John Cena appears to be finished with WWE appearances for the foreseeable future.
At one minute past midnight on November 9th, SAG-AFTRA posted the following statement on social media, announcing that the strike had been suspended due to a tentative agreement being reached:
We are thrilled & proud to tell you that today your TV/Theatrical Negotiating Committee voted unanimously to approve a tentative agreement with the AMPTP. As of 12:01 a.m. PT on Nov. 9, our strike is officially suspended & all picket locations are closed.
The agreement itself will go to the national board on November 10th for final approval and hopes that the strike that began 118 days ago will end.
While Hollywood shutting down has severely affected upcoming film and TV releases, with most shows suspending filming and delaying planned releases, wrestling has been largely unaffected. Much like the pandemic, when most of the entertainment world shut down, WWE would release their shows as normal each and every week.
Beginning on the September 1st broadcast, Cena was present at nearly every episode of SmackDown and competed on 2 Premium Live Events and an exclusive broadcast for the Indian market. With many criticising Cena’s return as the 16-time World Champion was only there as there was no other work in Hollywood, John Cena clarified on an episode of After The Bell that he received written permission from SAF-AFTRA to appear each week:
“Well, that’s certainly a happening that’s beyond my control. I’m fortunate enough to have a lot of things on the movie and television side lined up, none of which I can talk about because we’re in the middle of a labor dispute. Then the labor dispute happens and the Screen Actors Guild decides, as an entirety, to go on strike which either leaves me idle or asking questions of, ‘Well, what can I do? What is within my control?’
I wanted to see if it was okay to come back to tour so we called the proper people at SAG, we got written, legal okay that it’d be okay to come back to WWE. Once I had that, then I could ask the question of ‘Hey, WWE, do you guys want me to come back and hang out for a little bit?’ So here we are.”
John Cena Finishes WWE Commitments
Cena’s final appearance was at the Crown Jewel show on November 4th, which was the first time that the Hollywood star appeared in Saudi Arabia since 2018. Following a decisive loss to Solo Sikoa at the event, Cena has further teased that he may be thinking about retirement on social media.
Cena has been very open that once the strike ends he will be back to work on his upcoming projects. Speaking at the Fastlane press conference, John Cena also confirmed that he is unable to wrestle and take part in other projects simultaneously:
“They do. I’ve made it clear that you can’t do both because of the liability insurance. If I were to try and juggle both, that’s very selfish because I would put a whole lot of people in the movie business out of work if something were to happen to me.
“Yes, I stopped a project in the middle of it — I can’t even talk about the project because of the strike, but we’re in the middle of it. As soon as we get back to work, we go back to work. I don’t control any of that.
“I’m crossing my fingers and I hope we can find a resolve everyone is happy with. For right now, I feel this is the best way I can help. To come back home to my family.”
Along with the lengthy return of Cena, wrestling fans were further surprised on September 15th when The Rock made his return to SmackDown for the first time in nearly 4 years. Discussing a potential match with Roman Reigns hours before the appearance and with no sign of the strike ending at the time, rumours circulated that The Great One would return to action at WrestleMania 40. However, with the strike nearing its conclusion and delayed projects starting back up again, The Rock headlining The Show of Shows in Philadelphia is looking less likely.