What's the story?
In an interesting turn of events, rumours have surfaced that the match between John Cena and Randy Orton scheduled for the upcoming episode of SmackDown Live has now been cancelled. According to allwrestlingnews.com, the blue brand will now feature AJ Styles vs. John Cena as the main event instead.
In case you didn’t know...
John Cena recently became the WWE Champion for the 16th time by defeating AJ Styles in an instant classic at the Royal Rumble. With that, the leader of the Cenation equalled Nature Boy Ric Flair’s record of the most title reigns. The match in itself was an instant classic and is an early contender for the match of the year award.
On the same night, The Viper Randy Orton won the Rumble to confirm his main event spot at the Showcase of the Immortals, Wrestlemania. This was Orton’s second Rumble win as he had previously won the 30-man Battle Royal in 2009.
The heart of the matter
Earlier this week, WWE announced the Orton vs. Cena match for the upcoming episode of SmackDown Live via their Twitter account. The match was stipulated to be a non-title bout and was set to headline the show.
However, it is now being reported that the match has been nixed and Cena would face Styles instead. A match between Dean Ambrose and The Miz is also being speculated. While WWE is yet to comment on the issue, it would be interesting to see if Orton vs. Cena actually takes place.
What’s next?
Cena will now defend his title at the forthcoming PPV of the blue brand, Elimination Chamber. The event will take place on February the 12th and will decide who would be the Champion heading to Wrestlemania.
On the last edition of SmackDown, General Manager Daniel Bryan and Commissioner Shane McMahon announced that AJ Styles, Baron Corbin, Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt and The Miz were to contest for Cena’s title in the traditional Elimination Chamber match. As of the time of writing this article, there are no plans for Orton for Elimination Chamber.
Sportskeeda’s take
While Cena and Orton have faced each other countless times, it would still be a treat for casual fans to witness the two legends go at it on the weekly show. Nevertheless, it is certainly not a Wrestlemania calibre match anymore, something WWE should keep in mind heading to Elimination Chamber.
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