John Cena Vs. Logan Paul The Perfect Spectacle For WWE SummerSlam

John Cena and Logan Paul will be competing in two huge matches at WrestleMania 39, but they could cross paths in WWE sooner rather than later.

It was only a few months back that WWE reportedly had penciled in a blockbuster WrestleMania match between Cena and Paul before the company decided to pivot to Cena vs. Austin Theory and Paul vs. Seth Rollins. Those two matches are among the most highly anticipated on this year’s Mania card, but there’s no denying that neither one is as big as Cena vs. Paul would be.

And if WWE has its way, that Paul vs. Cena dream match will still happen—only at SummerSlam instead of WrestleMania.

According to WrestleVotes (h/t WrestlingNews.co), the clash between the two pop culture superstars is being considered for WWE’s summer spectacle, as “Logan loved the idea and Cena was totally down” to do the once-planned WrestleMania match. WrestleMania, however, has already sold itself—it’s already broken the record for WWE’s biggest live gate ever—because, well, it’s WrestleMania.

Summer, on the other hand, is a different story. It’s not quite WrestleMania, but it’s trying to be WrestleMania-lite. What better way to accomplish that than by building it around Paul vs. Cena?

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In recent years, WWE has attempted to turn SummerSlam into a massive event with a WrestleMania-caliber card and a WrestleMania-sized crowd. In 2021, WWE set a SummerSlam record with more than 51,000 fans in attendance for the event headlined by a massive match—Cena vs. Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship—at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada.

A year later, WWE announced it had more than 48,000 fans packed into Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee for the event, though the actual number was reportedly around 38,000 fans. That event was headlined by Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch and yet another bout between Reigns and Brock Lesnar.

In 2023, SummerSlam could be even bigger, much bigger, with Paul vs. Cena as the main event.

SummerSlam 2023 will emanate from Ford Field in Detroit, which last hosted a major WWE event in 2007. That pay-per-view, WrestleMania 23, had an announced crowd of more than 80,000 fans, which at the time was good enough for the second-highest attendance in WWE history.

This decade, WWE has made more of a habit out of hosting blockbuster PPVs in stadiums rather than large arenas, giving the company the opportunity to set new revenue, attendance and live gate records year in and year out. As demonstrated by the somewhat disappointing attendance for SummerSlam 2022, however, WWE fans aren’t going to attend SummerSlam just because it’s SummerSlam.

SummerSlam doesn’t have the same name value as WrestleMania, which has long been one of the most valuable brands in sports. You know who has proven their value in the world of combat sports, though? Cena and Paul.

Cena has been a substantial draw for WWE during his recent appearances while Logan Paul has a massive social media following that includes more than 25 million Instagram followers. Cena himself has more than 18 million Instagram followers, and he and Cena are quite clearly two of WWE’s most recognizable stars beyond the squared circle.

Combat sports is thriving nowadays in large part because of gimmick-based boxing matches—just ask Paul himself—so there would be widespread appeal to Paul vs. Cena that wouldn’t be there with, say, a star like Rollins, Reigns or even Lesnar. As big of stars as those names are, they aren’t as known in the mainstream as Paul and Cena, who might not be full-time WWE stars but, outside of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, are perhaps the biggest two names who can realistically wrestle nowadays.

While WrestleMania 39 doesn’t need Paul vs. Cena because the WrestleMania brand is going to sell the show regardless of who’s on it, WWE needs a match like Paul vs. Cena to make SummerSlam 2023 the biggest and most successful non-WrestleMania event in company history.