WWE Superstar John Cena has been a top guy in the WWE for years. However, nearing the age of 40, it seems like his WWE career is starting to dwindle down while he gets offers to host television shows and take part in films, whether they are WWE Studios flicks or not. In fact, Cena just hosted the ESPY Awards last night and was very good in the gig. It appears as if offers will still come in for Cena, and he may not be in the position to turn them down at the end of the day.
Similar to The Rock, John Cena knows he has to have a career after he retires from the ring. Retirement isn’t as far away as it used to be for Cena, so he has to secure a good role in Hollywood before it’s too late for him to do so. When you’re near 40 like Cena is and you have wrestled for over 15 years, you cannot believe you can fall down for the rest of your life. Even if you’re John Cena, you cannot hope to be able to stick around as long.
WWE has allowed Cena to take on a lighter schedule, which will be good for the 15-time World Champion. This will allow him to work longer with the company but also allow for him to take the roles given to him in an easier way. Due to all of this, something interesting seems to have occurred.
According to Cageside Seats , due to Cena doing all of these things and taking a lighter schedule, he may no longer be considered for the top-guy role on WWE SmackDown Live! We heard initially that he and AJ Styles would take on the top babyface and heel roles, respectively. While Cena very well could be a top guy in name alone, he may not be the actual top man on his brand because of the lighter deal.
That could mean WWE would shuffle up the names they planned to put in certain places. In fact, Roman Reigns very well could go to SmackDown while Cena goes to RAW . While that may seem odd compared to what was known before, it could happen due to Vince McMahon still having issues with Roman over his failed drug test . He was also souring on him before the test anyway, so this could be an issue for Reigns in the draft.
Plans switched up a bit, but WWE SummerSlam plans have not changed a lot compared to what they had before. This is why many believe WWE won’t switch up names to brands as much as they would have done if no plans were in place previously. The fact is that plans must be made to decide who will lead the SmackDown brand as it’s top face if Cena is not the man and if Reigns does not go there. Even if Roman does, fans won’t buy him as the top face anyway.
That said, some believe WWE will go with Dean Ambrose. Due to the fact that fans seem to love him more than ever, and because he has shown he can deliver a great promo and great match anytime, this would make a lot of sense. WWE has sort of teased this by making Ambrose WWE Champion lately. It is rumored that he will end up dropping the title soon, but regardless he could always win it back.
A large portion of top stars in the industry had short first World Title reigns, so Ambrose is by no means a different case here. In fact, Reigns falls right in line with this. On top of this, he could always win back a World Title. Regardless, John Cena will still be a top name regardless of where he goes because he’s John Cena. The role he plays may not be much different from the past few years, however. That means WWE has to pick someone to lead the brand, and there is a very short list of people who make sense for this role right now.
[Image via WWE]