There’s no question that John Cena has been a huge part of the WWE and some may argue that he has even carried the company throughout the years, but with this new generation of wrestlers coming up through NXT, how long will it be before John Cena moves onto the next stage of his life and career? Cena definitely has a few years left to battle inside the ring, but in order to preserve his legacy and possibly elongate his career, this should probably be the year that John Cena starts the transition from in ring competitor to another role inside the WWE.

At this year’s Wrestlemania John Cena will do battle against current United States Champion Rusev for that same US Championship. There has been a lot of speculation going into this potential match that Cena will win, but if that’s the case, this would be the second year in a row that Cena would face a new and upcoming talent at WrestleMania and beat him. Last year at Wrestlemania 30 it was John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt in what was a very story driven match that made the crowd go wild, but it was clear the crowd wanted Wyatt to go over instead of Cena. That didn’t happen and Wyatt’s push to the main event scene was seriously halted. If WWE does decide to have Cena go over Rusev at this year’s Wrestlemania the arena will probably erupt in anger, because even though Rusev has been such a monstrous heel throughout his current run on the main roster, the fact that Cena is going over yet another future star at WrestleMania is troubling.

If John Cena does lose against Rusev at WrestleMania then this could be the gateway into transitioning Cena off television. Rusev and Lana have infused their promos with minor hints about Cena being an ‘old dog’ and needing to step away, so maybe now is the time for Cena take a step back. He can slowly transition into a different type of television persona such as a manager for a talent or an agent backstage. Another scenario could see Cena becoming the General Manager of both Monday Night RAW and Smackdown. The WWE could run a storyline similar to what they did with the Survivor Series buildup where Cena and the Authority feud over control of the WWE which could eventually lead to the Authority’s exit off television and back into the boardroom where they are always busy running the actual company.

Only time will tell what path John Cena will take into in the future, but putting him over young talent for two years in a row doesn’t seem like the most logical decision in 2015.

– Jake

As always, follow our guest blogger Jake on Twitter @imTHATguy_KJ.