into the Kevin Owens/Sami Zayn/Roman Reigns angle. With this in mind, a Theory feud coming soon doesn't look as likely as it did earlier this year.
