The film Daddy’s Home received scorn from critics but it made enough money to warrant a sequel. The film starred Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, Cena appeared in a brief cameo towards the end of the film. Apparently, Cena will have a more prominent role in the upcoming sequel. Daddy’s Home 2 also stars Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Mel Gibson and John Lithgow.
Here is the synopsis of Daddy’s Home 2 from Deadline:
“Father and stepfather, Dusty (Wahlberg) and Brad (Ferrell), who are now working together to give their kids a perfect Christmas. When Dusty’s Dad (Gibson) and Brad’s Dad (Lithgow) arrive, their blended family conflicts rise to the surface. Cena’s character shifts the macho dynamics as Dusty faces the challenges of being a stepfather in the face of a more ripped rival.”
AJ Styles lost his chance to face Bray Wyatt for the WWE Championship last night on Smackdown. Styles had already defeated Luke Harper last week to ensure his spot in the main event at Wrestlemania. However, Randy Orton announced that he does want to fight Bray Wyatt at Wrestlemania. This all lead to a match last night on Smackdown between Orton and Styles. Orton wound up winning the match and Styles wound up losing his mind. Styles went after Shane McMahon backstage and the two had to be separated. There have been rumors for weeks that Styles will be facing Shane McMahon at Wrestlemania.
Last night on Talking Smack, The Miz went on another rant about John Cena. The Miz stated John Cena stole his personality from every white kid with an identity crisis in the 1990s. The Miz also accused Cena of stealing the Attitude Adjustment from Tommy Dreamer. The Miz then said that Cena even stole his girlfriend from Dolph Ziggler. The Miz went on to claim that Cena is jealous of the talent that The Miz possesses. You can check out a clip of the promo in the video below.
– As seen above, John Cena and Nikki Bella have launched a new “Our Home” series on The Bella Twins YouTube channel. The happy couple will be taking fans inside their home each week.
– This week’s WWE RAW ranked #3 behind the Voice and Love & Hip-Hop in Nielsen’s social media ratings. Last week RAW had the #2 spot and counted 124,000 Twitter interactions with 26,000 unique authors. This week that number was down to 97,000 interactions with only 21,000 unique authors. RAW’s Facebook numbers dropped as well with only 219,000 interactions with 145,000 unique authors compared to last week’s 258,000 interactions with 166,000 unique authors.
– “The Jetsons & WWE: Robo-WrestleMania” from WWE Studios has just been released on Digital HD. The film features Vince McMahon, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, the Big Show, and many more will be available via home video on March 14th. Watch the trailer below:
John Cena and Nikki Bella will team together next week on Smackdown Live. The real life couple will be taking on the team of James Ellsworth and Carmella.
The Bellas personal life has crossed over to on-screen storylines before. In one rather forgettable moment, AJ Lee famously said on Raw that the Bellas prove “talent isn’t sexually transmitted” referring to their relationships with Daniel Bryan (Brie) and John Cena (Nikki).
The match on Smackdown next week looks to be a tune-up for Cena and Nikki ahead of their expected showdown with The Miz and Maryse at WrestleMania.
John Cena and girlfriend Nikki Bella are set to team up for the first time ever on next week’s WWE SmackDown in a match against James Ellsworth and Carmella. The match was made on tonight’s show after a backstage segment.
Cena and Nikki are expected to face The Miz and Maryse at WrestleMania 33. WWE has been planting the seeds for that match since Elimination Chamber but furthered the feud on SmackDown tonight as Maryse slapped Cena during a MizTV segment, bringing out Nikki. Miz and Maryse escaped during that segment but Nikki sent a warning to Maryse.
16-time World Champion John Cena was recently interviewed by Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated’s Extra Mustard blog. John Cena’s record-setting 16th title reign was short lived, lasting only a matter of weeks. After winning the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble and losing it to Bray Wyatt at Elimination Chamber, Cena points out that Ric Flair had some short title reigns as well.
“To rebut the two-week, 16th title reign, if I’m correct, Ric Flair’s 16th title reign was only 24 hours,” said Cena. “They can’t all be these massive statements in the annals of history.”
It’s no secret that John Cena is rumored to be teaming with girlfriend Nikki Bella at WrestleMania in a mixed tag match against The Miz and Maryse.
“As far as WrestleMania is concerned, whatever I’m supposed to do I’m going to do to the best of my ability. I can reference last year as a great example. I was ready, healthy, and one-hundred percent activated by early March, and I was told that I would be assisting The Rock in WrestleMania. Quite honestly, if it weren’t for The Rock’s involvement in WrestleMania, I would have been told that I would have been sitting out WrestleMania.
[People ask] why don’t I just go in there and say, ‘I want to do this’? Last year, I should have said, ‘I want to do this,’ but that’s just not what I do. This is why I love what I do. You sometimes get an off-the-beaten path request, and it’s your job, as a professional, to make it interesting and make it the best you can.”
You can check out the full interview over at SI.com.
Speaking of John Cena, the “face that runs the place” is on the cover of the latest issue of Muscle & Fitness magazine.
– John Cena hosts this year’s Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards, which take place on Saturday, March 11th. Cena is featured in this promo video rapping a “remix” of his entrance theme to promote the event.
– A sitdown interview with Seth Rollins has been announced for next week’s RAW from Green Bay, the final show before Fastlane on 3/5. Rollins will discuss his injury, Samoa Joe, Triple H and more. Rollins was not backstage this week as he was in Alabama where he continues rehabbing the knee injury. Goldberg has also been announced for next week’s RAW.
WWE has announced the battle royal participants for tonight’s SmackDown – John Cena, Dean Ambrose, AJ Styles, Baron Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, Kalisto, Apollo Crews, The Miz, Luke Harper and Mojo Rawley. The winner will face WWE Champion Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania.
Tonight’s SmackDown will also feature Nikki Bella vs. Natalya in a Falls Count Anywhere Match and Naomi defending the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Alexa Bliss, if Naomi is cleared to wrestle.
Ahead of his WWE Hall of Fame induction during WrestleMania 33 weekend, Kurt Angle continues to heap praise on a former rival of his, John Cena. Angle has been doing the media rounds in recent weeks and John Cena’s name has come up numerous times. During an interview with Forbes published last week, Angle said Cena will go down as the greatest WWE Superstar of all time.
“John Cena is the man. I don’t know anybody else who has gone 13 years on top…I’m not going to say he’s was greatest athlete in WWE history, but he will go down as the greatest of all time in WWE history.”
Angle has posted a new blog entry at KurtAngleBrand.com and once again declares that John Cena is the “G.O.A.T.”
Angle argues that John Cena may not be the most gifted technical wrestler to lace up a pair of boots and names several men who were better technical workers than Cena. However, none of those men have stayed on top of WWE as long as Cena. Angle notes that his time as a top-guy in the WWE only lasted 7 years, 2 of which he dealt with injuries. While Cena has been sidelined with injuries before, he seems to always bounce back faster than people expect.
Discussion: We know Kurt Angle would love to wrestle for WWE again – what do you think of John Cena as a potential opponent for Angle later this year?
Kurt Angle was recently interviewed by Forbes and stated that John Cena will do down as the best of all time.
“John Cena is the man. I don’t know anybody else who has gone 13 years on top…I’m not going to say he’s was greatest athlete in WWE history, but he will go down as the greatest of all time in WWE history.”
Angle also revealed that he would like either Cena, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker or Brock Lesnar to induct him into the WWE Hall of Fame this year. You can check out the entire article by clicking here.
Mojo Rawley did an interview with ESPN and was asked about his friend Rob Gronkowski. Rawley revealed that Gronk may wind up in the WWE after he is done playing football.
“Trust me, we’ve been talking about this for years and whenever the time is right and whenever the stars are aligned, I can tell you he will be raring to get over here. He’s fired up doing something with me here at WWE, and I can’t wait to have him. We’ve been dreaming about it for years.”
– In recent weeks there have been reports that WWE is reaching out to former Superstars regarding one of the women’s matches at WrestleMania 33. Earlier this week, Kelly Kelly visited RAW, teased that she’ll be at WrestleMania and might have another run in her. Former WWE Superstar Victoria (Lisa Marie Varon) is another name that’s been discussed regarding a WrestleMania return and a “Snap” from her this week indicates the rumors are correct.
– Sting posted a tweet to promote the mobile game WWE Champions. In the tweet, Sting stated that he can now finally face The Undertaker after not being able to during his career.
Sean Waltman stated on a recent episode of his show X-pac 12360, that he had a conversation recently with AJ Styles. Waltman was backstage during Smackdown this week and according to Waltman, AJ Styles had some very complimentary things to say about Cena.
Styles discussing Cena to Waltman backstage at Smackdown Live
“I was watching your show and I just wanted to tell you what you said about John Cena being the man and the best going, you are one hundred percent correct. Anyone that doesn’t agree with you, it is because they don’t know John Cena and have never been in the ring with him.”
You can check out the full episode in the video below or subscribe to the podcast by clicking here.
– Linda McMahon was confirmed as the Small Business Administration head today by the Senate. The vote was 81-19. It’s worth noting that the two Connecticut Democrats, Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, that previously defeated Linda in Senate bids did vote for her today.
According to the AP, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said McMahon will “prioritize growing jobs over growing government bureaucracy” and calls that a welcome change from Washington.
The WWE has made a habit out of playing hot potato with their titles. Last night at the Elimination Chamber, the WWE Championship and the Smackdown Women’s Championship changed hands. Bray Wyatt became the new WWE Champion and Naomi became the new Smackdown Women’s Champion. Both Naomi and Bray Wyatt captured their first single’s titles last night. Wyatt was the Smackdown Tag Team Champion recently but has never held a major title in the WWE until last night.
Alexa Bliss captured the Smackdown Women’s Championship on December 4th, 2016, at WWE TLC. She defeated Becky Lynch in a Tables Match. John Cena won the WWE Championship two weeks ago at the Royal Rumble. Cena defeated AJ Styles in a terrific match and tied Ric Flair’s record for most WWE / World Heavyweigh Championships. Many people were pissed off that Styles lost the title in the first place.
The WWE has seemingly made the decision that the amount of titles won means more than the title reign itself. Cena is now regarded as the 16x WWE Champion but his latest title reign amounted to nothing. Alexa Bliss only held the Smackdown Women’s Championship for two months and just dropped it to Naomi. She had a feud with Becky Lynch, emerged victorious thanks to Mickie James and then immediately dropped the belt. Charlotte and Sasha Banks spent several months trading the Raw Women’s Championship back and forth. Neither of them were given a legitimate title reign. Charlotte has held the title for a bit now but she still routinely loses non-title matches on Raw.
It feels like titles in the WWE have never meant less than they do now. Kevin Owens is currently the Universal Champion but nobody takes him seriously. He has relied on Chris Jericho to keep the title. He never wins a match on his own. Owens will now defend his Universal Championship at WWE Fastlane and everyone knows how that will play out. The only question is whether Brock Lesnar will interfere in the match or not. There is no way Kevin Owens will even put up a fight against Goldberg if nobody interferes. If Goldberg does win the Universal Championship at WWE Fastlane, he will then most likely lose it a month later to Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania.
Discussion: Do you think that titles have become devalued in the WWE? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
John Cena puts his WWE Championship on the line against 5 other men this Sunday at Elimination Chamber, but the one man he’s looking out for most is AJ Styles. Cena and Styles are coming off another Match of the Year contender at the Royal Rumble, which saw Cena finally get a singles win over the Gainesville, Georgia native.
During an appearance on this week’s edition of Talking Smack, Renee Young asked the champion which Elimination Chamber challenger he’s most concerned about. Cena named the Phenomenal One and said he and Styles are at a different plane than the rest of SmackDown’s roster.
“The one person I’m looking out for is AJ Styles, because I firmly believe he is firing on all cylinders. I think everyone else just isn’t where we’re at. And, internet rejoice in that and go nuts.”
Discussion: Who do you think walks out of the “all new” Elimination Chamber as WWE Champion?
– WWE Champion John Cena will be on this Thursday’s “Off the Top Rope” ESPN SportsCenter segment with Jonathan Coachman.
Cena achieved a major milestone when he tied Ric Flair’s record for the most world championship reigns by defeating AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at Royal Rumble, but WWE did not make a huge deal out of Cena tying Flair’s record. We’ve heard from multiple people that a more elaborate celebration was planned, but WWE wound up writing it out of the show. WWE did acknowledge Cena tying Ric Flair’s record and Flair was on hand to congratulate the champ, but what we saw was far from the original plan.
Cena defends the WWE Championship this Sunday inside the Elimination Chamber and a short-title reign could be the reason for the lack of recognition at the Rumble.
– WWE posted this slow motion video from Samoa Joe’s RAW debut last night against Roman Reigns.
Speaking of Joe’s RAW debut, Triple H tweeted the following after Joe defeated Roman Reigns in the main event of the evening.
WWE has added a 12-man tag team match to tonight’s SmackDown from Seattle with The Usos, The Vaudevillains and The Ascension taking on Heath Slater & Rhyno, Breezango and SmackDown Tag Team Champions American Alpha.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Apollo Crews has also been announced for tonight’s SmackDown. As reported before, tonight’s main event will see Randy Orton renew his rivalry with WWE Champion John Cena in a non-title match.
Tonight’s WWE 205 Live on the WWE Network will see the winner of the main event go on to face WWE Cruiserweight Champion Neville at Fastlane on 3/5. The Fatal 5 Way Elimination Match will feature Jack Gallagher, Tony Nese, TJ Perkins, Cedric Alexander and Noam Dar.
SmackDown and 205 Live will take place from the Key Arena in Seattle tonight, near the hometown of SmackDown GM Daniel Bryan. This the final SmackDown before Sunday’s Elimination Chamber PPV.
– Triple H recently surprised a group of kids from Make-A-Wish with WrestleMania 33 tickets at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando. The Wish Kids will be a part of the WrestleMania festivities this coming April in Orlando. Below are photos:
– In the video below from TMZ Sports, John Cena shares his thoughts on the Shaquille O’Neal vs Big Show match at WrestleMania 33. Cena believes Big Show is in great physical shape and has really transformed his body. Cena has known Show for fifteen years and believes Show has something to prove this year, and a need to make his mark on WrestleMania, using the “please retire” chants from a few years back as motivation.
A rumor going around this week is that WWE Champion John Cena will be teaming with girlfriend Nikki Bella at WrestleMania 33 against The Miz and Maryse. Earlier this week, Dave Meltzer reported that he heard about Cena’s WrestleMania match and implied that fans wouldn’t be excited about it. Cena working an inter-gender tag match with his girlfriend does fit that description.
Cena defends the WWE Championship at Elimination Chamber later this month against AJ Styles, Bray Wyatt, The Miz, Baron Corbin and Dean Ambrose. After Randy Orton’s Royal Rumble win, it seems to be a foregone conclusion that it won’t be WWE Champion John Cena vs. Orton at WrestleMania. Orton is rumored to be working against Bray Wyatt at Mania, so Cena’s record-tying title reign may be a short one.
It’s also worth noting that in the fallout of Seth Rollins’ knee injury, there has been renewed talk of John Cena feuding with Samoa Joe. Prior to Joe’s surprise debut on RAW, WWE had given serious consideration to Joe working on the SmackDown brand.
Discussion: What do you think of John Cena teaming with Nikki Bella at WrestleMania?
John Cena became a 16-time world champion and a 13-time WWE Champion by defeating AJ Styles at tonight’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view in San Antonio. The match stole the show and was probably the best of their series.
With this victory, John Cena ties Ric Flair’s record for 16 World Championships. Flair commented on John Cena joining his side in the history books:
WWE is still laying out plans for WrestleMania 33, and it sounds like the company is reportedly considering a big between a top NXT star and a top SmackDown star. According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Samoa Joe’s name has been pitched as an opponent for John Cena at WrestleMania.
Meltzer noted that he hadn’t been told what Vince McMahon’s reaction to the pitch was, but that Joe is believed to be heading to the main roster for ‘Mania. The former NXT Champion will reportedly featured be featured prominently at WrestleMania, which takes place on April 3rd in Orlando, FL.
Cena and Joe were in WWE’s developmental system together in the early 2000’s, and the company does have footage of the two together. WWE uploaded the above video to their YouTube channel in December about their history.
John Cena recently spoke with ESPN about the business side of WWE, including his own personal brand and last year’s controversy surrounding a WWE t-shirt that featured a logo closely resembling that of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.
Cena revealed that WWE owns the trademark his name and shed some light on the reasoning behind that. “I see it as a joint venture,” he said. “They give me a platform to showcase my brand in nearly 200 countries across the universe.”
“We’ve become a global cultural phenomenon where people all over the world receive our product and are instantaneously aware of our story lines. There’s actually a ton of room for individuality and for personally pushing for expansion of what I can be. Dwayne (The Rock) was a pioneer in that space.”
Shortly after WWE Shop unveiled Cena’s ‘Pabst logo’ t-shirt back in May 2016, the company threatened legal action against WWE.
In speaking with ESPN about the situation, Cena said, “We were well within our rights in terms of parody necessary, but we quickly turned around and changed the design within hours. It was pretty much social media suicide for them. What’s funny is the brewery ultimately realized our power and actively reached out to establish an open relationship.”
– During an appearance on NBC’s Today morning show, John Cena announced that he’ll be hosting this year’s Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards. The event takes place on March 11th. Cena has appeared at the awards show several times and got positive reviews for his job hosting last year’s ESPY Awards.
– WWE announced during RAW that San Antonio native Shawn Michaels will be appearing during the Kickoff show for Sunday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view. HBK has history in the Royal Rumble and at the Alamodome, having captured his second WWE Championship at the venue when he defeated Sid at the 1997 Rumble.
– Smackdown star Naomi returned to action at last night’s live event from Saginaw, Michigan. She had been out of action with an ankle injury.
– Deadline reports that Universal will release “The Pact” from Point Grey Pictures on 4/20/18 with John Cena, Leslie Mann and Ike Barinholtz in starring roles. “The Pact” will be directed by first timer Kay Cannon, who previously was a writer on Pitch Perfect. The movie deals with three parents who try to stop their daughters from following through with a prom night pact to lose their virginity. It is unclear when the movie will begin filming, but ICM Partners’ client, John Cena, will likely need more time away from WWE.
– The “@WrestlerWeekly” account had their dreams shattered by Goldust on Twitter after he called them to the carpet for selling shirts with Dusty Rhodes’ likeness, apparently without official permission. Their tweets on the matter are below:
On the latest installment of his Conversation With The Big Guy podcast, former WWE Superstar Ryback went off on John Cena, calling him a “piece of sh*t” and “poison” to the wrestling business.
“He’s been a piece of sh*t to me since Day One. I was nothing but nice and respectful to him and I know Alex Riley just came out and [admitted he had issues with Cena] and when people hear what really happened with that, they’re going to lose their sh-t. Like, and I know, I have a pretty good idea of what happened with that and the guys in WWE. And, one, it’s f-cking hilarious. And, two, it’s hilarious what people will find out about John.”
Ryback says Cena would regularly bury him and Alex Riley when they were in the ring and blames Cena for ruining Alex Riley’s WWE career.
“Because of John Cena and I swear to God, I swear to f–king God, because of John Cena, his career is over in the WWE for no f–king reason outside of John and his personal issues. Unbelievable.”
Despite his contributions to the wrestling business, Ryback considers John Cena a “poison” that holds people back if he deems them to be a threat. He went so far as to claim Triple H might be using NXT as a way to shield up and coming talent from John Cena’s influence.
“He has been poison to the wrestling industry. I told [co-host Pat Buck] this before. We talked about this before. And again, this is my opinion, but I think I’m pretty accurate on this is I think he’s done so much harm for so long to new talent to getting over, breaking out, over there.
You can listen to the full episode of Conversation With The Big Guy by clicking here.