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John Cena made his return to Raw last night on the show's Christmas edition. Cena's return was expected as the WWE had made the announcement that the 16-time Champion would come back on the 25th December episode of Raw. Speculations were rife on what Cena's role would be as most people expected him to challenge Roman Reigns for the Intercontinental title.
Prior to this past Monday night, Cena was last seen inside a WWE ring at the Survivor Series where he was part of Team SmackDown after Shane McMahon named him the final member of the team for men's 5-on-5 elimination match against Team Raw's men. Cena eliminated Samoa Joe after performing an "Attitude Adjustment" on him but was eliminated by Kurt Angle after a "Coup de Gráce" from Fin Balor and an "Angle Slam" from Kurt Angle.
Since then Cena has been busy promoting his movie "Ferdinand" which grossed an estimated $13,325,000 in its opening weekend. Cena's return to the ring has never been in doubt, it was only a matter of when.
Cena's return was quite a memorable one. Here are the four takeaways from his return to Raw last night;
#4 Cena defeated Elias in a match.
Cena made his big return to Raw on Christmas night. Speculations were that he may be the next challenger to Roman Reigns' Intercontinental Championship. However, we got a very different contest when Cena got challenged by an unexpected superstar, Elias Samson. Elias interrupted Cena when the latter was bonding with the Chicago crowd while wishing them a Merry Christmas. Elias interrupted and let Cena know what the letters WWE truly mean, saying that the letters are initials for "Walk With Elias" then proceeded to join Cena in the ring.
An attempt to help Elias sing to the Chicago crowd did not go well for Cena as Elias attacked him out of nowhere before calling a referee to officiate a match between the two. Cena, however, picked the win after performing a "5 knuckle shuffle" followed by an "Attitude Adjustment".
#3 CM Punk is still adored by fans in Chicago
CM Punk was very popular and his popularity sky-rocketed after he won the WWE championship from John Cena at the 2011 Money in the Bank pay-per-view event in his hometown of Chicago. His final WWE television appearance was at the 2014 Royal Rumble event in which he was drawn entry number one. The following night on Raw Punk did not show up despite being advertised for the event. Punk had legitimately walked out after telling Vince McMahon and Triple H that he was "going home".
In Chicago, the fans loved CM Punk even when he played "heel". Chants of "CM Punk" would almost blow the roof of the arena whenever his music played. Even after his departure, there have been a few times when fans have chanted his name whenever Raw broadcasted live from the Allstate Arena.
This past Monday night was no different as the fans in the arena interrupted Elias with chants of "CM Punk" when he attempted to sing. He retaliated by saying he was damn sure Punk would not interrupt him. Cena caught unawares by the chants, backed the fans by saying Chicago loves their fellow "Chicagonians".
#2 Cena presents Christmas gift to a young fan
Besides being a multiple time World Champion, Cena also holds the title for the most wishes granted by a single individual. He has granted over 500 wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. This act of philanthropy earned him The Chris Greicius Celebrity Award in 2009.
This past Monday Night on Raw, Cena performed another noble act in front of the WWE universe when he presented a young fan with a special Christmas gift. Cena identified the young boy, who wore his old merchandise and appeared to have a disability and addressed the crowd saying there was a young man in the crowd who was wearing a shirt and a cap of the wrong colour.
He stepped out of the ring to go give the young fan his cap and shirt to the applause of the crowd present at the Allstate Arena. This was a special moment and is among the reasons why Cena is one of the greatest of all time.
#1 Cena was the opening act
Cena was the face of the WWE for over a decade. He will go down in history as one of the greatest of all time and is also sure of a WWE Hall of Fame induction when he retires from in-ring action.He has accomplished everything in the WWE and is slowly transitioning to Hollywood.
Cena's WWE schedule is no longer intense as he is now on a part-time arrangement. His match with Roman Reigns at No Mercy was viewed as the passing of the torch to "The Big Dog" who is now expected to carry the WWE to the next era.
Cena opened the show on Monday Night and spent a few minutes in the ring before being interrupted by Elias Samson. Considering how he was booked at the Survivor Series, one would have thought that his return was going to include a high-profile match or feud but rather we saw him engage Elias in a war of words before facing each other in a match that Elias certainly had no chance.
It is unclear what the WWE's intention was with Cena's return but clearly, there was nothing special planned. This coupled with the fact that he was not in the main event is reason enough to believe that Cena's time is indeed up.
