WWE: 10 biggest stories of 2016

4. The absence of John Cena

John Cena has been the face of WWE for more than a decade and I’m not sure most people have actually grasped how difficult that is to do. But it’s time to start preparing for a WWE without John Cena, and 2016 gave us a big look on how that’s going to go.

Cena started the year on the shelf after shoulder surgery in January, and outside of a brief return at WrestleMania 32 to help The Rock embarrass the Wyatt Family, wouldn’t return to WWE until late May, at which time he began his epic feud with AJ Styles. Following his loss at SummerSlam, Cena placed one of his armbands in the ring and many thought he would be gone for quite a while, but he ended up coming back for a WWE World Championship storyline involving Styles and Dean Ambrose. Cena would lose to Ambrose on an episode of Smackdown Live, marking the first time he’d lost clean on TV in seven years. He then took yet another pin from Styles in the triple threat match at No Mercy and hasn’t been seen since.

Now, we all know that Cena isn’t done with WWE, rather he left to start filming the second season of American Grit on FOX. He also just recently appeared as the host of Saturday Night Live. More and more opportunities outside of the ring are constantly being thrown at Cena, and his appearances in movies such as Trainwreck and Sisters have shown a versatile side to the 15-time champ.

So at 39 years old, what does the future hold for John Cena? We know that he’s advertised for next week’s episode of Smackdown Live and will likely participate in next month’s Royal Rumble match as WrestleMania season gets going. But will he be on TV every week? Or is he now just a part-time TV talent like The Undertaker or Triple H, only showing up to participate in the major pay-per-view events? And if so, how does WWE move on without him?

What I can say is that the company has a big roster full of talent right now that is ready to take his spot. It was interesting to watch all these events this year without him there and I think that WWE would be just fine without him. But if I can throw a golf equation in here, John Cena is Tiger Woods. Sure, things will be okay with him gone but it’s just a little more interesting when he’s around. Maybe it’s just because we’ve gotten so used to him being around that it feels strange when he’s not, and I’m fully aware that half the people reading this right now are screaming at their screen that it is time for Cena to go away;  WWE would obviously survive. They thrived before him and will thrive when he’s fully gone. But it was just interesting to watch the product without Cena. But whether you like him or not, John Cena is still the biggest star in the company and will be until he decides not to be.

Will we see more of the same in 2017?