If John Cena is going to compete in a match at WrestleMania, it would make sense to get him on TV soon. The Raw after Elimination Chamber would seem to be the perfect time, and while that’s not happening, he is making his way back to Monday nights shortly.
WWE announced today that Cena would return to Raw on Monday, March 6, when the broadcast originates from the TD Garden in Boston. That’s certainly Cena Country, seeing as he hails from nearby West Newbury, Mass., so the location makes perfect sense.
The timing might too. Cena has long been rumored for a potential WrestleMania 39 match against Austin Theory in Los Angeles in April. The two men even reportedly filmed extra segments the last time Cena was on WWE TV, which was at SmackDown on Dec. 30.
Theory emerged victorious from an Elimination Chamber match on Saturday night in Montreal, and while he was challenged to a title match for this week’s Raw by Edge, the expectation is that he’ll hold onto his gold and be looking for a foe for L.A.
Considering his current gimmick is that he’s the present and future of WWE while other stars are the past, Cena could slide into his narrative pretty easily. There’s also a bit of a resemblance to the way the two men look, talk and present in the ring, making the legend vs. future star dynamic that much more appropriate.
Though he has mostly moved on to acting now, Cena has a 20-year streak going with at least one WWE match. It took him until the very end of 2022 to keep it intact, but if his plans for the spring include WrestleMania, that won’t be true this year. We should know a lot more about whether that’s going to be the case in just two weeks.