John Cena made his return to Saturday Night Live on NBC as the guest host for the show. His appearance on the program was advertised by NBC and the WWE and the ratings were reportedly higher than some of their more recent episodes.
According to deadline.com, Cena’s appearance on Saturday Night Live reversed a downward ratings trend that was occurring after the November 12th show; the first show hosted after the Presidential vote and one that featured the return of comedian Dave Chapelle.
The episode that Cena hosted drew a 4.8 Live+same day rating and a 2.3 in adults 18-49. This topped the episode hosted by actress Emma Stone last week, which got a 4.4 LIve+same day rating with 2.3 in adults 18-49 and the week before, hosted by actress and comedian Kristen Wig which got a 3.8 same day rating and a 1.8 in adults 18-49.
The last time that Cena was on Saturday Night Live was in 2009 as a guest for Season 34, episode 18 where Tracy Morgan made his return to the show.
This is the third show that Cena has hosted in 2016 across different channels. Earlier in the year, he hosted the reality TV series American Grit which aired on Fox on April 14, 2016. Two months later, Cena hosted the 2016 edition of the ESPY Awards.
Cena’s drawing ability has not transferred to SmackDown as the viewership for the show has yet to exceed the 3.17 million viewers that it got when SmackDown made the move to being a live show as well as airing on Tuesday nights on the USA Network.
Also read: WWE News: WWE gets a big boost in ratings with the return of the Deadman
Many fans have speculated that these appearances on mainstream networks and non-WWE ventures are Cena’s way of laying the foundation for his life after professional wrestling.
Cena has said several times that he will never leave the WWE, but former WWE announcer and host of the Ross Report, Jim Ross, has said that he thinks Cena has begun to follow in the footsteps of The Rock and that his time as a full-time wrestler may be done.
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