There’s a good amount of mystery surrounding WWE’s WrestleMania 32 plans for The Undertaker. Over the last couple of years, Undertaker’s opponent at WrestleMania was made obvious well in advance. But this year, mostly due to some of WWE’s top stars suffering major injuries, no one knows who Undertaker will step in the ring with at AT&T Stadium.
One of WWE’s top stars who suffered a major injury recently is John Cena, who underwent successful shoulder surgery last week. Many people — including those within WWE — are assuming that Cena won’t be able to wrestle at WrestleMania 32 in April. However, if he is able to wrestle at the event, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer says that he’ll go one-on-one with The Undertaker.
In the past, Cena has returned from injury a lot sooner than expected, most notably in 2008, where he was a surprise entrant in that year’s Royal Rumble match at Madison Square Garden, which he ended up winning.
Following his shoulder operation, Cena updated his followers on Twitter, saying that he would be out of action for quite a while. His statement caused many to believe that he would be returning to the ring sooner than expected, and that his tweet was an attempt to make people believe otherwise.
Day 6 post operation. Movement is very good but because a giant chunk of cartilage was missing, this one may take a bit. #nevergiveup
— John Cena (@JohnCena) January 13, 2016
John Cena’s last appearance on WWE television prior to the news of his injury was on SmackDown’s debut on the USA Network, where he was ringside for Kalisto’s victory over Alberto Del Rio . That, of course, led to Kalisto getting a United States Championship opportunity, where he defeated Del Rio, only to lose the title back to Del Rio just a couple of days later.
The Undertaker was last seen at Survivor Series in November, where he and Kane defeated the Wyatt Family. There was no tease as to who Undertaker’s WrestleMania opponent would be on the show, and, up until that match, there was some who believed that he would end up wrestling Bruan Strowman in Dallas this spring, and at one time that may have been the plan. However, it doesn’t seem to be the plan at this point, as WWE hasn’t been pushing Strowman as hard as they were upon his debut, and the subsequent few weeks.
As previously mentioned, WWE is planning WrestleMania with the idea that John Cena will not be able to wrestle on the show. However, as Meltzer reported, if he is, and it’s clear well in advance that he’ll be able to, WWE wants him to wrestle The Undertaker, as the two men have never gone one-on-one at WrestleMania .
If Cena isn’t able to wrestle on the show, then it’s unclear what WWE will do with Undertaker. Guys like The Rock and Roman Reigns have been the rumored opponents for Undertaker at WrestleMania ; however, it’s become clear that The Rock won’t be able to wrestle on the show , and Roman Reigns will be defending his WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Triple H in the main event of the show.
There’s always the possibility of a fourth Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar match, but that does seem unlikely, as the feud between the two came to a close back in October.
WWE reportedly has big plans for Alberto Del Rio at WrestleMania 32 , so if those reports are accurate, then we may see the current United States Champion step into the ring with The Undertaker on the grandest stage of them all this coming April.
(Featured image via WWE )