02 May 2024, 00:00
Cena returned at WrestleMania 32, helping The Rock fend off The Wyatt Family. Cena then made his full return on the Memorial Day edition of Raw on May 30, four months earlier than had been expected for his type of injury. He was confronted by AJ Styles, only to be betrayed by Styles, who joined his former Club teammates Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson in attacking Cena. This set up a match between Cena and Styles at Money in the Bank, which Styles won with interference from Gallows and Anderson. On the July 4 episode of Raw, Cena was again attacked by the Club, but was saved by Enzo Amore and Big Cass. Subsequently, a six-man tag team match was fought between the two teams for Battleground. On the July 19 episode of SmackDown at the 2016 WWE draft, Cena was drafted to the SmackDown brand, while also defeating Club member Luke Gallows using a pinfall in a singles contest. Cena, Amore and Cass defeated The Club at Battleground after Cena pinned Styles. Cena continued his feud with Styles, which resulted in him losing their match at SummerSlam on August 21, 2016. With Styles later winning the renamed WWE World Championship, Cena challenged him and Dean Ambrose in a triple threat match for the title at No Mercy. He lost the match after being pinned by Styles, which came after Ambrose and Cena simultaneously made Styles submit, therefore restarting the match. Cena took a sabbatical from WWE to film American Grit season 2.
Cena has portrayed a heroic character throughout his WWE career, except for a villainous run in 2002–2003. His signature ring gear includes jean shorts, sneakers, wristbands, and armbands. He also wears a variety of T-shirts and baseball caps, which commonly include one of his catchphrases: “Never Give Up”, “You Can’t See Me”, “Hustle, Loyalty, Respect”, and “Respect. Earn it”. He has a history of returning from both real and scripted injuries much sooner than expected. ESPN reporter David Shoemaker said in April 2016, “Never underestimate Cena’s recuperative abilities. He’s somewhere on the recovery scale between German platelet-rich plasma therapy and Deadpool.” Fellow wrestler Big Show said he felt most stable being lifted by Cena, despite Cena being over 200 lbs lighter and almost a foot shorter—a testament to Cena’s functional strength.
Cena hosted two seasons of American Grit on Fox, a reality television series with 10 episodes. 16 men and women were split into four teams, where challenges were given. A US$1 million prize was given to the winning team. American Grit premiered on Fox on April 14, 2016. Cena has been retweeting motivational tweets from his followers on Twitter who used the hashtag #ShowYourGrit, in a way that the fan did something motivational to his/her friends in a real-life scenario. The finale of Season 1 aired on June 9, 2016. Cena hosted the ESPN ESPY Awards on July 13, 2016, in Los Angeles. On December 10, 2016, Cena was the guest host of Saturday Night Live (SNL) on NBC.
He was the pace car driver for the 58th annual Daytona 500. On October 13, 2016, Cena made his debut as the voice of Ernie the Elephant in a new commercial campaign launched by Wonderful Pistachios. He was named to Adweek’s “Creative 100” and received praise for his performance. In 2020, Cena and Honda announced a partnership, with Cena becoming the new voice of Honda.
In November 2016, Cena appeared in a public service announcement, “We Are America”, sponsored by the Ad Council as part of its “Love Has No Labels” campaign.
Cena started learning Mandarin Chinese in 2016 to help the WWE expand its reach, and he spoke in Mandarin at a press conference in China. He also revealed in April 2018 that he had learned to play the piano.
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