John Cena Announces WWE Return Date

John Cena has never been more absent from WWE programming than in 2018. However, the 16-time World Champion and Hollywood star just announced his next in-ring appearance.

Over the weekend, Cena tweeted that he'll be back in WWE action on a September 1 show in Shanghai, China.

The 6th move of doom.
Ready for #WWEShanghai.
Sept 1st.

— John Cena (@JohnCena) August 3, 2018

While fans can mark their calendars, Cena's confirmation still leaves one big date in question: SummerSlam. The August 19 supershow seems like a logical place to expect Cena to return, but given his summer-long invisibility and the above tweet, it doesn't appear like we'll be seeing him in Brooklyn.

That could change at any moment, though. Rumors have he and The Undertaker stepping into the ring for a WrestleMania 34 rematch, but outside of speculation, there is no evidence of that happening. As it stands, The Deadman is the more active WWE superstar and him working SummerSlam wouldn't be a surprise. But Cena is to be his opponent, WWE only has two episode of Raw to book that match. Barring a surprise, it looks like Cena will be watching SummerSlam from the comfort of the WWE Network.

Cena is confirmed for the October 6 Melbourne, Australia Super Show Down event so it does appear that he'll be gradually working more WWE shows in the later part of 2018. The Undertaker is also set fort that event making it a logical stage for their New Orleans rematch.

While Cena has been out of action, he's still found a way to make a tsunami of headlines with ex-fiance Nikki Bella. In what was to supposed to be WWE's royal wedding, a tumultuous 2018 appears to have frozen not just the ceremony but is believed to have ended their relationship. However, the melodrama surrounding their romance has to lead many to believe that the break-up was an effort to garner more eyeballs for Season 3 of Total Bellas

At this moment the narrative has Cena and Bella not together but has proved to be a slippery situation and only time will tell if the WWE Superstars are indeed destined for the altar.

In the meantime, keep an eye out for Cena in the final two episodes of Raw before SummerSlam. It's looking increasingly likely he'll miss the Brooklyn mega show, but don't buy any rumor that has him leaving WWE for good. In an interview with ESPN, Cena discussed his sporadic wrestling schedule but assured that WWE represents an unbreakable bond for him.

"I'm far from done with the WWE. The WWE will always be my home, but in this current state of affairs right now with all this extra cool stuff that's going on, it's fun to try. It's a great time to be able to take a chance and I'm so eternally grateful to the WWE and its audience for bringing me to this point. I realize I'd be nowhere without them and I never forget them. I promise as soon as I have any sort of downtime, like I had when I was at the Greatest Royal Rumble and the string of shows I did before WrestleMania, anytime free time I get will not be free, it will be spent at my home in the WWE," he said.