Variety reports that John Cena will appear on the December 30 edition of WWE SmackDown at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL.

The report added that more announcements are planned for the episode in the coming weeks.

This will mark Cena’s second appearance in WWE in 2022, as he previously appeared in June on an episode of Raw for his 20 year anniversary with the company.

His last match happened at SummerSlam in 2021 against Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship.

As previously reported, it’s believed that John Cena will be wrestling at WrestleMania 39 in April which is heavily tipped to also feature The return to the ring of The Rock. 

AJ Styles Praise for John Cena

AJ Styles and John enjoyed quite the rivalry in 2016-17, with their matches producing classics and the mic work mo less captivating. It was the former’s first time operating as a heel in WWE, and he managed to knock it out of the park alongside The Franchise Player.

As Styles himself admitted, he wasn’t so sure about wrestling Cena due to critics’, fans’, and his own preconceived notions about the 16-time World Champion’s in-ring performances. However, the current Hollywood star won over his contemporary in the course of their fantastic feud.

In an interview with the Halftime Show, Styles revealed that Cena “surprised” him with his in-ring acumen since he was “not known for being a technical mastermind in the ring.”

“[Cena is] just good—there’s no way to say it. He knows what he’s doing. Again, it’s just one of those things where you thought, ‘I’m the superior wrestler in the ring.’ But once you get in there with John Cena, you realize, ‘Well, okay, I didn’t know that. Let’s keep going.’ He’s pretty good (h/t WrestlingInc’s Phil Hall).”

Cena was still the undoubted top dog in WWE when Styles debuted in the 2016 Royal Rumble, and there is no doubt that their legendary trilogy of bouts helped legitimize the latter in the eyes of management and fans. In fact, it can be argued that they remain Styles’ best matches in his WWE career.