John Cena Wrestled After WWE Raw Went Off The Air

John Cena did not appear on this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw, despite the Red Brand’s stop in Kansas City being listed as part of the “Summer of Cena.” It turned out the 16-time champion did arrive at the T-Mobile Center once the cameras stopped rolling and took part in a dark match by teaming up with Riddle to take on Mace and T-Bar. The match reportedly clocked in at around 10 minutes, with Riddle taking most of the offense from the heels before Cena got the hot tag and nailed his signature moves.

Cena has wrestled four times since his return to the company at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view earlier this month, but all of them have been dark matches. He challenged Roman Reigns to a WWE Universal Championship match at SummerSlam next month, but “The Tribal Chief” denied his request at the end of last week’s SmackDown. But given just how big of a draw Reigns vs. Cena is right now, fans can expect that match will be made official soon.

Here’s every remaining appearance Cena has in his current WWE run, as confirmed by the WWE:

• July 30: Friday Night SmackDown, Target Center in Minneapolis
• July 31: WWE Supershow, Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee
• Aug. 1: WWE Supershow, Little Caesars Arena in Detroit
• Aug. 6: Friday Night SmackDown, Amalie Arena in Tampa
• Aug. 7: WWE Supershow, Hertz Arena in Fort Myers, Florida
• Aug. 9: Monday Night Raw, Amway Center in Orlando
• Aug. 13: Friday Night SmackDown, BOK Center in Tulsa
• Aug. 14: WWE Supershow, Spectrum Center in Charlotte
• Aug. 15: WWE Supershow, Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina
• Aug. 20: Friday Night SmackDown, Footprint Center in Phoenix
• Aug. 21: SummerSlam, Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas
• Sept. 10: Friday Night SmackDown, Madison Square Garden in New York City

As for his acting career, Cena stars as Peacekeeper in the upcoming James Gunn film The Suicide Squad, set to release early next month. He’ll also portray that same character in an upcoming series for HBO Max.

“The Peacemaker is an interesting character because his ego seems contradictory. He is this guy who has developed this philosophy and he can use it as a blanket to behave badly: ‘I am doing this thing that is morally wrong but I am doing it in the name of peace so it’s okay.’ He views himself as a superhero but I think a lot of us would watch his actions and think that they’re morally wrong. In WWE I always try to get people to describe their characters in one sentence and I think that one sentence (for Peacemaker is) ‘He wants peace so much he’s willing to kill for it,’” Cena said while describing his character in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly.