"I finished second place" - John Cena discusses his WWE return and loss to Roman Reigns
John Cena has joked that he “finished second place” after failing to win the Universal Championship from Roman Reigns at WWE SummerSlam.
After over a year away from WWE, Cena attempted to win a record 17th World Championship against Reigns in the main event of SummerSlam. The 24-minute match ended with The Tribal Chief hitting two Superman Punches and a spear to retain his title.
Cena discussed his recent WWE return on the latest episode of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. The 44-year-old made a light-hearted joke about his loss before highlighting the importance of performing in front of fans.
“Dude, it was great. I had a wonderful match. I finished second place… I had a month off and they [WWE] were like, ‘Hey, you wanna come to work?’ I was like, ‘Do I?!’ and they said, ‘Live audiences are back,’ and I love live audiences,” John Cena said.
“That was nice [wearing jorts again]. There is no better feeling than being in front of a live audience. I’m so grateful to have all of you here. I’m so grateful to be back with a live audience. There is no other energy like performing or entertaining, telling stories or just shooting the s*** in front of a live audience. So thank you very much.”
John Cena briefly appeared in WWE without an audience at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 16-time World Champion’s only match without fans came at WrestleMania 36 when he lost a cinematic match against The Fiend Bray Wyatt.
John Cena is booked for an upcoming WWE event
John Cena is set to make his next WWE appearance at Madison Square Garden on September 10. He is being advertised to compete in a six-man tag team match alongside The Street Profits against Roman Reigns and The Usos.
Although it has not been confirmed, the match is likely to take place after WWE SmackDown and not on the show itself.
Cena won all 13 of his untelevised matches in July and August ahead of his SummerSlam match against Reigns. He teamed up with Dominik Mysterio and Rey Mysterio in 11 of those matches to defeat Reigns and The Usos.
Please credit The Tonight Show and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.