On this week’s edition of SmackDown, it was announced that John Cena‘s match against Austin Theory at WrestleMania 39 would be the opening match to kick off the event.
The Cenation Leader is facing Austin Theory for the United States Championship at WrestleMania 39. This match became official a few weeks ago when Austin Theory approached Cena during his return to Monday Night Raw and asked him to give him the “gift” of facing him for the United States Championship at WrestleMania.
On the March 6th edition of WrestleMania, Austin Theory proposed the idea of him and Cena duking it out on The Grandest Stage Of Them All. This match was supposedly in the works since mid-2022. After Theory won the Money In The Bank, he began to imitate John Cena’s signature moves and catchphrases. This eventually prompted the 16-time World Champion to return this year on the March 6th edition of RAW.
Cena however, answered with a definitive “no”. Cena went on to say that he didn’t say no because he gave up, but more so because Austin wasn’t “Ready”. According to Cena, if he faces Austin at WrestleMania 39, and Austin loses, he’ll quite literally lose everything, making Cena the 6-time US Champ and have him tie the score with Ric Flair. However, if Austin wins, he would still lose because the next day, he will be all by himself with no John Cena to rely on, and in Cena’s words, “be eaten alive by the ruthless crowd”.
Since then, Austin has gone on to prove himself as a worthy challenger of John Cena, defeating both members of The Street Profits each week. The theory certainly has the potential to be the “top dog” of the company, but what unfolds in his match against Cena remains to be seen.
Why is John Cena’s match the kick-off match at WrestleMania?
John Cena was the face of the company for several years. So why is a superstar of Cena’s caliber kickstarting WrestleMania 39 on Night 1?
His match is pretty high stakes as well, with the question of will Cena tie the record of being a 6-time US Champ with Ric Flair? One big reason might be, to set the standard for the rest of the event, thereby starting the show with a bang. John Cena winning the US title for a record-making 6th time would definitely be a great start to this year’s April Extravaganza.
John Cena has been known to put a lot of potential superstars over in their matches, with the most memorable being his match with AJ Styles and Kevin Owens, where both superstars beat Cena in their respective matches and went on to have successful careers. Similarly, this match might be a way for Austin Theory to be set up as the potential “top face” of the company moving forward. It’s no debate that Theory is in fact, a talented superstar. However, will Cena help propel his career forward by putting him over? Watch their match on Night 1 of WrestleMania 39 to find out!
