As reported on WWE.com after RAW, it was announced that John Cena had surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow. The recovery time that was given after this was four to six weeks, which would have taken up almost all build to the next PPV, Hell in a Cell. The result would be Cena having to work a less physically intensive program up towards the PPV. That was until the WWE would then release another statement, claiming Cena's injury would take 2-3 weeks to recover instead, leaving him plenty time to get back for the inevitable match with CM Punk in 5 weeks time. In the last of the series of statements released, they reconfirmed the 6 to 8 weeks of recover again for Cena. Plenty of conflicting reports on the matter. Cena's reduced recovery time does have similarities with the previous 2 times he's been injured. In October 2007, during a match with Mr. Kennedy, Cena suffered a legitimate torn pectoral muscle. The seriousness of the injury meant Cena was expected to be on the sidelines for a minimum of seven months to recover from the injury. However, Cena would in 3 months return at the Royal Rumble, and was immediately put into a main event program. At 2008 Summerslam, Cena would recieve a herniated disc in his neck. Despite such a serious injury, Cena would return within 3 months yet again, and immediately win the World Heavyweight Champion in the process, putting him in front of the main event. The WWE seem to be keen in rushing back Cena when he gets injured. It would seem that the WWE fear that Cena disappearing for a great length of time would damage TV Ratings, merchandise and house show sales. John Cena is the only legitimate full time draw (or the only draw whom is trusted) in the WWE currently, with none of the other WWE Superstars having the mainstream appeal Cena has. However, the risk the WWE have with Cena constantly not having to recover from such injuries is that they risk a much more serious injury down the road. The dependency on Cena bares similarities to last couple of years of Japanese legend Mitsuharu Misawa.
Mitsuharu Misawa's success in the late 90s had saw him become one of the greatest wrestlers in the history of Japanese wrestling. During his time at All Japan Pro Wrestling, he would win the AJPW Triple Crown (the equivalent of their World Championship) 5 times, and go on to headline 69 Budokan Hall (the equivlant of the Madison Square Garden in Japan) shows, 53 of which were sellouts. In 2000, he would split away from his promotion AJPW and went onto form his own promotion with the majority of AJPW's roster, called Pro Wrestling NOAH. Despite the initial success of NOAH in early part of the decade, serious problems were afloat in the company. Main star Kenta Kobashi was diagnosed with cancer, and despite defeating cancer, he would come back the shell of the wrestler he once was. The failure of Jun Akiyama to become the top face and the many failed attempts of establishing new main eventers in the new generation, had left Misawa needing to use his own star power to carry NOAH with the hopes he would be able to put over a new star. However, the Misawa of lates 2000s was a broken down physically due to the intensive style of pro-wrestling in Japan. Injuries had meant he was unable to keep to his old level of training, and had became overweight as a result. He also worked the last two years of his career with a undiagnosed neck injury that would ultimately prove to be fatal. In a GHC Tag Team Championship match on July 13, 2009, Mitsuharu Misawa would wrestle his last match. Teaming with Go Shiozaki, a wrestler that Misawa was hoping could solve NOAH's star problem, they were teaming up against the NOAH native Akitoshi Saito and the now late Bison Smith. Misawa had barely been involved in the match, Shiozaki was doing much of the grunt work to protect the older Misawa. However, Misawa would come into the match off a hot tag, but was cut off. Saito would then preform a series of moves, one of which was to be a back suplex. Whilst not considered a very dangerous move, Misawa's head did hit the mat first. As a result, Misawa was laying on ground, not moving. He immediately told the referee in the ring that he couldn't move, and then would pass out. Nishinaga immediately stopped the match at the 27:03 mark, and an desperate attempt was made to save Misawa, who had stopped breathing. However, these efforts were in vain, and Misawa would pass away in the ring, 5 days shy of his 47th birthday. The lesson that the WWE needs to learn from the Misawa tragedy is the danger of the over-reliance on John Cena, and the risks of rushing him back early from injury. Misawa's death was easily avoidable, but over-reliance that had been built around Misawa had himself with little choice for the survival of his company. Whilst I doubt the next time Cena takes the serious bump he'll suffer the same horrible fate of Misawa, but if Cena was to get injured in a way similiar to Edge where he could no longer medically wrestle, the WWE would be seriously lacking in star power suddenly. With the likes of HBK, Edge retired and Undertaker and Triple H semi-retired, the loss of its true main event babyface would be disastrous for the WWE. If the WWE was faced with a post-Cena today, it would be left with Punk (who has publicly announced he plans to retire in the next 2 years), Orton, Mysterio (both with their 2 wellness violations), Sheamus (he isnt ready to carry the company; he struggles to carry Smackdown as it is) and Bryan. The risk that the WWE is taking, even with such a minor injury as this, seems to set a dangerous precedent with the WWE main event. Cena needs to be protected more, not risked for "B" Show PPV like Hell in a Cell. In truth, what the WWE should be doing with Cena is using him to get the Sheamus/Zigglers/Bryans of this world onto his level. Cena's been wrestling the demands of the top face in the WWE for the last 7 years now; this is longer than Austin, Rock, Lesnar, Hart and HBK ever wrestled as the top WWE babyface. Only Hogan has wrestled longer at this level of competition, and considering how broken down Hogan is nowadays, this is something to fear for Cena in the future. The potential risk of him suddenly having to retire, or worse, grows larger every day. The WWE needs to pass the torch from Cena soon, if more for Cena's health if anything else.