WWE Announces John Cena Is Out of Royal Rumble Due to “Injury”

It was announced this afternoon that John Cena is officially out of the Royal Rumble match. The announcement was made on WWE Now earlier in the day.

Here’s how WWE explained it:

Cena first sustained the left ankle injury during the main event of the Jan. 14 episode of Raw. In that match, the 16-time World Champion faced Finn Bálor, Baron Corbin and Drew McIntyre for the right to challenge Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at the WWE Royal Rumble event.

As seen in the video below, the injury occurred when McIntyre trapped Cena in the ankle lock submission hold. Cena then appears to favor his left ankle while leaving the ring after Raw went off the air.

The Cenation Leader was unable to sufficiently recover in time for tonight’s 30-Man Royal Rumble Match, and has been ruled out of the bout as a result.

Is Cena really hurt? Apparently not. As we reported earlier in the week, Cena’s injury is just a storyline and it’s a case of WWE not wanting to put him in the Rumble match. Maybe it’s because the Lars Sullivan story isn’t going to happen. I’m not sure what it might be, but Cena is starting to film a movie soon, so he likely is fine with sitting this one out so as to avoid the risk of an injury.