New York [US], March 31 : World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) icon and actor John Cena announced on Monday that he would make a return to the company to host its showpiece wrestling event, Wrestlemania 42, at Las Vegas.
Taking to X, the record-breaking 17-time world champion, who retired from professional wrestling last year after a memorable retirement tour, wrote, "Since retirement, my "road" has looked a little different... but now I can officially say I'm headed to WrestleMania!!!! See you in Las Vegas!"
https://x.com/JohnCena/status/2038617333862694916
WWE also soon announced Cena's return in a statement, saying, "John Cena is stepping back onto the Grandest Stage of Them All as the host of WrestleMania 42."
"The Greatest of All Time broke the news on social media that he is headed to Las Vegas. The 17-time World Champion retired from in-ring competition last December after his loss to Gunther at Saturday Night's Main Event, but is now making his first return to WWE," added the statement.
WrestleMania is where the iconic wrestler has delivered some of his most high-profile matches against legendary names of professional wrestling such as Big Show, Triple H, Batista, Shawn Michaels, The Miz, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, and others. The wrestling legend has been in the main event bout of the event multiple times. In 2004, it was against Big Show at the 20th edition of Wrestlemania where Cena captured his first-ever championship in the WWE, the WWE United States Championship.
Last year, Cena had a memorable retirement year, that saw him battle some of his biggest rivals such as CM Punk, Randy Orton, AJ Styles, Brock Lesnar, etc. and current-day stars like Cody Rhodes, Dominik Mysterio etc.
During his last year as an active professional wrestler, Cena made it count by winning a record-breaking 17th world title, defeating Cody at WrestleMania 41. He also completed a career grand slam in WWE, defeating Dominik in November to capture the WWE Intercontinental Championship. In the process, Cena finally won the prize that had eluded him throughout his career and achieved the Grand Slam by winning both world championships, both mid-card level titles and some tag team gold throughout his storied career since 2002.
WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas will feature CM Punk defending his WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes going one-on-one against 14-time world champion Randy Orton. The biggest event in professional wrestling will take place from April 18-19.