7 Ways To Heat Up WWE In John Cena's Absence
6. Create A Feud For John Cena To Return To
Following WrestleMania XII in 1996, Bret Hart went on an extended hiatus from WWE after 12 years of being on television, which is quite similar to Cena's current situation. In his absence, Shawn Michaels reigned as champion following his close victory over Hart, and Stone Cold Steve Austin emerged as a brand new rival for The Hitman.
Throughout the summer, Austin repeatedly ripped into Bret verbally, and thus kept him alive in the minds of fans while building tremendous anticipation for the eventual match. When Bret returned, he had a ready-made feud to walk into where he didn't have to interrupt the title scene right away.
To take this approach, WWE would have to find their own dynamic talker who could rile things up enough to keep it interesting. With the rumors of Dolph Ziggler and John Cena facing off soon, coupled with the Total Divas storyline between Ziggler and Nikki Bella, WWE could unleash Dolph as the heel he's meant to be, in promos that are aimed at Cena to lure him into a match.
This would set Cena's shock return up, as he looked to deal with the man who had been running his name into the ground while he was gone.