WWE’s Original Plan For John Cena At The Royal Rumble

Last week, John Cena successfully underwent surgery to repair injuries in his right shoulder. The procedure was performed by Dr. Jeffrey Dugas at the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center in Birmingham, Ala.

“He had a complete tear of a small portion of the rear rotator cuff tendon, the infraspinatus — toward the top-back of his shoulder — which I repaired,” Dr. Dugas told WWE.com. “Also, there was a large piece of loose tissue in his shoulder that needed to be removed.”

Dave Meltzer mentioned on Wrestling Observer Radio that had Cena not undergone surgery, he would have challenged Alberto Del Rio for the United States Championship at the Royal Rumble. He did not state whether Cena would have competed in the 2016 Royal Rumble Match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

With WWE forced to go in a different direction, Kalisto conquered Del Rio on last night on Raw to become the new United States Champion.