This week at the Roundtable here at iFight365.com we’re debating the question: How would you bring John Cena back into the WWE when he recovers from his injury?

Mark Bright: This is a fairly simple and easy to answer question I think. The first thing to say is UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD HE RESUME HIS SHITTY FEUD WITH JBL. Cena is the biggest star in the company and we’ve seen from Chris Jericho, Cena himself, CM Punk and Batista in recent times that all feuding with JBL does for somebody is define them down and put them in boring feuds that suck all the life and energy out of the guys.

I think he should get the “Triple H January 2002″ treatment. I mean video packages of him training, an announcement that he’s coming back in one particular week, more video packages and people cutting promos about his coming back, with babyfaces putting him over and heels warning him to stay away and/or acting nonchelant about it all. Then, on the show of his comeback, it’s absolutely crucial that they DO NOT SHOW HIM ON CAMERA ARRIVING BACKSTAGE OR SHAKING HANDS WITH OTHER BABYFACES OR ANY STUPID CRAP LIKE THAT – IT’S NOT TNA.

They should stack the show with people who have a history with Cena, from JBL, to Batista, to Randy Orton to Shawn Michaels to Cryme Tyme and throughout the show you’d hint at Cena returining but it doesn’t happen – and the heels on the show can say it shows Cena is gutless, some standard heel line that works for them but also – because it’s wrestling and the fans have been conditioned to think heels are lying and if you say something isn’t going to happen usually it means it is happening – lets people know that he actually WILL show up.

Then, in the final segment of the show, Cena’s music hits and he comes out for his “welcome back” promo. If he gets a great babyface reaction then awesome, but if he gets his normal mixed reaction then he can even talk about how much he’s missed the energy of performing infront of a live crowd where half the people are backing him and half the people want him to get his ass kicked.

Then I’d have Chris Jericho interrupt, announce that “The Champ Is Here” and he doesn’t get why everyone went crazy for Cena all these weeks, while those same people shout him down, when he goes out there every week and kicks ass. I’m not sure what to do from this point, maybe have them get into a brawl, maybe have someone else run in and attack one of the guys, but I’d save a Cena-Jericho PPV match for a couple of months rather than doing it right away, this meeting would just be to plant the seed.

Cena was defined down in midcard matches and even in one case this year in the opening match on the PPV, but this puts him over as a main event franchise player, and puts him in a confrontation with the World Heavyweight Champion on his first night back. And whatever you may think of John Cena as a wrestler or as a character, from a business perspective that’s exactly where he should be.

James Mustoe: Well with Cena’s revised recovery time, I would have thought the perfect time to bring him back would be at the Royal Rumble! Then he could win the match and go on to challenge for the title at WrestleMania.. oh whoops they already did that after he recovered from his last major injury…

Anyway, from what I remember some of the best and most heated Cena matches that I’ve seen were the Cena vs. Jericho matches at Summerslam and the RAW afterwards that resulted in Jericho taking his lengthy hiatus from the WWE. I would be a strong advocate of bringing Cena back as a challenger for Jericho, assuming that he is still champion in 2009.

Have someone from Smackdown, or (gasp) ECW win the Rumble and bring back Cena to be the challenger for Jericho, culminating in a title match at WrestleMania XXV. Cena and Jericho could hold off wrestling and just participate in angles in the run up to Wrestlemania (perhaps including at tag match along the lines of the 2007 No Way Out with the Raw and Smackdown WM Title match contenders teaming up in the build up to the big PPV), as long as whoever writes Cena’s immature skit material is kept away from the feud and maybe Jericho is allowed to book it.

Cena vs. Jericho could be, with the right build up, a sure fire money match, and one that is certain to bring out the best in Cena the character and the wrestler, when he comes back, it would probably add another feather to Jericho’s cap as well, with a decent WrestleMania main event being added to his resume (no WrestleMania XVIII does not count).

Phil Lowe: I’d love to say “turn him heel” but that’s so unlikely because of the amount of merchandise he shifts. But even without turning him heel, I’d like to see him bring back some elements of the character he was when he first broke in on Smackdown. The “poop” jokes do nothing for him and never will. Bringing back some more of his original persona in WWE (more so the promos rather than the different hometown jerseys each week) would still make him cool to kids and would likely get him over again with some of the older fans who for some reason still think its cool to boo him – despite the guy having fantastic feuds with Umaga, Edge, Shawn Michaels and others over the past couple of years.

As far as who to put him into a storyline with, I’d actually like to see them put Cena in a program with somebody new. I know the temptation would likely be to do Cena-Batista (which should have never been done before WrestleMania anyway) or Cena-Jericho (providing Jericho still has the title). But I think that since there’s a certain star in the making on Smackdown who appears to be being held back, there’s a ton of mileage – and an opportunity to create a new main eventer if done right – in a Cena vs. MVP program.

Steve McLaren: I’d bill Cena’s return for the Royal Rumble and I’d air videos of his rehabilitation and training. I’d also have an interview on the Raw prior to the Royal Rumble with Batista, where he’d basically say something along the lines of “If Cena gets in my way at the Rumble, I’ll take him out…Again!”

Batista would enter the Rumble and just clean house. As bodies lay all around Batista, the ten second countdown would go and out comes Cena. After a long face-off, they’d trade blows and what not. While down to the final four, Batista would be doing the old ‘try and get the guy hanging on the ropes out’ thing. Cena would come from behind and dump Batista.

Batista would look on at Cena all pissed off, but eventually he would offer his hand out to Cena. As like in the Royal Rumble of 1992, someone would come from behind and dump Cena, and Batista would assist and pull Cena out too.

Both Cena and Batista would go back and forth trying to top which other and nearly coming to blows each week. Eventually it’d finally just break down and they’d go hammer and tongs at each other.

They announce Cena vs. Batista II for WrestleMania and I’d have both go away for 2 weeks and do taped training vignettes. Cena would go to his “roots” with Rocky 1 style training techniques, while Batista would go for the Rocky 4 style mountain training. On the final Raw before WrestleMania, we’d have the contract signing where both men have an intense stare down.