John Cena has not appeared on WWE television since losing to A.J. Styles at SummerSlam but he is still being advertised for Backlash. However, Cena has confirmed that he is not going to appear at SmackDown Live's first brand-exclusive pay-per-view on Sunday.
The WWE first refuted the reports that the 15-time WWE champion is not going to appear at Backlash but the superstar confirmed his absence on Twitter. He noted that he will appear on WWE's tour of Manila, Philippines and Shanghai, China on September 9 and 10, respectively.
According to Cageside Seats, Cena has not started filming the second season of his reality television show "American Grit." Even though he has been absent on WWE TV since SummerSlam, he has been wrestling on dark matches and house shows.
The 39-year-old wrestled a SmackDown dark match on Tuesday after the show went off the air. He teamed up with WWE World Champion Dean Ambrose to take on the team of Styles and Bray Wyatt. Th absence of Cena is more of creative decision at the moment.
Nevertheless, the Backlash card is still loaded with great matches including Styles vs. Ambrose for the WWE World Championship. In the official website of the PPV, there are four more matches beside the main event.
A Six-Pack Challenge will determine the first ever SmackDown women's champion. Nikki Bella, Cena's real-life girlfriend, is expected to win the title and beat Becky Lynch, Carmella, Naomi, Natalya and Alexa Bliss.
The first ever SmackDown Tag Team champions will also get crowned at Backlash. The odd team of Heath Slater and Rhyno are going to face the winner of The Usos vs. The Hype Bros. Slater and Rhyno were supposed to face American Alpha but The Usos attacked Chad Gable after their match on Tuesday.
Wyatt is also scheduled to face Randy Orton while The Miz defends his Intercontinental championship against Dolph Ziggler. Even without the star power of Cena, SmackDown figures to have a great night with fans tuning in to see Styles possibly win the WWE championship.
The rest of the SmackDown roster is carrying the show in Cena's absence and they will continue to do it in the coming months. Cena is expected to miss two more months as he films the second season of his TV show.
Check out the video below to get hyped for WWE Backlash 2016.