John Cena’s Return Date to WWE Television Reportedly Confirmed

John Cena is reportedly on his way back to the WWE for a big program with Roman Reigns at SummerSlam. And, according to Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp, the 16-time world champion’s arrival is actually coming sooner than you might think. Sapp is reporting Cena will return on the July 23 episode of Friday Night SmackDown, the first to air following the Money in the Bank pay-per-view. This episode will place primarily at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio, with a few matches also taking place at the Rolling Loud Miami music festival.

There was some concern that Cena might not be able to make the show after being announced for the cast of Matthew Vaughn’s upcoming spy thriller Argylle, but both Dave Meltzer and Andrew Zarian reported earlier this week that it wouldn’t be an issue. SummerSlam is scheduled for Aug. 21 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and is reportedly being positioned by the company as WWE’s biggest event of 2021.

Cena talked repeatedly about the WWE during recent interviews while promoting his role in F9. He kept saying that he’d be back in a WWE ring, but always stopped short saying when or where.

“I relate a lot of things to WWE, and this one falls directly in that line. What was it like to join the WWE locker room? WWE is already a global phenomenon, with or without John Cena, and that’s proven before I got there and certainly now that I’m not there anymore and they’re still thriving… they don’t need me. But it’s such an honor and a privilege to walk in that locker room and be able to go out and perform,” Cena told Complex News last month.

He also spoke incredibly highly of Reigns, telling Chris Van Vliet, “I also think that this time without an audience has allowed performers like let’s say Roman Reigns for example, to unobstructively mold his character. If you send Roman Reigns from city to city to city, with paying audience after paying audience, there may be some audiences that don’t even care what he wants or has to say. They just want to boo him, or cheer him, or whatever. Without that, especially when developing a character, when trying to get the message across, when trying to hand someone your business card. I think Roman Reigns has absolutely needed this time, and in it he has developed himself, his personality – found out who he is. So now when he goes back to live audiences, they’re not confused. He’s spent this 15 month block defining who he is and he’s the one that can benefit from this.

“Whereas established performers, I think I really would have had a tough time with no audiences,” he added. “I as a performer, and what I enjoy out of the performance, I am happy for the WWE to have crowds again. I really look forward to getting back in front of those crowds. But I’m just happy for everybody that their music can hit and they can feel that genuine excitement that makes all of our hearts beat.”