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John Cena’s Role At WWE Payback Confirmed

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John Cena has confirmed that he will be at WWE Payback while also admitting it’s a role he isn’t used to.

At the start of WWE Smackdown in Hershey, John Cena entered the arena to a thunderous ovation. The former 16-time WWE World Champion will be appearing regularly on Smackdown throughout September and October.

During Cena’s promo to start Smackdown, he told the WWE Universe that he was very thankful for all of the love and support they have given him over the last 20+ years. Cena said he’ll make it a point to say “thank you” to the WWE fans.

While Cena spoke, he also officially announced that he is the host of WWE Payback tonight from Pittsburgh.

This confirmed a Wrestlevotes report that Cena would be appearing at Payback in a hosting role.

After his promo announcing his role at Payback, Cena was interrupted by Jimmy Uso. That interaction saw Jimmy claim that Cena was just like Roman Reigns because he makes everything about himself. Cena disagreed with that and told Jimmy that the wrong Uso quit referencing Jey Uso “quitting” WWE a few weeks ago. Jimmy tried a superkick, but Cena was ready and dropped Jimmy with an Attitude Adjustment slam.

John Cena Admits That He Doesn’t Even Know What “Hosting” WWE Payback Means

While talking to the WWE Digital Team on YouTube, John Cena admitted he didn’t really know what hosting Payback meant and said he might ask The Miz for advice.

“I’ve never quite hosted. I just found that out right before I went down there and I want to make sure everyone knows I’ll be at the premium live event Payback as the host, and I don’t even know what that means. I have a lot of mutual respect for The Miz, he’s a man that wears many hats, maybe I can engage in a conversation with him and get some suggestions, he’s done the job quite well.”

Here’s the lineup for the WWE Payback PLE lineup taking place tonight, September 2nd, in Pittsburgh:

* World Heavyweight Championship: Seth “Freakin” Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

* Women’s World Heavyweight Championship: Rhea Ripley vs. Raquel Rodriguez

* Steel City Street Fight for the WWE Tag Team Championships: Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens vs. Damian Priest & Finn Balor

* Steel Cage Match: Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus

* United States Championship: Rey Mysterio vs. Austin Theory

* LA Knight vs. The Miz

* Grayson Waller Effect talk show with Cody Rhodes as the guest

* John Cena is the host

You can watch WWE Payback on Saturday, September 2, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, streaming LIVE on Peacock in the United States and on WWE Network everywhere else.