Cena out 6-8 months!
OK, this is old news by Web standards, but on last week’s Monday Night RAW, WWE Champion John Cena suffered a career-interrupting injury in the ring against Mr. Kennedy, a promising star on the rise in WWE over the past year.
Predictably, as is often the case with genuine injuries, the moment of the actual injury was not during a dramatic moment or a devastating move. Instead, it came as Cena Irish Whipped Kennedy into the far ring ropes and bounced off them himself. As Cena bounced back from the ropes to meet Kennedy in the middle, he was holding his right arm in a wounded, chicken-wing position.
From that point in the match, Cena wrestled on but barely used his right arm to do anything. It became painfully obvious he was hurting and at least Kennedy was enough of a professional to make a good show of things without performing any action that would worsen Cena’s actual injury. The show finished out as scripted, with a post-match sneak attack by Orton on Cena.
It was a bit painful to watch and may have made some sensitive viewers wish they had faux wood blinds in front of their TV sets that they could draw closed.
By Tuesday on ECW, Vince McMahon opened the broadcast to announce the big news: Cena had suffered a complete tear-away separation of his right pectoral muscle and had been rushed post-broadcast to undergo immediate surgery.
Here’s the kicker: The injury and surgery combined could keep Cena out of action between six months to a year, meaning that WWE’s biggest current star will almost certainly miss the 2008 WrestleMania event.
One PPV Cena is a cinch to miss is today’s No Mercy PPV. Right now, WWE is scrambling to replace the scheduled Cena-Orton hookup with a watchable match. More on that in a bit.