Jay's Ways - Do We Believe Cena? Submitted by Justin Watry on 02/01/2021 at 06:21 PM
Last week, WrestleVotes reported that it was a 100% lock that John Cena (and Goldberg) would be appearing at WrestleMania 37 in April. That was later confirmed by The Wrestling Observer, although actual plans were unsure. A match or just an appearance were still up in the air. I find that hard to believe, as most top stars, especially Cena, know their plans well ahead of time. Anyways, fans were excited for the return of Cena, as he has been at every single WM since 2003 in some form or fashion.
Monday morning, we learned that not only is John Cena going to be in a new Super Bowl ad for Mountain Dew…but he was NOT set for WrestleMania 37 this April.
The story was covered by Sports Illustrated. Here is a quote from Cena:
“Currently, I’m in Vancouver shooting Peacemaker, the series for HBO Max. Given the quarantine regulations, if I were to leave Canada, upon return I would have to quarantine for another two weeks. Essentially, that would shut production down. Strictly based on the letter of the law right now, there is no logistical way I can be there. We film now until July.”
The full story can be read at SI.com if you choose. By the way, that new Dew flavor is blah. Not good.
The Peacemaker series is well known, so I believe that part of the story. The part of the story where I raise an eyebrow is about being there until July. I don’t have the best memory, but I remember back in 2008. Cena said the exact same thing about filming a movie and being unavailable for WrestleMania 24. This was before his unbelievable, shocking, stunning, surprise return to WWE in January at the Royal Rumble event at Madison Square Garden. You see, he was yapping around to the media about being gone filming on set to protect the surprise and not let the spoil leak.
He was injured as it was. There was NO WAY he’d be at the 2008 Rumble. No way. He was hurt. He just had surgery, plus there was this mysterious, unusually long filming schedule planned. Cena just had to miss WrestleMania, whether we liked it or not…
…well, it was a lie within a lie. Yes, he had a movie to film. Yes, he had to be in New Orleans (I believe) for a long stretch of time. That part was all true. What was NOT true was the part about being exclusively there and still being hurt. He had magically healed in time and was keeping in secret with the company. Plus, the movie thing was after Mania, not before or during. Long story short, Cena had an amazing return at the Rumble, wrestled in a title match at WM24…and then took a little bit of time off to film on set in New Orleans but also show up at WWE events. He did both – just had a ridiculously busy schedule all week.
Now, obviously with restrictions and crap, things are different in 2021. I get that. Going from Canada to the United States to the UK to Japan to wherever the heck he needs to go next is difficult. More like improbably. Impossible though? IMPOSSIBLE? Nothing is impossible for Cena. Nothing is impossible for WWE and certainly nothing is impossible when it comes to WrestleMania! I say there is more to come with this story. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, nice try...
