It's going to go down at WrestleMania!

5 reasons why John Cena accepted 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt's WrestleMania 36 challenge

It's happening! John Cena returned to SmackDown for the first time in a long time and the expectation was that this WrestleMania 36 announcement would be made. Instead, Cena teased the fans with the big question about his WrestleMania appearance, only to reveal that he thinks that WrestleMania 36 should go on "without John Cena".

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Just as he was getting ready to exit the arena and close the show - it happened. The lights went off and behind him stood 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt. There was no mandible claw, there was no direct attack. It was simply Wyatt pointing to the WrestleMania 36 sign, with Cena tipping his hat to confirm that he accepts.

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So the rumors are, in fact, true. The original WrestleMania 36 plan was reportedly for The Fiend to face Roman Reigns, but things changed in a big way once Cena and Goldberg were onboard for the event.

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WWE has confirmed it - John Cena accepts The Fiend's WrestleMania 36 challenge. Why did it happen? Here are a few possibilities.

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#5. Best utilization of a rare John Cena match

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John Cena rarely wrestles anymore.
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Do you remember when the last time John Cena wrestled was? It was in the first half of January 2019 in a match to determine Brock Lesnar's Universal Championship opponent at Royal Rumble 2019. The objective of that match was to put over Finn Balor and Cena did exactly that, getting pinned by him and endorsing him.

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He hasn't wrestled since and his appearances have drastically reduced. WWE knows how rare it is to get a match from John Cena, who has understandably taken a step back. The rumors of him facing Elias caused a lot of outrage and that was fixed instantly.

#4. To repay the favor from WrestleMania XXX

A match Bray Wyatt should have won
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Bray Wyatt's run as The Eater of Worlds saw him develop a fantastic captivating character that got over with the WWE Universe quite easily. His charisma was evident and WWE rewarded him at WrestleMania 30 with a big match against John Cena.

It was the face of the company (a year and a half before he became a part-timer) vs the future and the consensus was that Bray Wyatt should have won - except he didn't. It was a big booking mistake that would repeat itself on multiple occasions as we saw Wyatt always lose the big matches when he had an incredible amount of momentum going behind him.

The same has been argued for his recent loss to Goldberg but a match against Cena at WrestleMania 36 means that there's still hope. John Cena has a lot of respect for Wyatt as a competitor and performer and that was evident in early 2017 when he lost the title to him at Elimination Chamber and then put him over two days later in a Triple threat match.

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This might be Cena's way of repaying a favor 6 years later.

#3. To keep The Fiend in the mix long-term

It may not be the end yet
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It's been just over a day since WWE Super ShowDown 2020 and the WWE Universe was understandably outraged by the decision of having The Fiend lose to Goldberg clean - especially to a weak jackhammer and even weaker spears.

The thought process was that it's history repeating itself - with Wyatt working hard and gaining incredible traction at WrestleMania season, only to have his legs cut from underneath him for a superstar who didn't deserve it (and we will echo the opinion that Goldberg did not deserve to win the Universal Championship).

However, recoveries are possible. People thought that Goldberg's career was over after his legendary undefeated streak ended in 1998 - but he's still milking his marketability for all it's worth 22 years on.

The Fiend should be fine as long as these Goldberg-like scenarios don't happen and a victory over John Cena at WrestleMania 36 would mean that he could instantly regain his momentum back. However, he shouldn't be pursuing the Universal Championship immediately after WrestleMania.

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#2. John Cena understands the importance of the future

John Cena
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Since 2016, John Cena has proven that he's one of the most selfless "top guys" in WWE history. Hulk Hogan and 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin have been glorified as the all-time great top stars but they didn't have the longevity that Cena had, nor did they have the selflessness in putting people over the way Cena has.

In both singles matches and multi-man matches included, Cena has put over the likes of AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Roman Reigns, Finn Balor, and more since becoming a part-time superstar. He truly understands that his time is done and isn't the type to milk his return and go over younger superstars with no long-term benefits. Having been in the system and having carried the company on his shoulders for a decade, he knows how hard superstars work when traveling on the road and Wyatt isn't just any hard-working superstar - his dedication to his character and craft is on a whole other level.

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Why else would Roman Reigns admit that he would rather face The Fiend at WrestleMania over Goldberg? Cena's understanding of the long-term benefits is one of the reasons for the match.

#1. Possibly the end of the road for Cena?

Could this be Cena's swansong?
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We hope this isn't true because John Cena is still valuable as a performer to WWE, even with his rare appearances. He may be a part-timer, but he feels different from others of his kind like Brock Lesnar, Goldberg, and The Undertaker.

He still maintains that aura about him but in the last four years, not once has it felt as though he has overstayed his welcome. With that said, the reality is that he's stepped away for a few years now and his stock in Hollywood only continues to grow.

That's why his matches have cut down from 4-5 a year to 1 a year and for all we know, this could be it for him. He teased retiring in the main event segment and said that "WrestleMania should go on without John Cena" and the tone of it suggested that he truly feels this way.

The decision to face The Fiend could hint that it's the end of the road for him and that his time is up and someone else's time is now.

Meet the man who called CM Punk the softest man alive HERE

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Edited by
Habil Ahmed Sherule
 
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