John Cena returns home to the brand that made him a star.
WWE has declared this the Summer of Cena. John Cena returned to WWE Money in the Bank to confront Roman Reigns oh, he is set to kick off tonight's episode of Monday Night Raw, and now, he is also slated to appear on this week's episode of Friday Night SmackDown.
This week's episode is special in that it emanates from two locations. The main episode will take place in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Rolling Loud Festival in Miami, Florida. WWE has announced that, as first reported on Fightful Select, John Cena will appear on this week's episode of SmackDown.
Cena, who has been gone from WWE for over a year, is headed back to WWE according to sources within the company -- or at least that's the assumption they're operating on. Fightful has learned that Cena is scheduled to appear on WWE programming at some point over the next eleven days, as fans return. Fightful has been told that the working plan for Cena is for him to appear on the July 23 episode of WWE Smackdown, and possibly sooner than that.
As with anything, creative in wrestling can change on a whim, but as of July 13, this was the plan.
John Cena is a free agent and as it was first reported on Fightful Select, he will be appearing as much as possible on all brands leading up to this year's SummerSlam event where he is slated to face Roman Reigns.
Also set for WWE SmackDown is Bianca Belair vs. Carmella in a SmackDown Women's Championship rematch and Big E vs. Apollo Crews. Both matches will take place at Rolling Loud in Miami.
Here is the updated lineup for WWE SmackDown on July 23.
WWE SmackDown - July 23
- John Cena appearance
- SmackDown Women's Championship: Bianca Belair (c) vs. Carmella at Rolling Loud
- Big E vs. Apollo Crews at Rolling Loud
- Toni Storm debuts
Fightful will have live coverage of Friday Night SmackDown beginning this Friday at 8 p.m. eastern time.