John Cena made his return on Friday night (Picture: WWE)
John Cena thanked WWE fans around the world in an emotional moment before his highly anticipated return to the ring on SmackDown.
On Friday night, the wrestling legend turned Hollywood star was in his first match since his SummerSlam loss to Roman Reigns in August 2021, and his first match on free TV since 2019.
As he made his way onto the stage to a chorus of cheers from the capacity crowd, Cena went to talk to the cameraman – as he’s been known to do over the years – but instead turned his attention to the audience at home.
‘Tonight I’m talking to you,’ he shouted in a genuinely lovely moment of reality amid the spectacle.
He added: ‘Thank you so much for allowing me to do this for 20 years. I love you and it means the world to me. Let’s go to work.’
He also delivered a message after the show went off the air, which saw The Bloodline attack Cena and Kevin Owens until Drew McIntyre and the Brawling Brutes made the save.
He said: ‘I wanna thank everybody that I shared the ring with tonight. I wanna thank you for spending your holidays with us. It is the season of giving… I just wanna say, thank you so much for giving me the greatest gift you ever could – and that’s the gift of stepping in this ring for 20 straight years.
‘I’ve had one match, at least, every single year since I started in 2002. This year is the first that wasn’t gonna happen until I found out the last event of the year was right in my backyard here in Tampa Bay.
‘I wanna thank you as a community for welcoming me with open arms, I wanna thank those I share the ring with for helping me make magic every night. But most importantly I wanna thank all of you…
‘None of this exists without you. Thank you for a wonderful 20-year run, thank you for a wonderful 2022… Let’s have one hell of a 2023.’
Not surprisingly, Cena received an incredible ovation from his adoring fans, although it will still take some getting used to hearing cries of ‘Let’s go Cena’ not met by a deeper group chanting ‘Cena sucks’.
Perhaps as expected, the 16-time world champion stayed on the apron for much of the SmackDown match on live TV, as his tag team partner Kevin Owens carried most of the load with Sami Zayn, whose Bloodline leader Roman Reigns looked frustrated as the bout went on.
At one point, Cena was dragged to the outside by the Tribal Chief, who threw him into the ringside barrier, leaving him open to a Helluva Kick from Zayn.
In the end, stereo Five Knuckle Shuffles from Cena and KO left Reigns and Zayn open to an Attitude Adjustment and Stunner respectively, before Owens pinned his real life best friend for the win.
The fan favourites celebrated as The Bloodline looked shell shocked and the show went off the air, with fans left wondering what this loss will mean for the Honorary Uce.
It was an eventful night even before Cena came out for the match, with Charlotte Flair also grabbing the highlines as she returned and beat Ronda Rousey in an impromptu match to win the SmackDown Women’s Championship.
WWE SmackDown airs Friday nights at 1am on BT Sport 1.
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MORE : WWE SmackDown results, grades: John Cena wins epic return and causes cracks in The Bloodline
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What a moment for the 16-time world champion!
