As it appears to be less and less likely that Dwayne Johnson will be at WrestleMania 39, the opposite is true of John Cena.
Although the 16-time World Champion only wrestled once in 2022, it has been reported that his first opponent of 2023 has already been decided. Furthermore, it appears that WWE have also been laying their own trail of breadcrumbs.
John Cena vs. Austin Theory Moves Closer
There have long been comparisons between John Cena and Austin Theory and now WWE have leaned even further into them. On a recent episode of Raw, Theory opened his promo by using Cena signature, “The Champ is here!” while the pair have interacted on social media.
Following the news that WWE 2K23 is on the way, it appears that so is a match between Theory and Cena. The official trailer for the game heavily features Cena and he will be the cover star. Interestingly, in the game footage used in the clip, Cena is wrestling Theory.
This wouldn’t be the first time that WWE have used the release of their official video game to announce a new signing or set up a feud. The Ultimate Warrior was brought back to WWE for the final time by being included in WWE 2K13. This was Warrior’s first involvement with the company since 1996 and he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame a year later.
Sting’s WWE signing was also confirmed in part due to his appearance in WWE 2K15. Although it had been confirmed The Icon would be the subject of a new DVD series, he quickly appeared in a trailer for the game in 2014. Four months later he made his debut at Survivor Series.
Two years later Goldberg came back to the company via the announcement of WWE 2K17. His involvement in the game was also used to set up his rivalry with Brock Lesnar.