Breaking: John Cena and Roman Reigns Made Official for WWE No Mercy

WWE announced this afternoon that Roman Reigns and John Cena will have a match, not at WrestleMania, but at September 24th’s No Mercy.

The announcement came via a Tweet from WWE:

Needless to say, this is a surprise. While we always knew Cena and Reigns would meet, we always imagined it coming under WWE’s brightest lights. Even further, outside of a few tweets and a little skirmish last week, John Cen and Roman Reigns have barely rubbed shoulders.

That said WWE now has nearly a month to turn this into the blockbuster that it can be. Luckily the two icons have already laid the groundwork on twitter:

This one’s been cooking all summer and Reigns actually spoke in depth about a future match Cena last week. The Big Dog joined SI’s Off The Board podcast and ironically answer specific questions about a match with Cena :

“I think so. If you’re here for the right reasons — and this doesn’t just go for wrestling, this is anything, this is what drives our world — you wanna be in there with the best. To say John Cena is not one of the best of all time is asinine. He is. He’s a 16-time heavyweight champion. There are only two men in the whole world that can say that. So to be able to share the ring with him, to do a big fight with John Cena, I’m all for that.”

Reigns would go on to cut a promo on the prospective match, essentially saying that the two must meet in a WWE ring:

“I came here for a reason. I didn’t come here to blend in. I came here to stick out and that’s what I’ve done. I’m not gonna back down to anybody I said this a long time ago: I don’t care who’s at the top. I’m stepping up. I think I’ve proved that over the years. I think, what a great way to honor both of our careers and what we’re trying to do and the way we try to drive this train. What better way to do it than in the ring, one on one.”

No need for speculation – this one is happening, WWE Universe!