What’s more American than WWE Smackdown on July 4? An episode of Smackdown on July 4 with John Cena, of course.
Cena returned to WWE for the first time since WrestleMania and gave a rousing speech where he declared his love for his country and addressed his new status as a “free agent,” where he will appear on both Raw and Smackdown instead of being signed to a single brand like other superstars.
Cena told the crowd “the United States of America is a beautiful country that was built on an ideal—a very simple concept that anyone, any race, creed, color, sex, [or] religion could come to this land and with hard work achieve greatness.”
He also addressed recent concerns that he only works part-time in WWE because he cares more about his blossoming Hollywood career: “I am not a part-timer, I am an all-timer—and that means Monday Night Raw, and that means Smackdown Live, and the reason I am a free agent is because if my time in the WWE is limited, then hell, I’m going down in a blaze of frickin’ glory!”
However, Cena wasn’t the only superstar making a grand return on Smackdown. Rusev interrupted Cena by marching toward the ring with a Bulgarian flag and telling Cena that America “is a joke.”
Of course, Cena didn’t take kindly to Rusev besmirching his country, and challenged Rusev to a flag match. Rusev agreed, but told the crowd “not today.” It was later revealed by Smackdown General Manager Daniel Bryan that Cena and Rusev will settle their grudges at Battleground.
Battleground will air live on the WWE Network from Philadelphia on July 23, and there’s no doubt that Cena will be pulling out all of the stops to fight for his country.
