John Cena

WWE officially announced on SmackDown that Roman Reigns will put the Universal Championship on the line against John Cena at SummerSlam.

Reigns was in the ring to sign a contract for his match with Finn Balor that was agreed to last week, but Baron Corbin attacked the Demon King. 

Cena came to the ring to help Balor, but he also saw an opening to get the match he wanted with Reigns. The Head of the Table had already signed the contract, so the leader of the Cenation took it upon himself to put his signature next to Reigns' for the match. 

The match will likely headline the Aug. 21 event, which is set to take place at the Las Vegas Raiders' Allegiant Stadium.

Cena made a surprise return to WWE at Money in the Bank by interrupting a post-match promo by Reigns after The Tribal Chief beat Edge to retain the universal title.

He then appeared the next night on Raw to lay down a challenge to Reigns for SummerSlam.

Money in the Bank marked Cena's first on-screen appearance for WWE since WrestleMania 36 in 2020 when he lost a Firefly Fun House match to "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt.

Cena took his leave from WWE in order to focus on his burgeoning acting career, taking on roles in blockbuster movies and series, such as F9, The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker.

During Cena's absence, Reigns has established himself as the clear face and top star of WWE, thanks primarily to a fantastic heel run that began at last year's SummerSlam.

By this year's SummerSlam, Reigns will have held the Universal Championship for nearly a full year, running through the likes of Wyatt, Braun Strowman, Edge, Daniel Bryan, Jey Uso, Cesaro, Rey Mysterio and others en route to his match against Cena.

The only televised singles match between Reigns and Cena to date came back at No Mercy 2017 when Reigns beat Cena by pinfall.

While the match and rivalry were solid, both Reigns and Cena were babyfaces at the time, which made it difficult for the fans to get fully invested.

Now, Reigns is an obvious heel who is generating heat, while Cena is a babyface who is coming off one of the biggest pops in recent memory at Money in the Bank.

On top of that dichotomy, Cena is in search of his 17th career world title reign, which would break his tie with Ric Flair for the most all-time, adding yet another layer to the match.

Reigns vs. Cena is one of the biggest matches WWE can possibly put on currently, and it is now set in stone to happen at SummerSlam.

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At SummerSlam, John Cena will get a chance to break Ric Flair's record and become a 17-time world champion—even if Roman Reigns is temporarily balking at the challenge.

If Cena does wind up unseating Flair as the most decorated men's competitor in WWE history, the Nature Boy is all for it.

"John Cena, the man's a star," Flair told Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated. "He gave 10 years, every day of his life, to the business, and he is still finding new ways to work hard. John just doesn't know any other way. It's been a pleasure to see every piece of work he's done so far since coming back."

Cena returned to WWE at this month's Money in the Bank pay-per-view and immediately threw down the gauntlet to Reigns, who has held the Universal Championship for nearly a year. Reigns is in the midst of by far the greatest run of his career and has largely decimated the SmackDown roster—necessitating Cena returning from his burgeoning acting career to make an in-ring comeback.

Cena has not held a WWE championship since 2017. Before returning at MITB, he had not been on WWE programming in over a year because of scheduling conflicts and the COVID-19 pandemic.

"John represents WWE at the highest level," Flair said. "I'm as big a John Cena fan as you can find. Look at what's in store. John working Roman Reigns—that's going to be special."

John Cena isn't the only major superstar expected to return to WWE this year.

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight's Ash Crossan at a press junket, Cena addressed the possibility of The Rock coming back to the promotion.

"As a fan of WWE, I really hope he returns. I think it would be special for everyone," Cena said.

There have been widespread rumors that Rock is looking to step in a WWE ring again. Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Pro Wrestling Podcast (h/t Marc Middleton of Wrestling Inc) reported last week that WWE has targeted Survivor Series as the date for the Great One to come back.

This year's Survivor Series will mark the 25th anniversary of Rock's in-ring debut with WWE. It's expected that will be the beginning of a feud with Roman Reigns that culminates in a match at WrestleMania 38 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on April 3.

Cena greeted the WWE Universe at Money in the Bank when he came out after Reigns defeated Edge in the main event to retain the universal title.

The leader of the Cenation has challenged Reigns to a match for the championship at SummerSlam, but the Head of the Table turned it down on Friday's episode of SmackDown.

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

Cena Teams with Riddle After Raw

While John Cena did not appear on Monday's episode of Raw, he did provide the fans in Kansas City, Missouri, with a treat after the show went off the air.

According to WrestlingInc.com's Marc Middleton, Cena teamed with Riddle in a post-show dark match to defeat the team of T-Bar and Mace.

The stage was set for Cena and Riddle to eventually team last week when Riddle made his way to the ring after Cena cut a promo. Riddle and Cena then proceeded to take turns saying "bro" into the mic.

Cena made his surprise return to WWE at Money in the Bank earlier this month when he confronted Roman Reigns after Reigns beat Edge to retain the Universal Championship.

While Cena challenged Reigns to a title match at SummerSlam, Reigns declined. The Tribal Chief instead accepted a challenge from Finn Balor, although it is unclear when that match will happen.

Cena has yet to compete in a televised match since returning, but he has already had a few dark and house show matches.

At live events in both Pittsburgh and Louisville, Kentucky, Cena teamed with Rey and Dominik Mysterio to beat Reigns and The Usos.

All signs point toward Cena vs. Reigns happening at SummerSlam, despite Reigns turning down the challenge, and it promises to be one of the biggest matches WWE can possibly book.

Cena hasn't wrestled in a televised match since WrestleMania 36 over one year ago, and putting him in there against Reigns with a potential record-breaking 17th career world title win hanging in the balance is undoubtedly worthy of headlining SummerSlam.

Lee to Reveal Reason for WWE Absence Soon

Keith Lee said Monday that he intends to fill fans in on the specifics regarding his lengthy absence from WWE programming soon.

Lee wrote the following on Twitter prior to Monday night's episode of Raw:

The former NXT and North American champion was gone from WWE programming for more than five months from February until his return on Raw last week.

Neither WWE nor Lee has publicly stated the reason for his absence, but Lee has teased talking about it openly on multiple occasions.

Lee tweeted about wanting to discuss the details in March, May and June before tweeting about it once again Monday:

It appeared as though a big push was in store for Lee before he stopped appearing on television. He was scheduled to face Bobby Lashley and Riddle in a Triple Threat match for the United States Championship at Elimination Chamber.

Lee was removed from the match and replaced by John Morrison, and Riddle went on to win the title. It has been speculated that Lee may have been originally ticketed to win the match.

The 36-year-old veteran finally resurfaced last week, losing a match against Lashley. Lee followed that up with a loss to Karrion Kross on Monday.

While Lee hasn't enjoyed much success since returning, the fact that he has been put in matches against top stars generates some hope that brighter days are ahead.

Identity of Mahal's Lawyer on Raw

The person who played Jinder Mahal's lawyer on Monday's episode of Raw has a wrestling background.

According to WrestlingInc.com's Sai Mohan, the man who played Mahal's lawyer is an independent wrestler who goes by the names Arjun Singh or Geek Singh.

Most notably, Singh competed in a match against Angelico on AEW Dark last month.

On Monday, Mahal came to the ring with Singh and Veer ahead of Veer's match against Drew McIntyre.

Mahal threatened legal action against McIntyre if he didn't apologize for destroying Jinder's motorcycle, but McIntyre refused. Drew went on to beat Veer by disqualification after Veer introduced a steel chair into the match.

After Mahal and Veer ran off following the match, McIntyre laid out Singh with a Claymore Kick.

McIntyre has been embroiled in a rivalry with Mahal for the past few weeks, but it reached a new level when Mahal and his goons prevented McIntyre from winning the men's Money in the Bank ladder match.

Drew and Mahal have plenty of history as former members of 3MB, but it seems as though the rivalry was created to temporarily get McIntyre out of the main event scene and allow him to pick up some wins in the midcard.

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