BREAKING: John Cena and Cody Rhodes' return confirmed by WWE

John Cena and Cody Rhodes are set to make their returns to WWE television on next week's episode of SmackDown. The two arch-rivals are advertised for the same show.

Cena dethroned Rhodes at WrestleMania 41 to win the Undisputed WWE Championship. They came face-to-face on multiple occasions before their title match and also crossed paths in a tag team bout at the Money in the Bank Premium Live Event, with The Franchise Player teaming up with Logan Paul in a losing effort against The American Nightmare and Jey Uso, courtesy of an interference by the returning R-Truth (Ron Killings).

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On this week's SmackDown, WWE confirmed that John Cena and Cody Rhodes will be under the same roof. Rhodes became the number-one contender for the Undisputed WWE Championship after winning the King of the Ring Tournament this year with his victory over Randy Orton in the final. Meanwhile, Cena defeated CM Punk to retain his title on the same show, setting up a huge rematch against The American Nightmare for SummerSlam 2025.

John Cena hasn't appeared on WWE television since his win over Punk at Night of Champions. Meanwhile, Cody Rhodes was involved in a segment with Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre on last week's SmackDown before Orton vs. McIntyre was confirmed for Saturday Night's Main Event XL.

About the author

Soumik Datta is a professional wrestling journalist who has been following the business for more than a decade.

In 2017, Soumik joined the Sportskeeda Wrestling team and is best known for his work with the WWE team. He has previously contributed to the Sportskeeda AEW, MMA, and the football team where he specifically covered the Major League Soccer.

In 2024, Soumik crossed 50 million reads for Sportskeeda WWE. While working under Sportskeeda MMA, he interviewed prominent UFC fighters, including Justin Gaethje, Sean O'Malley, and Cory Sandhagen, among others. He is also being followed by John Cena on X (formerly Twitter).

Apart from his love for professional wrestling, Soumik also watches Football and has been a lifelong follower of Liverpool FC and Mohun Bagan. He has also been following the Indian Super League and remains the only content creator to have traveled across India to watch 7 ISL Matches in 7 Days, a video which currently sits at 26K views on his YouTube channel. His channel currently amasses over 120K views.

As aforementioned, Soumik also likes to make content for his YouTube channel and travel to various places either with family, friends, or solo, or go on road trips.

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Edited by Sayantan Niyogi