WWE News: Reason Why John Cena Has Been Missing ‘SmackDown’ And Will Miss ‘WWE Backlash’ Revealed
AJ Styles vs. John Cena will go down in WWE and wrestling history as one of the most important feuds of all time. It doesn’t have the popularity, intensity, or even longevity that other great rivalries have had. Yet, when it comes to defining an entire generation of the industry, Cena vs. Styles is something special.
After taking two completely different career paths in the industry, the two men finally met inside a WWE ring and began their feud to prove who was the better man. At WWE Money in the Bank, it was surreal to see Cena vs. Styles wrestle a match together. It wasn’t until a few more months of build-up that a true one-on-one match between them occurred at WWE Summerslam, which leads us to the present day of WWE TV.
At WWE Summerslam, Cena and Styles went to war inside the squared circle. It’ll go down as a 2016 Match of the Year candidate, and AJ Styles ended up with the clean victory over “the face that runs the place” in WWE. That win catapulted Styles into a WWE Championship opportunity against Dean Ambrose at WWE Backlash. However, John Cena hasn’t been seen on WWE programming since that loss.
Since WWE Summerslam, the WWE Universe has been wondering where Cena disappeared to and why he has not appeared on WWE programming for the past few weeks. He created a lot of speculation about his absence after leaving his armband with “Never Give Up” imprinted on it in the ring after losing to Styles.
Based on the amount of time he’s already taken away from WWE over the past year for injuries, Hollywood, and other commitments outside of WWE, much of the WWE Universe was wondering if that gesture was John Cena’s way of saying goodbye for awhile.
WWE officials had been preparing for his hiatus, so ending his latest run at WWE Summerslam seemed to be as great a place as any. However, it was reported shortly after Cena’s absence began that he wouldn’t be taking his hiatus from WWE to continue his work on outside projects until October. The WWE Universe just wants a simple explanation about the whereabouts of John Cena, which was revealed very recently.
WWE has been putting a lot of effort in recently to develop the relationship between the company and the Chinese audience. John Cena speaks Mandarin and has been supportive of that dynamic expanding to help WWE grow internationally, which is why his presence for China’s WWE live events is more important than appearing at WWE Backlash this Sunday.
The expectation is that Cena will return to WWE programming and SmackDown‘s weekly television after this weekend, but there is a lot of speculation about what he’ll be doing when he returns to WWE television because AJ Styles may be the new WWE Champion and it was reported that the feud between Cena and AJ Styles is meant to continue over the next few months.
Not only would Ambrose be pushing aside for Cena vs. Styles, but the final result of their feud would be very predictable since it would be Cena’s turn to get a big win. Another recent report claimed that WWE would book the next match between Cena and Styles as career vs. title respectively. Unfortunately, that’s not going to be a situation that Cena would lose, which would make him a 16-time WWE World Champion.
That’s a major decision to make by WWE officials because there is no point in John Cena tying WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair’s world title record unless it’s going to be broken at some point this year. It’s likely that Cena wouldn’t get his 17th title reign and break the record until Wrestlemania 33 in Orlando. The point is that Ambrose vs. Styles at WWE Backlash is very important this Sunday because it will determine the future of WWE programming, John Cena’s career, and the history of WWE that cannot be unwritten.
[Image via WWE]
