Christian Cage’s TNA contract has now expired and although at time of writing we don’t have confirmation that he has put pen-to-paper on a WWE deal, its almost certain that he’ll be returning to the company for his second run.

The working plan is that Christian will show up on the Smackdown brand and become realigned with Edge.

Heading into WrestleMania (and bear in mind WrestleMania plans will likely change a number of times between now and April), there has been talk having Christian take on Jeff Hardy in Texas (with Christian being revealed as the one who took Jeff Hardy out on the night before the Survivor Series PPV), while there has also been some thought towards having a Edge & Christian vs. The Hardy Boys program at some point in the next few months.

With his TNA contract ending, Christian could return to WWE programming immediately. This Friday’s broadcast was taped last week (click here for spoilers if you’ve not already read them) and I don’t think its spoiling the show to state that he was not at the tapings. But there’s nothing to stop Christian appear at next week’s tapings, should WWE wish him to do so.

With the Royal Rumble now less than three weeks away, its also possible that he could debut at the PPV, either as a surprise Rumble entry (unlikely and a waste unless he’s winning it) or to interfere with Jeff Hardy and perhaps cost him the title.

Christian was last seen on WWE programming in November 2005 after being drafted to Raw from Smackdown earlier in the year.

Phil Lowe
phil@ifight365.com