Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/03/11/john-cena-announced-for-3-13-edition-of-friday-night-smackdown/
A week prior to the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, John Cena made his return to WWE programming and teased not being a part of this year’s WrestleMania in Tampa, Florida. As Cena made his way up the entrance ramp, he was confronted by “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt who challenged Cena to a match at WrestleMania and that match was soon made official. This Friday on SmackDown in Detroit, Michigan, Cena is making his return to the blue-brand.
BREAKING NEWS: @JohnCena will be on #SmackDown this Friday night!
What will the 16-time World Champion have to say in response to his #WrestleMania opponent?https://t.co/DR9nmxyXDw
— WWE (@WWE) March 11, 2020
On last week’s show, a Firefly Fun House segment aired and it featured Bray Wyatt redecorating the Fun House with pictures of John Cena and hyping up he and Cena’s forthcoming match.
Also slated to appear on SmackDown this week are Jeff Hardy and Paige. Jeff Hardy announced on WWE Backstage on FS1 that he is medically cleared to compete and he’ll be back in front of a live crowd on Friday. Paige is making her return to confront the current SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley.
On the March 10th edition of WWE Backstage, it was reported during the ‘Satin Sheet’ portion of the show that Rob Gronkowski was close to coming to terms on a deal with WWE and that Gronk’s first appearance under contract with the company could occur on the 3/20 episode of SmackDown in New Orleans. TheWrap followed up on that story and confirmed that Gronk has officially signed with WWE and his next appearance will be on that aforementioned date in New Orleans.