WWE Rumors: John Cena’s Return Date Revealed — Star Out A Lot Longer Than Expected, Plans For U.S. Title

Within the last week, it was revealed that John Cena would not only be taking a little bit of time off from WWE, but it was actually going to be an extended amount of time. It isn’t totally known what he will be doing during his time off, but he specifically requested it during the summer. Now, his return date is known and it’s a lot further out than originally anticipated.

After Hell In A Cell, Cena is hardly advertised for any dates, but he does have a few more appearances in October. Once November hits though, he’s off all dates and won’t even be appearing at the Survivor Series Pay-Per-View in late November.

WWE talent will get some time off around Christmas, but then return to work the day after for the WWE Live Holiday Tour. WWE.com has now confirmed that Cena will be returning to action at Madison Square Garden for the Dec. 26 event in New York.

At the same event, WWE is advertising that Kevin Owens, Dean Ambrose, Ryback, Sheamus, Rusev, and others will be appearing.

Wrestling Inc. states that Cena is not taking time off to get married to Nikki Bella as some rumors have been saying. She is currently booked for the European tour in November. It’s also known that he isn’t taking time off for an injury since he asked for it back in the summer and was granted it by WWE.

Now, the big question is what will happen to the United States Title since John Cena is going to be gone almost two full months. He is not currently scheduled for a match at Hell In A Cell in a couple of weeks, and actually hasn’t even started a new program either.

After winning back the U.S. Title at Night of Champions, he has brought back the U.S. Title Open Challenge and had matches with two members of The New Day. First, he took on Xavier Woods which ended in a brawl and turned into a six-man tag match. This past Raw, he defeated Big E to retain the title.

If Cena doesn’t start a new feud on the upcoming Monday Night Raw, he may end up without a match at Hell In A Cell. Even if he does start a new program, it will be one that is short-lived. One has to think that a U.S. Open Challenge will happen randomly and see him lose the title.

With Cena being out for two months, WWE will be without one of their top babyface stars and someone needs to step up. The Daily DDT reports that Dean Ambrose is going to be receiving a much-deserved push while one of WWE’s top stars is away.

In an interesting possibility, Cena could continue the U.S. Title Open Challenge on Raw next week or the next and have Dean Ambrose come out to accept. It’s not uncommon for big-time faces to take on big-time faces these days, and Dolph Ziggler was scheduled to accept this past Monday but The New Day took him out.

If Ambrose does accept the challenge, he could possibly win the United States Title from Cena and then move on into his role as a top babyface in WWE. It’s pretty much a win-win all around as Ambrose is certainly deserving of the title.

John Cena‘s absence really is going to be a long time for the man that is essentially the face of WWE, but at least his return date is now known. It’s just going to be interesting to see where the company goes with him and the United States Title before he officially begins his hiatus.

[Images via WWE/Getty Images – Erika Goldring]