The most burning question heading into WWE WrestleMania 41 is the role of John Cena, who helped kick off the company’s new era on Netflix by announcing his intention to win the Royal Rumble and break Ric Flair’s record.
Cena is one of the favorites to win the Rumble this year, and, if he does, there’s an assumption that he will challenge Cody Rhodes, who is the main world champion in WWE and would be a blockbuster opponent for Cena.
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said there are currently no plans “etched in stone” for a Cody vs. Cena title match at ‘Mania, but Meltzer did say that there are legitimate conversations about Cena having a title match.
John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes is becoming more likely
Fightful have also reported that the current plan for WrestleMania 41 is indeed a match between John Cena and Cody Rhodes, and they wrote that the idea of this match has only been picking up more momentum.
Since this farewell tour has that added wrinkle of Cena quietly, but desperately, wanting that 17th world title, it would make sense to have Cena lose at WrestleMania and then redeem himself with that 17th title win at the end of the year, winning in the clutch in classic John Cena fashion.
There are other options for Cena, including a non-title match with Drew McIntyre, and that would enable WWE to hold off on having Cena lose a title match or even be in the title picture until later on in the year when he is more likely to win.
But if Cena wins the Royal Rumble, it’s essentially a lock for him to face Cody in a spectacle, while the other world champion, Gunther, will get more of a workhorse opponent like Seth Rollins.
There was speculation that celebrity Logan Paul could be a non-title option for Cena at the Show of Shows, but WrestleVotes has reported that WWE’s creative team has nixed that idea out of a desire to find a better WrestleMania opponent for the leader of Cenation.
For more WWE WrestleMania 41 rumors, check out our updated hub of the latest news.
Kevin was an editor at Daily DDT, covering professional wrestling, and is now doing the same here at Let Them Wrestle.