John Cena will be sidelined for a while. (WWE)
John Cena will be sidelined for a while. (WWE)

Just when you thought WWE had figured out a way to overcome the rash of injuries sustained by some of its highest-profile performers, 15-time heavyweight champion John Cena announced that he will undergo shoulder surgery that will keep him sidelined an undetermined amount of time.

Cena will have his procedure performed Thursday at the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center, where the professional wrestler has been put under the knife on multiple occasions and recovered from seemingly serious injuries rather quickly in the past.

Returning to television just two weeks ago following a sabbatical he took while filming a television show, Cena was curiously absent from WWE's flagship show, Monday Night Raw, this week. He reportedly taped a promo on Tuesday for SmackDown, which returns to USA Network on Thursday.

Cena's absence going forward will be a huge blow to the company as it is currently gearing up for its WrestleMania push, which starts every January with the Royal Rumble pay-per-view. WrestleMania 32 is just three months away, as of press time. Though Cena was not publicly booked for the show -- no matches have been announced -- WWE's dearth of top talent made it almost a shoe-in that he'd be featured in a major way.

Currently sidelined with injuries for WWE are Seth Rollins (the reigning champion who had his belt stripped), Cesaro, Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan, who has not been an in-ring participant since April 2015.

WWE is in dire need of headline performers and can only dip into its well of veteran talent so much.

The Rock announced last week that he will be in attendance at WrestleMania 32, though it is unknown what role he will have on the show. Chris Jericho returned to WWE on Monday but is not expected to be prominently featured going forward.

It appears as if WWE will go with some combination of Roman Reigns, Triple H and Brock Lesnar as its primary draw. Lesnar was announced as returning to Raw next Monday, and he has also been advertised for the company's Fastlane pay-per-view on Feb. 21.

WWE is looking to set an attendance record at WrestleMania 32 in Arlington, Texas. It will likely need to pull out all the stops and piece together some highly creative booking to reach its goal.