John Cena’s appearance at WWE Backlash this Saturday is being chalked up to a contractual obligation rather than a creative reason. Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer explained Cena’s deal calls for a specific number of appearances and that Backlash is one of them.
“The situation there is that he’s on Backlash. I’m not sure what the role will be because he said he’s never gonna wrestle again. They signed him to a contract which called for a number of appearances, so this is one of those appearances. His deal called for these things. I mean, to me it’s kinda weird because he just did WrestleMania and it was supposed to be something special. And here we are a couple of weeks after WrestleMania and he’s doing it again. So it feels like for a big guest like that coming back so quick and having him again, kinda seems like why would you do it? But I think the mentality is that John Cena is important and getting him on TV is important. He’s signed for a number of dates, so that’s one of them. That’s it.”
Meltzer also commented on the broader contract structure within WWE, noting that no-cut deals are extremely rare even for top names.
“I believe that there may be one or two guys with no cut contracts in WWE, but it’s very, very few. And I know top guys who tried to get no cut contracts and they were told no, as they’re told, ‘But we’re never gonna cut you.’ But they still wouldn’t put it in writing.”
