What's Next for John Cena After Night of Champions?

This blog is re-published from Bleacher Report

(Credit: wwe.com)

After a surprise interference by Seth Rollins, John Cena was unsuccessful in taking Brock Lesnar’s WWE World Heavyweight Championship last night. Now he seems to be at something of a crossroads: Does he keep his eye on the title or go after Rollins?

In an impassioned post-match interview on WWE.com, Cena decried Rollins’ attempted cash-in as the "stupidest decision" that he had ever seen. It’s clear that The Architect has raised the ire of the leader of the Cenation, and it would be unwise to think that he has heard the last of Cena.

The career of Rollins has been somewhat intertwined with Cena's, from his initial appearance on WWE TV as part of a video package to hype Cena’s training regimen for his WrestleMania 28 match against The Rock to the matches between the two that really cemented Rollins’ position as a bankable singles competitor.

From what we’ve seen in the past, the pair have a great deal of chemistry and can put on an excellent match together. A feud with Cena can be a risky proposition for a rising star on the cusp of the main event scene—just ask Bray Wyatt—but it can also reap great rewards.

A match at Hell in a Cell between Rollins and Cena would almost certainly be given sufficient time to blow any of their television bouts out of the water. That’s the sort of bout that could make Rollins—but it’s all too possible that he has other plans.

(Credit: wwe.com)

Last night also saw the return of Dean Ambrose, who immediately set about reigniting his feud with Rollins in a chaotic brawl. That feud is one of the few in recent years that seems worthy of a finale inside The Devil’s Playground.

Having Ambrose and Rollins settle their differences at Hell in a Cell is almost too perfect an ending to their feud to miss out on, so Cena might well have to find other company for the pay-per-view—likely another title match with Lesnar.

(Credit: wwe.com)

f the nine matches Lesnar has taken part in since his return to WWE in 2012, three have been against Cena. If the pair do meet once again at Hell in a Cell, it would almost certainly be for the last time, and it will perhaps be inside The Cell.

It all depends on the reasoning behind Rollins’ role in last night’s main event. It could easily be a way of avoiding another confrontation between Cena and Lesnar to keep both men strong, but it could also just as likely be a way to keep Cena busy until Hell in a Cell.

If Lesnar isn’t to appear on television regularly over the next few weeks, Cena is going to need something to do. A brief feud with Rollins would no doubt make for some excellent television matches, although there is a question of how to keep both looking potent going into Hell in a Cell.

It seems that John Cena has matters to settle with both Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins. Both will undoubtedly have to face him in due course, but the question remains: Who will he go after first?