John Cena’s status in the Men’s Royal Rumble Match is in question following an apparent left ankle injury sustained during the main event of Raw last week.
In that match, Cena faced Finn Balor, Baron Corbin and Drew McIntyre for the right to challenge Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble. As seen in the video below, the injury seemingly occurred when McIntyre trapped Cena in the ankle lock submission hold. Cena can then be seen favoring his left ankle while leaving the ring after Raw went off the air.
According to a report by Dasha Fuentes before Raw yesterday, the injury was exacerbated earlier in the day while Cena was training his legs at the gym.
Cena is not actually injured, according to Dave Meltzer on the post-Raw edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.
Cena is slated to take time off soon to film a family comedy movie in Vancouver, British Columbia called Playing with Fire. He stars as “the leader of a rugged crew of wildfire fighters who meet their match when they attempt to rescue three rambunctious kids.” According to a report yesterday by the Vancouver Sun, production starts on February 4.
Meltzer reported two weeks ago that WWE had plans for Cena to face Lars Sullivan at WrestleMania 35. He speculated that the original plan was for Sullivan to injure Cena to take him out of the Rumble. This would have started the build toward their match at WrestleMania and kept Cena off television while he filmed Playing with Fire. Sullivan’s status, however, remains in question after he reportedly had an anxiety or panic attack hours before his main roster debut at Raw on January 7 and ceased communication with WWE.
With Sullivan’s status in question, WWE did the injury angle in case Cena does not compete in the Men’s Royal Rumble Match.
Rajah.com previously reported that WWE planned on having Sullivan make his television debut on Raw last night in a pre-taped segment where he would have attacked Cena. WWE planned on taping the segment at Raw last week in Memphis, Tennessee, but the idea had to be scrapped since WWE was unable to get in contact with Sullivan.
