WWE Has Executed John Cena’s Return Perfectly

By putting John Cena in matches with some of WWE’s biggest rising stars like Becky Lynch and Drew McIntyre, the company has executed his return perfectly.

It always feels like there’s some trepidation among wrestling fans when John Cena returns to WWE nowadays.

Generally, it feels like that unease stems from not wanting to see Cena take the spotlight again. Despite the fact that Cena is arguably the biggest star in WWE since the turn of the century, there’s typically a feeling that Cena shouldn’t waltz back into the company and insert himself in the main event.

Fortunately for those concerned individuals, John Cena has done no such thing in his recent WWE return.

In fact, its been rather obvious that Cena has been using his own star power, both as a WWE legend and a successful Hollywood actor, to try to increase the profiles of some of WWE’s hottest rising stars.

Cena has helped to craft some brilliant moments that spotlight what these increasingly popular stars do best on the mic and in the ring.

In his match with Becky Lynch on SmackDown, Lynch received the hot tag, a role usually reserved for Cena himself in such matches. On top of that, Lynch then threw Cena out of the ring to single-handedly win the match herself.

That’s all without even mentioning the much-talked about promo that preceded the match in which Lynch viciously took down Cena with some great verbal jabs.

Those kinds of interactions are not that of a returning star stealing the thunder from the new sensation on the scene. They’re perfectly booked segments that help get audience’s, from casual fans all the way to the most hardcore followers of the product, to tune in and find themselves somehow even more invested in seeing the success of one of WWE’s newly pushed superstars.

Raw this week featured essentially the same premise as well, when Cena’s speech declaring his own entrance in The Royal Rumble match was interrupted by Drew McIntyre.

The spotlight immediately switched from Cena to McIntyre, who was given the space to show why he is one of the most imposing and intimidating heels in the company today.

The six-man tag match that followed then rather clearly established that Cena was going to have some level of an on-going story with McIntyre heading into Royal Rumble. A story that perfectly fits with McIntyre’s recent disgraceful assault of Kurt Angle, further building the status of McIntyre as Raw’s top heel.

The role that John Cena has taken on both Raw and SmackDown is the perfect way for WWE to utilize him. He successfully created captivating and must-see segments with new stars who, believe it or not, may still have room to grow and connect with audiences.

It’s my hope, and belief at this point, that WWE and Cena can and will continue this booking strategy throughout Cena’s WWE return, however long that may be for.