WWE News Roundup: Idea for Mandy Rose's romance storyline, Roman Reigns-John Cena comparison, Stephanie McMahon teases big surprises (June 18, 2021)

#4 John Cena compares himself to WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns

It could be John Cena vs. Roman Reigns that headlines this year's SummerSlam.https://t.co/wkV8sZBk8c

— Sportskeeda Wrestling (@SKWrestling_) June 15, 2021

As per recent reports, Roman Reigns vs John Cena could be the main event for this year's WWE SummerSlam. The two have faced each other in the past, but Cena has never crossed paths with the current version of Reigns, who is a top antagonist in the company.

In an interview with Chris Van Vliet's, John Cena praised the current WWE Universal Champion. He admitted that unlike Reigns, he might not have fared well by performing in the absence of a live crowd.

By comparison, Reigns has taken advantage of the ThunderDome era to "mold his character" and receive critical acclaim as a result.

"I don't think I would have done very well in this atmosphere without an audience," said John Cena. "But I also think that this time without an audience has allowed performers like Roman Reigns for example, to unobstructively mold his character. If you send Roman Reigns from city to city with paying audience after paying audience, there may be some audiences that don't even care what he has to say. They just want to boo him or cheer him or whatever. Without that, especially developing your character and trying to get the message across, like trying to hand someone your business card...He's spent this 15-month block defining who he is and he's the one who can benefit from this."

The live audience will be a huge factor in their rumored SummerSlam encounter. Can The Tribal Chief prosper on the Cenation leader's turf?

There are still several weeks left on the road to SummerSlam which will be held in August. Meanwhile, Reigns' Hell in a Cell match against Rey Mysterio has been surprisingly rescheduled to this week's WWE SmackDown.