It’s not often that fans see John Cena on WWE programming nowadays, but he returned to Monday Night Raw earlier this month and he confirmed that he will be challenging Austin Theory for the United States Championship at WrestleMania 39. Theory vs. Cena has been confirmed for the opening match of night 1, but it seems that some other opponents were also considered for Cena.
Fightful Select reports that dating back to last summer there was top level talent angling to work with John Cena at WrestleMania this year. It’s being said that several talent caught wind of Cena being involved with plans for WrestleMania.
There were reportedly several people in WWE who were pushing for Cody Rhodes to face John Cena at WrestleMania, but Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns was pretty much established as the plan by August.
Logan Paul was also considered for John Cena’s opponent and as of the fall Paul vs. Cena was tentatively planned according to internal documents in WWE. As of that point there was nothing planned for Austin Theory, and WWE ended up nailing down plans for John Cena vs. Austin Theory in December and finalized plans for Logan Paul vs. Seth Rollins shortly after.
