With his acting career on hold due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, John Cena has been passing the time with a temporary return to WWE. The legendary star has appeared weekly on WWE SmackDown over the last few months on top of competing at Premium Live Events like Fastlane last month and Crown Jewel this weekend – where he’s set to face Solo Sikoa. Cena has made it clear, however, that his current run with the company will end as soon as the strike is over.
In a new interview with Corey Graves on WWE After The Bell, Cena was asked about how his WWE return came about given the tumultuous situation currently ongoing within Hollywood. “Well, that’s certainly a happening that’s beyond my control,” Cena admitted. “I’m fortunate enough to have a lot of things on the movie and television side lined up, none of which I can talk about because we’re in the middle of a labor dispute.
Then the labor dispute happens and the Screen Actors Guild decides, as an entirety, to go on strike which either leaves me idle or asking questions of, ‘Well, what can I do? What is within my control?’ I wanted to see if it was okay to come back to tour so we called the proper people at SAG, we got written, legal okay that it’d be okay to come back to WWE. Once I had that, then I could ask the question of ‘Hey, WWE, do you guys want me to come back and hang out for a little bit?’ So here we are.”
Graves followed up by asking if Cena had met any resistance in attempting to make his return to WWE during the strike. “No, I think at the beginning of the strike… and it’s been going on a long time, I do hope we can find a resolve soon that everybody’s happy with,” Cena replied.
“But in the beginning of the strike, I think everyone was trepidatious on what can you do and what can’t you do. I know along the path of the strike, there have also been some situations on ‘Well, we shouldn’t do this and we shouldn’t do this.’ I’m very grateful to have a home in WWE and very grateful for the Screen Actors Guild to allow me to be a part of it.”
If you use any quotes from this article, please give a h/t to Haus of Wrestling and credit WWE After The Bell.