John Cena, The Fiend Have Confrontation on WWE SmackDown Ahead of WrestleMania

Two weeks after accepting The Fiend Bray Wyatt's challenge for a match at WrestleMania 36, John Cena returned to WWE SmackDown on Friday.

Cena initially came out and cut a promo against his WrestleMania competitor, saying the WWE should be investing more into other WWE Superstars as opposed to ones who he feels receive multiple chances like The Fiend.

However, The Fiend then interrupted Cena and provided his own thoughts, which culminated in him saying that WrestleMania will end in a slaughter.

Cena appearing on Friday's SmackDown figured to be a big draw, but the show was moved from Little Caesar's Arena in Detroit to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, with no fans in attendance due to the coronavirus pandemic.

When he made his official return two weeks ago, Cena cut a passionate promo and insisted he did not want to be part of the WrestleMania card so as not to take a spot from a younger Superstar.

His tone quickly changed, however, when The Fiend appeared behind him on the stage and pointed to the WrestleMania sign. Cena then tipped his cap to Wyatt, which confirmed that they would do battle on The Grandest Stage of Them All.

While Cena was not on SmackDown last week, Wyatt addressed the WWE Universe with an episode of Firefly Funhouse. During that segment, Wyatt discussed his WrestleMania 30 match against Cena, which saw Cena beat him.

Wyatt suggested that the loss had a significant impact on him and was a factor in the eventual development of The Fiend character.

Cena returning to WWE programming is significant since he did not compete at last year's WrestleMania and hasn't had a match since January 2019. Given his status as an up-and-coming star in Hollywood, being a WWE Superstar is no longer the top priority for the 16-time world champion.

He is a massive star worldwide, however, and now that he isn't appearing on WWE television every week, fans seem legitimately excited to have him back.

Conventional wisdom suggests that Cena will put The Fiend over at WrestleMania, especially after The Fiend surprisingly dropped the Universal Championship to Goldberg at WWE Super ShowDown.

Cena is at a point in his career where he has seen and done it all and can start to give back to other talent, and his rivalry with The Fiend seems to be an example of that.