Is John Cena Being Wasted at WWE WrestleMania 33?

Is WWE wasting one of John Cena’s last WrestleManias with a mixed-tag team match?

At WrestleMania 33, John Cena will not be in the main event. He will not be in a high-profile singles match. He will not be fighting for any of WWE’s championships. Instead, Cena will team with girlfriend Nikki Bella against The Miz and Maryse. Still, this is not a waste of Cena’s time.

Cena doesn’t just come with his name. He brings a load of talent, an overwhelming legacy and a ton of drawing power. The thought of putting him in a mixed-tag match at The Show of Shows, with nothing of major consequence on the line, seems ridiculous, but consider these factors, starting with the rest of the card.

AJ Styles, Neville, Austin Aries, Bayley, Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch and Bray Wyatt, to name a few of the stars set for this year’s extravaganza, are going to bring plenty of talent to WWE’s annual spectacular. Randy Orton and Shane McMahon have legacies at WrestleMania of their own, but their family lineage extends well beyond that and gives an added feeling of importance. The main drawing power will come from The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar and Goldberg. With all that in place, does this WrestleMania card really need Cena in a prominent spot?

The answer to that is no. Instead, WWE can finally give the sub-section of their fanbase that watches Total Divas what they want, Cena and Nikki together in the ring.

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That doesn’t mean Cena can take WrestleMania season off. Miz is going to bring everything he has at Cena in this feud, and Cena is surely going to return the favor. The rumor of this feud was met with disinterest initially, but the very first promo between all four competitors immediately made it better than ever seemed possible. Now, they have a shot to make it one of the more anticipated matches on the card.

The build has been very good so far, but the match will still need to deliver. Nikki is a fine wrestler, but Maryse has not been in a ring since July of 2011. This is where Cena’s in-ring ability comes in.

Cena has spent the past few years enjoying an in-ring renaissance that has garnered him some newfound respect from fans. Miz has gone through a similar process more recently. The two men are going to have to carry the main load of the match.

This is where they can give a big boost to the show. WrestleMania is going to be over four hours long. Those middle hours can drag before WWE gets to the main event portion of the show, but if Cena wrestles in that middle part of the show, he can help raise the bar and bring up the overall quality of the show.

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Finally, there’s the post-match. Whether Cena and Nikki win or lose, it seems as though Nikki’s career as a full-time WWE Superstar is over. So she should find herself in the spotlight, and it has been widely speculated that Cena is going to propose before they make their exit.

Cena is going to own this moment, and use his experience and dazzling control over any crowd to really bring the emotion to a high-point, before getting down on one knee.

At the end of the day, wrestling (WrestleMania, specifically) is about moments. People don’t remember Daniel Bryan’s match with Randy Orton and Batista at WrestleMania XXX as much as they remember the sight of Bryan hoisting both belts up in the air when it was over. The top male star of this era proposing to, probably, the top female star of this era, as they both head in to the twilights of their respective careers – that’s a moment. That’s something that fans don’t forget, and that raises the overall quality of the show, as well.

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Originally, I did think that this match is a waste of a WrestleMania for Cena. Him being placed in this spot actually makes the show stronger. If the rest of the card finds a way to deliver, mainly the main event matches, Cena’s involvement at the midcard level could push this card over the top and make it one of the best WrestleManias in history.