WWE.com John Cena returned to 'SmackDown Live' on July 4th.
Shortly after John Cena returned to the WWE on July 4th, he was booked in a match with Rusev for Battleground.
On SmackDown Live this evening, John Cena returned and was confronted by Rusev. After Rusev badmouthed the U.S., John Cena challenged him to a flag match to take place later that night. Rusev refused to participate in the match that evening, saying that they will fight on his terms.
Only about 20 minutes later, though, Daniel Bryan made this match official. It will take place at Battleground, the SmackDown Live exclusive pay-per-view that will air on Sunday, July 23rd.
#SDLive kicks off with fireworks. Now let me make it official.
@JohnCena vs. @RusevBUL in a flag match at #WWEBattleground. #YesYesYes
During a flag match, two flags are placed on opposite sides of the turnbuckles, with one flag being assigned to each wrestler. Similar to a game of Capture the Flag, the goal is to steal your opponent’s flag and also to defend your own flag.
John Cena and Rusev both made their return to SmackDown Live on the July 4th show. Cena hadn’t been seen since WrestleMania 33, while Rusev hadn’t been seen since Fastlane back in March; Cena left to go film a movie, while Rusev was away on an injury.
After Battleground, it is rumored that John Cena will face WWE Champion Jinder Mahal at SummerSlam in August.
Cena is also now a free agent, which means that he can appear on Monday Night Raw in the future. For now, it seems he’ll be sticking on SmackDown Live to fight Rusev. But Cena said during his first promo back that he also wants to challenge Raw superstars, including Roman Reigns. And indeed, it is now rumored that the main event of WrestleMania 34 will be Roman Reigns vs. John Cena for the WWE Universal Championship.