From the WWE Rumor Mill: John Cena to work both brands

What’s the story?

John Cena is scheduled to return to SmackDown Live on the 4^th of July, but does that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be exclusive to that show. PWInsider reports that The Face that Runs the Place may be a free agent when he returns to WWE programming and this was confirmed on the latest episode of Raw on the poster that advertised his return.

In case you didn’t know...

Cena’s latest run with the WWE began on the last SmackDown of 2016 when Cena returned to challenge AJ Styles for the WWE Championship. He stayed with the WWE from the Royal Rumble to WrestleMania 33 where he and his girlfriend, Nikki Bella defeated The Miz and Maryse.

It is rumoured that Cena will challenge the current WWE Champion Jinder Mahal when he returns to SmackDown in three weeks. If Cena does end up challenging for the WWE title, then the two will more than likely compete in the main event of Battleground, the next SmackDown exclusive pay-per-view.

The heart of the matter

PWInsider claims that a new creative idea has been pitched to make the leader of the Cenation a free agent who appears on both SmackDown Live and Monday Night Raw whenever his schedule frees him up for wrestling.

This would be similar to the WWE’s use of The Undertaker in 2016-2017 when he initially appeared on SmackDown in support of Team Blue heading into Survivor Series. The Deadman would appear next on Raw and continued to do so as he headed into his feud with Roman Reigns.

What’s next?

This is nothing more than an idea currently, but it would make sense if Cena’s schedule frees him up for Raw more than SmackDown. Tune in to SmackDown on the 4^th of July to see what becomes of Mr Hustle, Loyalty, Respect.

Author’s take

Using Cena as a free agent would allow him to fill the void the Undertaker had as an attraction, but it would also defeat the purpose of the brand split.

There are a plethora of wrestlers on Raw and SmackDown that Cena has yet to face and as long as he wishes to remain with the company, the WWE will have time to make these new matchups a reality.

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