On the road to SummerSlam 2021, rumors indicate that John Cena vs. Roman Reigns is the targeted main event of the pay-per-view.
The two megastars have previously faced each other at WWE No Mercy 2017 and a slew of live events following that encounter. In every singles encounter between them thus far, Reigns has defeated Cena inside the squared circle.
During a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, John Cena gave his take on WWE's ThunderDome era, highlighting how Roman Reigns has greatly benefited from it. Interestingly, Cena revealed that, unlike Reigns, he probably wouldn't have fared well in the absence of a live crowd.
"I don't think I would have done very well in this atmosphere without an audience," said John Cena. "But I also think that this time without an audience has allowed performers like Roman Reigns for example, to unobstructively mold his character. If you send Roman Reigns from city to city with paying audience after paying audience, there may be some audiences that don't even care what he has to say. They just want to boo him or cheer him or whatever. Without that, especially developing your character and trying to get the message across, like trying to hand someone your business card. I think Roman has absolutely needed this time and in it he has developed his personality and found out who he is. Now when he goes back to live audiences, they aren't confused. He's spent this 15 month block defining who he is and he's the one who can benefit from this."
The live crowd has always had a huge role to play throughout John Cena's career, and the 16-time world champion hasn't appeared once during the ThunderDome era of WWE.
Meanwhile, Roman Reigns has arguably been on the best stint of his career ever since he became a top antagonist last year.
You can watch Chris Van Vliet's interview with John Cena in the video posted below:
John Cena on returning live crowds
The July 16th edition of SmackDown will kick off WWE's official return to live touring.
During the same interview, John Cena revealed that he is excited for current WWE performers, who get to experience live crowds after performing inside the ThunderDome for several months.
"I as a performer, am happy for the WWE to have crowds again," stated Cena. "I really look forward to get back in front of those crowds. But I am happy for everybody that their music can hit and they can feel that genuine excitement that makes all of our hearts beat."
John Cena's schedule will reportedly clear up in early July. Could the Cenation leader finally return to WWE next month?