John Cena is about to make his return to the WWE. The company released a small promo video on their Twitter page that advertised his return to "SmackDown Live" on July 4, but the end of the video had very interesting wording where it said that Cena was a "free agent" who would appear next on that episode of "SmackDown Live."
John Cena's future plans
Professional wrestling insider Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com reported that they have learned that John Cena will not only return on "SmackDown Live" but will also appear in future episodes of "Monday Night Raw" as well.
Since Cena is being advertised as a "free agent," he can show up on both shows, and the announcers would have no problems explaining it.
One early idea was that John Cena returning to "SmackDown Live" on the Fourth Of July seemed like an interesting call for a Patriotic holiday. At the moment, Jinder Mahal is the WWE world heavyweight champion and is very anti-American in his sentiment and character. According to backstage sources, the plans are for Jinder to beat Randy Orton at the "Money in the Bank" event and then have a big match at "SummerSlam" in August.
According to Mike Johnson, the plans still seem lined up for John Cena to possibly start a feud with Jinder Mahal on "SmackDown Live, " but those plans could change depending on how seriously the WWE sees their falling ratings.
The WWE ratings' problem
The WWE has experienced very low ratings over the last two months. The actual ratings are the company's lowest for "Monday Night Raw" since 1996 at a time that WCW was almost beating them in the ratings. When asked about the problem on Twitter, wrestling insider Dave Meltzer said that the two top draws for the WWE are Brock Lesnar and John Cena, and both men did not appear on TV.
Brock Lesnar made his return this week on "Monday Night Raw" when he had a pull-apart brawl with Samoa Joe to start their feud towards "Great Balls of Fire" in July. The WWE also announced that John Cena was returning to "SmackDown Live" as a free agent and that Roman Reigns would show up next week to discuss his "SummerSlam" plans.
At the moment, the booking ideas for the WWE has Brock Lesnar holding his WWE Universal Championship all the way until next April, beating names like Samoa Joe, Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, and Seth Rollins. That would build up to the Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns match at "WrestleMania 34."
If that happens, Roman Reigns needs a big marquee match for "SummerSlam." If John Cena is a "free agent," that could free up the possibility for the two men to battle at the second biggest show of the year for the WWE. More news should come between now and July 4.
