John Cena Returns To Save WWE

In this edition of The Wrestling Estate roundtable, we discuss John Cena returning at Money in the Bank 2021.

How do you feel about Super Cena returning at Money in the Bank?

John Corrigan: I didn’t watch live because Peacock sucks, but Cena’s return piqued enough interest that I tuned into Raw. As soon as he started bro-ing out with Riddle, I turned the TV off.

Steven Jackson: I loved it! I’m a huge John Cena fan so seeing him come back has reignited the fanboy in me!

Chad Gelfand: His return was an awesome surprise that got the world talking and not just the wrestling world. He’s one of the few guys in wrestling that has that ability.

Jack Goodwillie: I love it, even if it was half expected. My girlfriend is always the litmus test for things like this since she’s not exactly what you’d call a wrestling fan. That said, even SHE marked out a bit seeing him on the stage and hearing one of the most deafening pops we’ve heard on a WWE show in quite some time. So how do I feel about it? The same way I feel about Conor McGregor in the UFC. I like Con-Man McGregor the fighter, but Con-Man McGregor the promoter, while divisive, will allow everyone else to become a bigger star because he’s on the show and can generate eyeballs. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

Who wins at SummerSlam: John Cena or Roman Reigns?

Corrigan: Roman Reigns will retire John Cena. It won’t be announced as a retirement match, but it will be the last time Super Cena competes in pro wrestling.

Jackson: I want it to be Roman Reigns because he is the younger man and Cena needs to do the right thing.

Gelfand: Roman. He’s on the run of his life right now. He’s WWE’s present and future, so he shouldn’t lose to Cena, who everyone knows won’t be around too much longer after SummerSlam.

Goodwillie: Now that we’re talking about this match, it almost feels like Cena never left. Nowadays, he’s won so many world championships that his title matches have become easy to call. He’s a 16-time world champion. Nobody’s done it 17 times with the credibility that Cena would have having won every belt under the WWE banner. It’s going to be a major talking point going into this match. If it’s not, Reigns is probably going to retain and stretch this thing out a bit. If it is, Cena should be favored to make history next month.

Is there anybody besides Reigns that you’d like to see John Cena face?

Corrigan: In WWE? No. In AEW? No. In all of wrestling? Jacob Fatu.

Jackson: John Cena vs. Johnny Gargano and John Cena vs. Adam Cole are two matches I’ve been wanting to see for a long, long time!

Gelfand: Kofi Kingston purely for the fact that they’ve never had a one-on-one match despite being in the same company for a decade. Cena feuded with The New Day and faced Big E and Xavier Woods in consecutive weeks, but not Kofi. It’s one of those matches that you think had to have happened at one point but hasn’t and would be interesting to see.

Goodwillie: I want to see him and Edge do it one last time. You’d be hard pressed to find two wrestlers who have meant more to each other’s respective careers than John Cena and Edge. Other than that, if we’re to assume he’s going to be on SmackDown (although that can change really fast in WWE Land), SmackDown is brimming with guys he’s already worked with. That said, if the rumors of Killer Kross being fast tracked to the main roster are true, that kind of feud can line up interestingly for both guys, title or not.

Is John Cena the last mega star that WWE will ever produce?

Corrigan: Yes. Maybe Roman Reigns will reach that level, but it hasn’t happened yet.

Jackson: I don’t think so. However, the shadow of his stardom will last many years from now. Anyone trying to get in a more prominent position than Cena is going to struggle. There are people there, but fan mentality needs to change to allow it to happen.

Gelfand: Yes. Cena, Batista, Edge, Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio were the last new main eventers during a period when WWE still had a large casual audience with millions of viewers. That audience has since dwindled, so the ability for a wrestler today to become a crossover megastar with casual and non-wrestling fans is much harder to accomplish.

Goodwillie: No. Roman Reigns is on the precipice of mega stardom, but whether or not he makes it there will be determined by his Hollywood career, if he chooses to go that route. The reason for this is WWE is like a house with two ceilings. The first ceiling is the one everybody has to look up at, while the second ceiling is, to quote Michael Jordan, the roof. The first ceiling is designed for WWE to keep all of its top talent under its thumb, and only the elite of the elite are able to overcome the obstacles and bust through it.

The second ceiling is the one that leads to mega stardom. WWE, of course, is more interested at the present time in making sure the WWE name is the draw of its shows, and not the marquee talent. The only way to bust through the second ceiling is to look elsewhere. Guys like John Cena, Batista and even Roddy Piper were all thought to be big stars inside WWE, but their popularity began to multiply once they started landing meaningful movie roles. It shouldn’t have to be that way, but it is. That said, Reigns does seem to have a path to that type of stardom, and it helps his cause being related to The Rock.