Wrestling internet is always drowning in rumors of big names making an alleged return, but the waves are particularly ferocious right now with speculation about John Cena, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Brock Lesnar. In fact, the scuttlebutt has gotten so loud that it reached the ears of WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns. True to his character, The Tribal Chief offered a stern warning against leaving Hollywood to both Cena and The Rock, but now his words are leaving many, myself included, wondering if there’s something larger going on.
The interview in question happened with SportsNation earlier this week. Roman Reigns was asked about a “dream scenario” in which he would get to fight The Rock, and rather than give a throwaway answer or some comment on Dwayne Johnson’s legacy, he looped in John Cena. He then offered up what sounded like a nice little off-the-cuff promo. You can read his quote below...
That’s like a dream for a lot of our fans. It ain’t a dream for his (fans). I get this a lot with Dwayne and then John Cena as well, these guys are doing very well for themselves. There’s no question about it. I don’t know. If I were these guys, I don’t know if I’d wanna come back and deal with me. I’m a problem right now for everybody. If I were them, I’d stay on set. I’d keep pumping out these streaming service movies.
Now, a great wrestler never wastes an opportunity to stay on message, and Roman Reigns is so on message with his character here. If you changed a few of the names and details and let Jey Uso stand in the background, it could be a Smackdown intro. So, it’s entirely possible he’s simply doing what he does best and there’s nothing larger going on here. If that’s the case, let’s just take a second to acknowledge how good the Roman Reigns character is right now. It took him a little while to figure out how to use all his natural talents and connect with the audience, but everything about what he’s doing right now is working. It’s a heel masterclass.
But then again, there’s also the chance there’s something more going on here. There are rumors everywhere right now about people coming back. John Cena, who he went out of his way to bring up, said in an interview the other day that he will wrestle again at some point, and when questioned more directly, he was evasive. A return at SummerSlam certainly seems within the realm of possibilities right now, and if it does happen, that match will probably include Roman Reigns. If that’s the plan, these comments make even more sense.
Beyond Cena, there is also a lot of talk of Brock Lesnar making a return. He’s always a good option to create a quick, believable feud with any of the top draws. A match with Roman Reigns would draw a ton of interest, but it seems more likely WWE is setting him up to work with Bobby Lashley. Both men have a good amount of MMA experience. They have similar frames that would likely produce some good in-ring optics, and Lashley’s manager MVP took a jab at Lesnar the other day on social media.
The Rock is, of course, the biggest name of the group, but also probably the biggest longshot to see in the near future. There have been some rumors that WWE would love to see him return at Survivor Series for what would be his 25th anniversary, but just because the WWE would love to see him return doesn’t mean we will. John Cena has a nice movie career going, but The Rock is legitimately one of the biggest stars and highest earners in the entire industry. That’s a lot of risk to take on, though anything is possible since he talks often of missing it.
Regardless, I think we can all agree that it would be nice to see Roman Reigns fight someone with a real chance to beat him (no offense, Rey Mysterio). If that person turns out to be John Cena, I can’t wait. If that person turns out to be someone else, I can’t wait for that either because Roman Reigns is at the top of his game right now and I love watching him work.
