Dave Meltzer has clarified the nature of John Cena’s upcoming Backlash appearance, revealing it is a contracted date rather than a special one-off — while also raising a legitimate question about the wisdom of bringing him back so quickly after WrestleMania 42. Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer laid out the situation plainly.
“The situation there is that he’s on Backlash. I’m not sure what the role will be because he said he’s never gonna wrestle again. They signed him to a contract which called for a number of appearances, so this is one of those appearances. His deal called for these things. To me it’s kinda weird because he just did WrestleMania and it was supposed to be something special. And here we are a couple of weeks after WrestleMania and he’s doing it again. So it feels like for a big guest like that coming back so quick and having him again, kinda seems like why would you do it? But I think the mentality is that John Cena is important and getting him on TV is important. He’s signed for a number of dates, so that’s one of them. That’s it,” Meltzer said.
The framing removes any mystique from the Backlash appearance — Cena will be there because his Ambassador deal with WWE requires it, not because a creative opportunity demanded his presence. WWE Backlash takes place May 9 at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida.
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