WWE News: John Cena vs. Randy Orton scheduled for next week’s episode of SmackDown
What’s the story?
SmackDown has scheduled a match for next week’s SmackDown between WWE Champion John Cena and Randy Orton. This will mark the 20th Singles match between the men and will be their first singles match against each other in three years.
ORTON: Next week, I'm going to take @JohnCena's pride, and at @WrestleMania, I'm going to take his TITLE! #TalkingSmack @Randyorton pic.twitter.com/JJ54qMOeaJ
— WWE Network (@WWENetwork) February 1, 2017
In case you didn’t know...
Cena and Orton have been wrestling each other in singles matches for the majority of their careers. From their time in developmental to the present, they’ve wrestled each other at every level of their careers.
They’ve not only wrestled in practically every part of the show from beginning to end, but they have fought and exchanged Championships on several occasions as well. Their first match in WWE took place in Ohio Valley Wrestling, the WWE’s old developmental territory when Cena was known as The Prototype.
The heart of the matter
The WWE promised a long time ago that Cena and Orton wouldn’t feud anymore and have broken their promise several times before. In the buildup to their TLC match at the 2013 TLC pay-per-view, the WWE claimed that the match marked the end of the Cena-Orton rivalry, only for the two to wrestle in several matches.
Their last match, before the announcement of their encounter next week, was at the Hell in A Cell PPV in a Hell in a Cell match to determine the #1 contender for the WWE Championship; held at the time by Brock Lesnar.
What’s next?
This match could confirm that Orton will not face Cena at the Elimination Chamber. It’s been three years since the two have fought and giving away a match of such magnitude on an episode of SmackDown seems to indicate that the WWE have no intention of rekindling that feud for WrestleMania.
Cage Side Seats reported that Cena is likely to lose the WWE Championship at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, so having the match on SmackDown could be the WWE’s way of showing fans that this will not take place at WrestleMania.
Sportskeeda’s take
Cena and Orton having another match is not something fans often look forward, but it’s just an episode of SmackDown. Many fans feared that this would be a WrestleMania match, but those fears were likely put to bed following the announcement of this match.
A match on SmackDown is no harm to anyone and if fans really aren’t interested in seeing a rematch between these long-time foes, they can just skip the match whenever it comes on next week.
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