John Cena Announced As The Host Of WWE Payback 2023

John Cena made his return to WWE programming last night for the first time since the Money in the Bank 2023 PPV in London, England. He arrived on Friday Night SmackDown to announce that he would be at tonight’s Payback premium live event, and he would be acting as the host of the show. 

What he actually does at the show isn’t entirely certain, with the match card already laid out for the event, but with a non-wrestling Grayson Waller Effect segment with Cody Rhodes taking place, he could well show up there. 

On SmackDown, Cena was interrupted by the returning Jimmy Uso (fit with a new entrance theme) who confronted the 16-time World Champion and accused him of being like Roman Reigns. Cena shot back at Uso, stating that the wrong brother quit. This led to Uso attempting a superkick, only for Cena to nail him with an AA. Cena will not only be at Payback, but at the Superstar Spectacle event in India and at several subsequent episodes of SmackDown from now until October too.