Details on How WWE Outlined John Cena's Recent SmackDown Match
The streak... is active. Thanks to a midnight hour effort on the December 30th, 2022 edition of WWE SmackDown, John Cena kept his two-decade period of wrestling at least one match per year alive. Cena spent 14 years as a full-time member of the WWE roster, accumulating hundreds of matches per year since bursting onto the scene in 2002. When Hollywood came knocking in 2017, Cena slowly transitioned into a part-time role but still managed to get inside the squared circle multiple times per year. Things significantly slowed down in 2019, as Cena only wrestled twice on television. 2020 was the biggest anomaly yet, as his lone bout came at WWE WrestleMania 37's cinematic-style Firefly Funhouse match against Bray Wyatt.
Summer 2021 saw Cena return to WWE for a full seasonal tour, as he wrestled over a dozen matches on WWE live events before headlining WWE SummerSlam against Roman Reigns. After being defeated by the Tribal Chief, Cena returned to Hollywood, only coming back to WWE TV for the odd speaking segment. That changed on the final WWE TV installment of 2022, as Cena teamed with Kevin Owens to defeat Reigns and Sami Zayn in tag action.
That tag bout represented Cena's first match since September 2021, and WWE made sure to not throw the 16-time world champion into the deep end. According to the Wrestling Observer, Cena's recent return to the ring was "very carefully done" as he was "obviously being protected" throughout the match.
Beyond WWE wanting to keep Cena looking strong ahead of WrestleMania season, this report is likely also referencing the extra effort to maintain Cena's safety. Considering he has multiple movies and television shows in active development, Cena is in a position where he cannot afford to get hurt inside the ring as it could result in productions going on pause.
The consequence of active actors working professional wrestling matches was spotlit in 2013, as Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson suffered a torn quad at WWE WrestleMania 29. This led to Rock needing a triple hernia emergency surgery, which caused concern that one of his upcoming movies would need to delay filming. That film in question, Hercules, ended up shooting as scheduled.
Cena is expected to be back in the ring for WWE WrestleMania 39 in April. His opponent has yet to be locked in, but reports have everyone from Logan Paul to "Stone Cold" Steve Austin standing opposite Big Match John.
