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Teddy Long recently shared his thoughts on John Cena's return on this week's WWE RAW, where he accepted Austin Theory's WrestleMania 39 challenge.
The 16-time WWE Champion received a rousing welcome from the Boston crowd, which left him teary-eyed. He engaged in an entertaining promo battle with US Champion Theory, who challenged him to a title match at WrestleMania 39.
Though Cena initially turned down Theory's challenge, he agreed after the crowd urged him to accept it. John Cena blurred the line between kayfabe and reality during the segment, as he verbally destroyed Austin Theory, saying nobody in the crowd cared about the US Champion and his matches.
Speaking on Sportskeeda Wrestling's The Wrestling Time Machine podcast hosted by Mac Davis, Teddy Long explained why WWE booked Cena to destroy Theory.
Long mentioned that since John Cena wasn't a full-time member of the roster, the promotion had to build him up for the marquee feud against Austin Theory.
"Here's the deal. John Cena; I don't know if he's a full-time guy or not. But we don't see him every Monday night. So Cena is going into WrestleMania. You've not been able to see John Cena every Monday night; so you gotta build him back up and get him ready for WrestleMania. So that's what I have seen there, with just a big build-up for John Cena to get him ready for WrestleMania," said Teddy Long. (7:06 -7:31)
Check out the full episode below:
Bill Apter thinks Austin Theory also delivered a great performance on WWE RAW
Furthermore, Bill Apter noted how despite John Cena overshadowing him, Austin Theory had some great lines during the segment.
The veteran journalist feels that the US Champion will grow nastier in the coming weeks, which could culminate in him shocking the world by defeating John Cena at The Grandest Stage of Them All.
"I think Austin Theory came back with some great lines of his own, as well. And week after week, we are gonna see Theory's interviews become more nasty and nasty and nasty, and the way to end this is to somehow have him beat John Cena." (7:35 - 7:55)
With WrestleMania less than a month away, fans can expect Cena to become a regular on WWE's programming for the next few weeks to build the feud.
If any quotes are used from this article, please embed the Spotify link and credit Sportskeeda Wrestling.
