Each week, Sporting News will run down five of the biggest stories in the world of professional wrestling.
John Cena returns
It had been a few months since Cena had been in a WWE film as he was filming the second season of the "American Grit" reality show.
The "Face That Runs The Place" was there to set the record straight that he is not washed up or has one foot out the door for Hollywood. Instead, he stated that not only is he not leaving, but this is the "My Time Era" while issuing a challenge to the WWE champion.
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The match is set with Cena facing AJ Styles at the upcoming Royal Rumble event in San Antonio for the championship. And don't expect Cena to leave anytime soon and he'll be sticking around through at least WrestleMania where a mega-match against The Undertaker could be in the works.
American Alpha wins the tag team titles
Cena's return wasn't the only newsworthy item on SmackDown as American Alpha won the Four Corners Elimination tag team match to win the titles for the first time.
Despite being showcased in NXT and making claim to arguably being the best team in all of WWE, Jason Jordan and Chad Gable had been wildly underutilized since being moved to the main roster earlier this year.
WWE missed out on the opportunity for the babyface team to chase the Wyatt Family for the titles but this win at least puts them in the position they should be in.
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Ring of Honor signings — or lack thereof
Some good news for the promotion as they were able to sign The Young Bucks and Jay Lethal to new two-year deals. The same can't be said for far for current champion Kyle O'Reilly who current deal expires at the end of 2016.
It's a precarious position the company has put themselves in by putting the title on O'Reilly at Final Battle in early December without having him locked up. He's not the only free-agent-to-be with his reDragon partner Bobby Fish also available on the open market.
One key to watching this situation is the Jan. 4 NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11 event where O'Reilly will face former champ Adam Cole. If the title changes hands, it would likely signal that O'Reilly either is not signing a long-term deal or is leaving will NXT a potential destination.
NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11 card
The annual Tokyo Dome show could be the biggest night in the career of Kenny Omega as he looks to unseat Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
It's already been a banner year for "The Cleaner" who stepped up in a big way following the departures of AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura at the start of the year. Over the summer, Omega became the first American to win the G-1 tournament and proving himself as one of the elite wrestlers in the world. A win against Okada at New Japan's biggest event of the year would cement him as the promotion's top star.
The top of the card also includes Tetsuya Naito defending the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against the legendary Hiroshi Tanahashi, Katsuyori Shibata versus Hirooki Goto for the NEVER Open Championship, and Kushida against Hiromu Takahashi for the junior heavyweight championship in what should be a fantastic night of top-level professional wrestling.
Big Show getting in shape
It's no secret that the Big Show is expected to square off against former NBA star Shaquille O'Neil at WrestleMania.
While the 44-year-old has only made a few appearances on WWE television for the last six months, he's using the time away to get in shape. Using a new workout program and a recommitment to nutrition, "The World's Strongest Athlete" has shedded nearly 100 pounds and is below 400 for the first time in two decades.
It looks like he's taking the upcoming match very seriously in what could be the last big bout in his career.
Brian Fritz can be reached at btrfritz@gmail.com . Follow him on Twitter @BrianFritz and listen to his Between The Ropes podcast on Soundcloud .
