John Cena

WWE SmackDown drew its highest television ratings of 2021 on Friday night as the build toward a SummerSlam match between John Cena and Roman Reigns continued to take center stage.

Spoiler TV reported SmackDown brought in an average of 2.499 million viewers across the two-hour broadcast on Fox and its 0.6 rating in the 18-to-49 demographic topped all prime-time shows on network TV.

The number of viewers marked the show's highest total since the Christmas night episode last December, which tallied 3.303 million, per Joshua Gagnon of Wrestling Inc.

Friday's telecast kicked off with a lengthy promo showdown between Cena and Reigns that included some personal barbs to help blur the lines between work and reality.

Cena's return from Hollywood to work a SummerSlam program with Reigns, who's emerged as the company's most marketable Superstar since the 16-time WWE champion's departure from a full-time wrestling role, has provided a significant boost to SmackDown.

Reigns discussed the differences between himself and Cena during an appearance Wednesday on the Pat McAfee Show:

Meanwhile, the show also featured a contract signing between SmackDown women's champion Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks, who received some assistance from Carmella and Zelina Vega to attack the titleholder ahead of their SummerSlam matchup.

Other highlights included Shinsuke Nakamura defeating Apollo Crews to win the Intercontinental Championship for a second time and Seth Rollins cutting a promo on Edge as they also gear toward a high-profile clash at next weekend's pay-per-view.

Next Friday's episode of SmackDown will serve as the go-home show before SummerSlam takes place Saturday at Allegiant Stadium, the home of the Las Vegas Raiders.

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There's a short shelf life on the John Cena experience.

Fun as Cena's surprise return has been, it's a harsh reality. The legend returned in a way only he could at the end of a recent pay-per-view, interrupting a cocky Roman Reigns' request that fans acknowledge him, kicking off a feud fans have been desperate for ever since Reigns finally went heel last summer.

But as Cena's trumpet-blaring theme music likes to state, time is about up.

Make no mistake: It's Reigns' character shift that has created this incredibly fun dynamic. It's single-handedly turned an old, well-beat-into-the-ground feud into something special. Because to be blunt, Cena hasn't changed all that much.

It's easy to see in the promos already. Cena's still great on the mic and can navigate pretty much any situation well. But none of it is new. He's got the same themes, mannerisms and even inflections of his voice that he's used countless times in the past. Rest assured, a similar thing will unfold in the ring when it comes time to rip off the neon shirt and get to work.

And that's not a knock—it just works. But with each promo and with each match after the first one (depending on how long he sticks around between movies), the magic fades.

It's hard to put into words just how dearly WWE can't afford to mess this up, then. The company is straight up running out of part-timers to trot out for a ratings boost. Goldberg's magic is long faded. Undertaker is gone. Ric Flair just showed up in roster cuts. Brock Lesnar is missing in action. And CM Punk looks like he is headed for a rival promotion.

Now sprinkle in the poor main event scene, and there isn't a realistic challenger for Reigns, in part because his run has been so good it could stretch on for a few more years. Raw's equivalent is a disaster zone, where Drew McIntyre's momentum was cut off at his kneecaps and the midcard is now the main event scene with no end in sight.

WWE has Cena and who else to spice things up? It's pretty much him, barring a Lesnar comeback. So having him stick around for long past SummerSlam—let alone letting him be the one to end Reigns' run and take the title off him—would be a problem.

Should one of, if not both of those things happen, fans would pretty quickly turn back toward disliking Cena. Yeah, he would still move a lot of merchandise and put up big YouTube numbers, but his reverting to getting indifferent or outright hostile reactions from fans would be a disaster. Look at Edge—the big return was amazing, but now that he's stuck around, he's sort of just another guy again.

It sure is a good thing this overarching risk-reward scenario plays in WWE's favor, right? The storyline writes itself. Cena comes back in an attempt to put down a guy he's beaten before, let alone downright embarrassed on the mic. And he loses, maybe badly, on a grade stage like SummerSlam before going away again.

That's a Cena thing to do given the company man that he is. And it also just emboldens the legendary status of this Reigns run. Roman then goes on to brutalize the main roster some more before running into maybe a Lesnar or—all the luck in the world willing—The Rock for a 'Mania moment.

Some of this, of course, hinges on his commitments outside of the wrestling ring. He might not be able to stay for long anyway. But knowing how good Cena is, either way, he will have fans believing he's this close to pulling off an upset against Reigns before taking the loss.

This conversation wouldn't be relevant if WWE hadn't dug itself such a gigantic hole in the main event scene. Ironically, much of the hole wound up being dug trying to get over a different version of Reigns before this one emerged organically and took control of the game.

Now it's on Reigns to help WWE claw out of the hole by putting over other talent. He did that some early in his reign by even propping up The Usos as viable singles stars. But that can only happen again if a guy like Cena shows up for a big event and dips out again quickly.

At this stage of his career, Cena is something of a special attraction. Absences make the heart grow fonder. He would probably admit it too, just like he's suggested some of themes found here.

With any luck, WWE and Cena have already sketched out an idea to make it all work. Because Cena sticking around any longer than SummerSlam would just be another misstep. And if it occurs, there's no easy way to spitball ways to set it right again if a part-timer comes in and ends Reigns' run.

It isn't often a superstar transcends their sport and can freely comment on it without fear of consequence.

A handful of those have done so across the board. Tom Brady's doing it right now. The Rock did it after he left WWE. A name like LeBron James can do it. Ronda Rousey too.

And now, finally, John Cena. 

Cena's back for a fun throwback feud with the heel Roman Reigns in what should be a pretty entertaining affair. Like the Rock before him, he's gone full-blown Hollywood, remains a big draw when he returns and has Vince McMahon and Co. over a barrel.

Which makes his recent comments about WWE so good.

Out promoting the movie The Suicide Squad with Brian Truitt of USA Today, Cena dropped an eyebrow-raising comment on the state of the roster: "Man, I wish there was some sort of fountain of youth where I could be a full-time contributor. The longer they continue to bet on an aging prospect, that makes [WWE's] future a little bit less stable."

Which, for those who have been following along, is something B/R—and big portions of the WWE fanbase—has been saying for a long, long time.

Less stable is a good way to describe WWE's incessant overreliance on part-timers and aging Superstars while botching the next generation.

Cena's back and moving the ratings needle as expected. But only temporarily. He's the good type of part-timer usage. So would a brief Brock Lesnar return.

But the rest has been blah. Goldberg is back for the umpteenth time, this time to fight Bobby Lashley for the WWE title. He's been sling-shotted past the rest of the roster into the main event of one of the year's biggest events because WWE can't build its own Superstars. After the horrific botch-filled match with Undertaker at Super ShowDown in 2019 and forgettable bouts with guys like Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman, Goldberg is back yet again.

Even worse, he isn't moving the needle that much in the ratings department. Ratings are up for recent episodes of Raw, per Paul Fontaine of F4Wonline.com, but it's hard to see WWE taking a victory lap when All Elite Wrestling, just a few years old, is already nipping at its heels.

Elsewhere on the ratings front, maybe the television folks invested in what WWE puts on programming prefers a Goldberg to a McIntyre or other up-and-comers. Fine. But that doesn't much explain the release of well-known guys like Bray Wyatt, leaving an even bigger void once the part-timers have their matches and leave again.

Other part-timer appearances don't do much or even backfire. Ric Flair was in odd segments before his recent release. Hulk Hogan gets booed at 'Mania. Undertaker is gone mercifully. Batista isn't coming back. Rock doesn't seem interested.

Notice something? There aren't many legends left.

Which is what makes Cena's point so emphatic and WWE's handling of its Superstars so disappointing. The company ruined Drew McIntyre after a lengthy title reign. It has 100 percent dropped the ball on Karrion Kross, making him lose right away upon call-up. Keith Lee, another juggernaut of an NXT talent, is an afterthought in midcard purgatory.

And then there's Aleister Black. WWE stunningly released him after horrific misuse, even blundering and forgetting to update his non-compete clause. He went over to AEW and just had an unforgettable victory over Cody Rhodes on an episode of Dynamite. It gifted AEW another headlining star with an Undertaker-style mystical element. WWE could have done the same thing easily and benefited for the next decade or so, but instead dropped the ball on the basics.

From the sounds of it, history could repeat itself in similar fashion soon now that WWE apparently doesn't want to extend the contract of Adam Cole. The company then shockingly cut Bray Wyatt, robbing itself of another unique character sure to find success elsewhere. Don't forget letting go of names like Braun Strowman, letting Daniel Bryan slip away and apparently missing out on the eventual return of CM Punk.

Cena has often seemed like an invincible character who can accomplish any feat. But he alone can't prop up WWE indefinitely, and his comments about the state of the company suggest he sees the same things we do. It's also just plain interesting to hear a guy who has always been a company man be so candid about the situation.

And as much as it might hurt to hear, maybe this is what WWE wants. Why build stars when the television contracts are so lucrative? Why waste the energy on long-term storytelling when it can do a goofy segment that pops numbers on Twitter and YouTube?

The problem for WWE is, over the long term, there's a company strongly moving into the niche it used to occupy, and it's growing exponentially. At some point, the landscape could shift. WWE still has a deep roster, but when everything feels like it's just in holding-pattern mode for the next big part-timer moment, it might not be able to dig itself out of the hole it seems intent on continuing to dig.

And if Cena's honestly commenting on it while also in a major program for WWE, flexing a bit of his immunity, it isn't just some exaggerated issue amplified by a loud portion of the fanbase.

But like Cena, if WWE is intent on fixing the issue, we haven't been able to see it yet.