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John Cena's return to WWE for a one-off bout to end 2022 gained a lot of traction. To say that fans were excited would be an understatement, and the company's former franchise player had a big impact on the numbers. Dutch Mantell has speculated that there is one opponent who John Cena may not want to face at WrestleMania 39.
As of now, there is no update on The Cenation Leader's WrestleMania 39 appearance. His commitment to Hollywood has seen him not have matches at WrestleMania in 2019, 2021, and 2022. Given that WWE is planning to go all-out for WrestleMania 39 at the SoFi Stadium in California, getting a name like Cena is a logical move to make.
On the latest episode of Smack Talk, wrestling legend Dutch Mantell was asked about whether Logan Paul or six-time tag team champion Cody Rhodes made sense as John Cena's opponent at WrestleMania. While the 73-year-old picked Paul, he looked at the alternative and said that he isn't sure what to do given that Rhodes is staying and Cena will return to Hollywood:
"Well, let's go the other way. Let's look at that. [John] Cena vs Cody Rhodes. What do you do there? Cody's staying, and Cena's making movies." (5:20 - 5:31)
Mantell said that Cena might not want to face Cody Rhodes to begin with:
"I don't think that matters. I think if they have a good match, a hard-fought match, but then again, Cena may not want to do it because he has a career to think about to. That's why Vince [McMahon] for years and years and years didn't want them doing anything else, but working for the WWE. He didn't want anything coming in front of that and I can see why. Where do your loyalties lie? Does it lie with this company with me or is it something else you want to do?" (5:20 - 6:17)
You can watch the full video below:
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Dutch Mantell thinks John Cena could come back with a bang, even in defeat
Mantell admitted that he thinks John Cena vs Cody Rhodes would be a solid match that draws viewers. He said that even in defeat, Cena could come back a year later, and fans would still be excited:
"I think it would be a good match, a good pay-per-view match, I think it would attract viewers. I don't know in common sense how they would put Cody over because Cody is staying and Cena if he's a businessman, I think he is, he'd say 'yeah'. Because he's not relying on wrestling for his livelihood anymore. It's the movies. And again, after 51 weeks, he could take that defeat, come back again and start all over. I think people have that feeling where it's good to see him again." (6:18- 7:06)
This couldn't be more true. It was exemplified by the fact that the announcement of John Cena appearing on the final WWE SmackDown of 2022 reportedly led to increased ticket sales and a big boost in ratings. The December 30, 2022, episode of SmackDown drew close to 2.5 million viewers.
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