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WWE

In a rather unforeseen announcement just hours prior to the go-home edition of Raw on Monday night, WWE revealed that John Cena is now "questionable" for the 30-man Royal Rumble match this Sunday in Chase Field. The explanation for Cena's possible absence from the match was due to an ankle injury suffered at the hands of Drew McIntyre following his loss in the No. 1 contender Fatal 4-Way match last week on Raw. 

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer [subscription required and recommended], as many had suspected in the wake of the announcement, the ankle injury is indeed a work to get the 16-time world champion out of the match. Meltzer notes that Cena is currently scheduled to begin filming on his next movie this Sunday, so really, he was never going to compete in the match to begin with. Furthermore, Meltzer speculates that the original plan may have been an attack from the debuting Lars Sullivan pulling Cena from the bout to begin their reported WrestleMania 35 feud. But with Sullivan absent from television as of late for circumstances not yet confirmed following weeks of pumping his arrival with vignettes, it appears as if WWE may have been forced to pencil in another excuse on the fly. 

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WWE has yet to confirm that Cena is out of the Rumble match altogether, so one may assume the two sides are attempting to work something out despite more Hollywood obligations pulling him away. 

More WWE news, rumors

  • 205 Live will have a new face at the commentary table on Tuesday night, and it's a face some of you may not suspect. Tuesday morning, WWE announced that SmackDown Live superstar and former Rusev Day mouthpiece Aiden English will be joining the team. Given his solid skills on the microphone, it should be fun to watch English progress at the table calling the cruiserweight matches each week. 
  • As the New England Patriots get set for yet another Super Bowl appearance, speculation has once again surfaced regarding the future of tight end Rob Gronkowski. Naturally, questions about a potential role in WWE have once again made their way to the forefront, given his friendship with superstar Mojo Rawley and his previous appearance at WrestleMania 33. We may want to hold off on those Gronk-to-WWE aspirations for now, though, as NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reports that joining the pro wrestling ranks is "unlikely," with a movie career more plausible if he hangs up the cleats. 
  • Tuesday night's go-home edition of SmackDown Live is certainly set up to be some solid television. Among the highlighted segments are: Vince McMahon moderating a face-to-face with WWE champion Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles; Naomi and Mandy Rose squaring off after weeks of intriguing build; and Andrade and Rey Mysterio will undoubtedly wow us all again inside the squared circle, this time in a 2-out-of-3 falls affair.