One of the most commonly heard names when WWE is mentioned, is John Cena. The 16 time world champion has been the face of the company since 2005. Like all other good things that come to an end, it appears that the days of Cena being the face of the company have come to an end.
For the uninitiated, the last time we saw John Cena in a WWE ring was at WrestleMania 33, where he competed in a mixed tag team match alongside his fiancé, Brie Bella against the Miz and his wife, Maryse. Cena took time off post WrestleMania to fulfil his commitments outside the WWE and made his triumphant return to the company on SmackDown Live’s Independence Day special as a free agent.
During a recent interview with Khal of Complex, Cena explained his status as a free agent due to the fact that his career with the WWE winding down. He also added that he realizes that his days are numbered and with him turning 40 in April, and with the WWE having a plethora of talent, he is trying to do whatever he can to dedicate to the company. It is worth mentioning that unlike in the past years, WWE have granted Cena a limited work schedule and have focused on building the next generation of superstars. Roman Reigns appears to be the chosen one, along with talent like Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Finn Balor poised to make their own places.
With the news of Undertaker’s retirement making the rounds ever since his loss to Roman Reigns, and with big names like Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Triple H working limited schedules and the Rock making lesser appearances than expected, having a new talent with Cena around would help groom talent and nurture them, similar to Cena and Batista’s rise to fame in 2005.
As of now, it appears that Cena would enter into a program with Rusev, but sooner or later, he is expected to clash against the big dog, Roman Reigns to crown the new ‘face that runs the place’.