5 Unexpected ways John Cena can stun WWE fans at WrestleMania 36

John Cena returned to SmackDown after over a year away from the brand where he made his name before his breakout year in 2005 and rise to the top of WWE, where he would do what nobody in 40 years would do - be the face of WWE for a decade.

While he spent almost all of that decade being the most polarizing star in WWE history, he's long surpassed that 'polarizing' tag and is now viewed and respected for what he is - one of the greatest of all time. Interestingly, his return in 2020 was to go back to a rivalry from six years before against Bray Wyatt.

However, the entire dynamic of the rivalry is different this time around. He's now 'The Fiend', a completely different character and one that's been the highlight of WWE over the last year.

Despite Wyatt losing the Universal Championship to Goldberg in an odd decision (that now seems even worse in hindsight), a match against Cena is anything but a consolation prize. Let's take a look at five ways John Cena can take the WWE Universe by surprise at WrestleMania 36.

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#5. A new gimmick

John Cena is a Superstar who's had the same gimmick for 15 years. As mentioned, it's been a polarizing one, but the reality is that he's had no need to change it. Despite getting booed out of the building more often than not, he has a track record of being WWE's biggest merchandise seller.

The merchandise and Make-a-Wish grants are justified reasons for not needing to change his gimmick, but with The Undertaker's recent gimmick change after 16 years, Cena could shock fans by debuting a brand new gimmick for the Firefly Fun House match at WrestleMania 36

#4. Turning heel and joining Wyatt for a program

Just like the gimmick change, Roman Reigns wasn't the first person who fans desperately wanted to turn heel. John Cena's 'Superman' gimmick had undeniably gotten stale at a certain stage, and while a heel turn wasn't what was needed in hindsight, it's something that fans had been wanting for a long time.

It went to such an extent that Cena even joked about turning heel on the RAW after WrestleMania before he proceeded to literally turn his heel.

While we admit that this is the least likely scenario to happen on this list, it would be unimaginable to see Cena turning just like Seth Rollins and The Miz did after losing to The Fiend and joining him for a program. It would take the story arc to a whole new level, especially since Cena is expected to lose and return to Hollywood immediately after WrestleMania 36.

It would certainly be a great way to get fans hooked in this empty arena era that we're in.

#3. Returning as the Doctor of Thuganomics

John Cena's best moment of his few appearances in 2019 was at WrestleMania 36, where he returned as the Doctor of Thuganomics and interrupted Elias before beating him down and standing tall.

It was a great WrestleMania moment and WWE is in dire need of pulling off a major move to get fans talking. It would be an easy (and somewhat lazy) move to sit back and hold off on doing anything big for the next few months, but their television viewership as a whole brings in far more revenue than live show ticket sales.

To get fans to tune in, WWE needs to pull off something big and if the Firefly Fun House match stipulation wasn't enough, then John Cena returning to wrestle as the Doctor of Thuganomics would be. It'll get fans talking and give them a reason to tune in. Crazier things have happened and in this soon-to-be unforgettable era of empty shows, this could be a moment talked about for years.

#2. Getting squashed by The Fiend

John Cena is one of the rare top stars in WWE history who has been as unselfish as one can be in the later stage of his career, putting over numerous stars such as Kevin Owens, Shinsuke Nakamura, AJ Styles, etc. while also making Superstars look great in defeat.

In 2017, his record-tieing 16th World Championship reign ended in a matter of two weeks after Bray Wyatt took him out of the Elimination Chamber. Two days later, he would put Wyatt over in a Triple Threat Match for the WWE Champion also involving AJ Styles. In this case, he took the pin and was heard whispering "You're a real champion now" to Wyatt as the match finished.

Many felt that it was wrong for him to beat Wyatt at WrestleMania 30, but there's a high possibility that WWE will use the opportunity to have Wyatt squash Cena the way he did to Finn Balor and quite a few others.

Cena would happily take the fall, but it would be a stunning move to get squashed rather than have an even match.

#1. Beating The Fiend

We consider this to be a scenario less likely to happen, but the reality is that the history of WWE's booking of Bray Wyatt doesn't rule it out as a possibility. Of course, the circumstances this time are entirely different, but we mustn't forget that it was just a month ago when most of us were sure that there was no chance of Goldberg defeating The Fiend and becoming Universal Champion.

The thought process was that Roman Reigns vs The Fiend was certain for WrestleMania and that Goldberg was only returning for a big payday in Saudi Arabia. Yet he managed to squash The Fiend in five minutes after 10 months of building Wyatt up as an unstoppable monster heel.

Goldberg's Spears weren't even that impactful, to begin with, and we still can't see the reasoning behind the decision of having him go over. Do remember that Wyatt was supposed to go over John Cena in WrestleMania 30 but he didn't. He was also supposed to go over Randy Orton at WrestleMania and as mentioned, WWE has always pulled the plug on him in the most important moments.

While we can't understand any reason why Cena should win the match, beating Wyatt would certainly be a big way for him to stun them.