After The Rock busted down the divide between WWE and Hollywood, John Cena walked through it, and summer 2021 looks to be his time to shine. Prior to the rise of The Princess Bride, but those were few and far between.
The worst offender was likely Hulk Hogan, who clearly wanted to become a full-time actor, but kept starring in movies that flopped so badly that he needed to turn back to professional wrestling to get back on track, including such anti-hits as Mr. Nanny and Santa with Muscles. The Rock changed all that through both talent and relentless perseverance, pushing through a tumultuous first few years to emerge as one of the biggest stars in the world. Since then, both Bumblebee, but summer 2021 could well rocket the former rapper into the stratosphere.
Cena kicks off his summer of (hopefully) love on June 25, playing villain Jakob Toretto in F9, the ninth entry into the multi-billion-dollar Fast and Furious film saga. Jakob is the brother of Vin Diesel's Dom Toretto, and playing such a character positions Cena in a potential top spot in the franchise going forward should he survive F9, and possibly flip to his brother's side at some point as has happened in the past with some of Dom's rivals. F9, if past is prologue, will likely make truckloads of money at the box office, further establishing Cena as a top-level star.
Then, on August 6, Cena plays Peacemaker in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Every new piece of footage from the sequel/reboot seems to be increasing expectations for the decidedly off the wall adventure, and Cena will likely steal the show, seeing as how his Peacemaker performance so wowed both Gunn and DC that they proceeded into production on a spinoff TV show for HBO Max long before the movie came out.
To top things off, Cena will also likely be stepping back into the WWE ring before the end of summer, as he's teased an imminent return. It's heavily rumored that Cena will return to battle WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns in the main event of SummerSlam, which takes place on August 21. Reigns, cousin of The Rock, has taken over he and John Cena's former mantle as WWE's top star, and has recently been reigning as a dominating heel, allowing Cena to come back as the savior of the good guys.
