John Cena Reveals When He WIll Return

John Cena is on the mend, and he’s on his way back to the WWE. This will clearly be met with a mixed reaction, but however you look at it, a John Cena comeback will provide a shot in the arm to a company that appears to be receiving multiple doses as we head towards the summer. Cena revealed his return date on Monday afternoon via Twitter, as reported by Wrestling Inc, and multiple other outlets.
So, John Cena appears to be making his return to Monday Night RAW on Memorial Day, which is on May 30 this year. At press time, Cena’s tweet had been liked and retweeted over a combined 5,000 times. As noted in his tweet, Cena was originally scheduled to be out of action until July. His super-human rehabs have accelerated his returns in the past, and this time is no different. He’ll be cleared for action within five months of his shoulder injury, when most others would have been out for nine or more.
Cena was only cleared for WrestleMania in the role he played, and nothing more. Keep in mind, this is coming from John himself, and as of yet, nothing had been confirmed by WWE. But the company man that Cena has become, you’d have to imagine he ran it through the proper channels before posting. For the most part, the company was able to keep his WrestleMania run-in a surprise, so it’s a bit of a wonder why they didn’t keep his full-time return a little more under wraps.

Judging by his timeframe, John Cena will (obviously) miss Sunday’s Payback, as well as the May 22 pay-per-view, Extreme Rules. But the second RAW after that show, Cena will be back in time to promote whatever his plans are for Money in the Bank, Battleground, and then the big one, SummerSlam. If the other injury reports are true, Cena will be the first off the disabled list that also features Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt, and Randy Orton. But once the infirmary is emptied, WWE could be looking at one of its deepest rosters in recent memory.

Cena was already granted a leave of absence in the latter stages of 2015, in order to film his latest project, American Grit, a reality-competition series currently airing on FOX to mixed reviews. The shoulder injury just added more time to that hiatus. There had been some recent reports suggesting that John Cena had been lying about his progress and whether or not he was cleared to return to the ring. It may all have been a matter of semantics, however, as he was cleared for WrestleMania, but only in the capacity in which he appeared as noted.

Speculation has been swirling over plans for Cena once he makes his return. Clearly, based off his ‘Mania appearance and the tone of his tweets during his rehab, WWE has no intentions of re-packaging their top star in any fashion. But, as we reported earlier this month, he does appear headed for a showdown with Roman Reigns for the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, perhaps at SummerSlam.

Those plans could certainly change with four pay-per-views still to be hashed out before then. Big angles look to be on the horizon, though, so if WWE still went ahead with a Cena-Reigns program, it could be camouflaged by other major feuds such as Shane vs The Authority, some version of the Bullet Club with AJ Styles and/or Finn Balor and Rollins return, as well. Cena definitely won’t get lost in the shuffle, but the emergence of new stars may allow some flexibility when it comes to his positioning.