John Cena Returns To WWE Tonight on Smackdown

It's amazing to see where John Cena is today vs. any other point in his career.

Tonight John Cena will return to WWE after taking months off to rest and work on other projects. When he comes out on Smackdown Live tonight, he will be met with more cheers than boos, which is a surprising turn for his career.

Cena broke into WWE as a generic big guy who could lift heavy stuff and was pretty clumsy in the ring, nobody really liked or hated him, he was just there. Then he revealed his rapping skills, and people made a choice: they hated the gimmick, or they loved what he was getting away with saying to people.

Then he became Super Cena, a guy who couldn't lose no matter what. They should have just put a cape on him when he came out, because he was going to win against ANY odds. Put a bunch of guys in the ring all fighting him, he'd win. Say he's extremely injured coming into the match, he'd win. Didn't matter what was happening, Cena was going to win.

This destroyed him in the eyes of many. The boos started harder and harder. Then the crowd added "John Cena sucks" to his theme song when he'd come out. But Cena took it standing up, even cheering on the "Cena sucks" chants.

He waded between this Super Cena/Cena Sucks era picking up titles and main events with some of the biggest names in the history of the pro wrestling business...like Hulk Hogan, The Rock, CM Punk, HHH, Randy Orton, and a host of others. But then something happened.

After the CM Punks, Rocks, and HHHs went away from regular roster spots, people started to come around to Cena. The more people started evaluating what he was still doing at this point in his career started to make people rethink their stance on him. The fact that last year I watched a man who is at the absolute top of the wrestling business, making tens of millions of dollars a year, co-hosting national talk shows, and staring in major motion pictures, put on a pro wrestling match in a rodeo barn in Texarkana, AR changed MY opinion of him. This guy doesn't have to do ANY of this. He could have wrapped up his wrestling career, went off to Hollywood and be putting out two action movies (or comedy movies) every summer, and rolling in the cash. But instead, he's still driving around the country, fighting in places like Texarkana.

After opinions were finally changing on Cena, he headed into the Royal Rumble this past January with a chance to win his record-tying 16th Wold Championship. When he won that match, and tied Ric Flair's record, the crowd went insane. A man who's theme song has had "John Cena suck" lyrics added by the crowd, and has been booed heavier than anyone in recent memory not named Roman Reings, just won a historic match, and everyone loved it.

What a wild and twisting road John Cena's career has taken, and tonight, we start another chapter.