John Cena retained the Undisputed WWE Championship against Randy Orton at Backlash this past Sunday, but what's next for the (former?) Leader of the Cenation?
According to a new report from Fightful Select, WWE is committed to giving Cena a significant title reign. As the site explains, "the claim from people within the company was that John Cena’s title reign would continue into Summer."
It remains to be seen who will dethrone him and whether the 17-time WWE Champion really will be the "Last Real Champion" when he retires at the end of 2025.
As for whether a return to being a babyface is on the cards, it's said that any potential evolution into a fan favourite again "will also take some time." Many fans have grown tired of the heel Cena and aren't loving seeing these matches play out with what's proven to be a pretty straightforward "bad guy who hates the fans: persona.
As for what comes next for Cena, Cory Hays of Bodyslam.net reports that he'll go one-on-one with R-Truth at the upcoming WWE Saturday Night's Main Event show on May 24 in Tampa, Florida. Truth and Cena have a storied history, with their last battle coming on an episode of RAW in 2011, which saw Truth best his now-"childhood hero" in a Tables match.
The stage was set for this match at the post-show press conference for Backlash when Truth upset Cena and was subsequently put through a table for his troubles.
In our final Cena update, it's said that Cena's final match will take place in Boston this December.
Boston news station WCVB ran a feature about New England's contributions to the world of professional wrestling, and mentioned that Cena's father, John Cena Sr., had confirmed his son's farewell bout will be in Boston's TD Garden in December.
This hasn't been made official by WWE, but it makes sense as the TD Garden is just hours away from Cena's hometown of West Newbury in Massachusetts.
As always, stay tuned for updates as we have them.