Booking John Cena Over The Next Year

10. Return On The TLC Fallout Show

The blue brand has been missing John Cena during his absence; his last match was the superb triple threat at No Mercy for the WWE Championship, and he's not been seen since his losing effort that night.

Bound by a desire to be the Face that Runs the Place, Cena returns on the first SmackDown after TLC, stating how different things look around here as of late. Randy Orton is in the Wyatt Family, the Undertaker now resides on Smackdown, and some guy called James Ellsworth seems to be the talk of the town. With the increased competition and desire to be the best, Cena lays the gauntlet down and proclaims himself as the first confirmed entrant in the 2017 Royal Rumble.

Cue the engine revs, and a broken and battered Dean Ambrose comes out from the back. Fuming from his loss to AJ Styles at TLC, Ambrose is looking for any excuse for a fight, and Cena's right in his firing line.

Ambrose barbs that Cena's holier-than-thou approach to "deeming the Rumble worthy of his existence" is an insult to the other 29 men in it, while Cena insists that the only insult around here is what Dean Ambrose did to the WWE Championship while he had it.

Reigniting the feud that defined Smackdown for a few weeks in the Autumn between two bitter enemies keeps them away from the title picture, enables Styles to face off against someone new, and enables Cena and Ambrose to finish the business that they started some time ago.