54-year-old WWE legend was in talks to return and fight John Cena this year!

A WWE legend was in talks to return this year and wrestle against John Cena. The Never Seen 17 has been on his retirement tour in WWE and has faced a few of his classic rivals as part of this run.

Cena faced Randy Orton at Backlash and then competed against CM Punk at Night of Champions. It turns out fans could have seen another name from The Cenation Leader's storied WWE career share the ring with him one last time.

In an interview with TMZ Sports, former WWE Champion Rob Van Dam revealed he was in talks with the promotion for one more match with The Franchise Player.

"I wanted to be one of the return matches for John Cena on his retirement tour. I was talking to them. There was a lot of interest. Without giving away too many details, you know, we were probably going to do it. And then I broke my heels," he said.

You can watch the video below:

In April this year, the 54-year-old WWE legend suffered a double heel fracture and has been recovering since. The Whole F'N Show had a famous feud with John Cena in 2006 as part of the WWE's version of ECW.

After being drafted to the new ECW brand, he cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase at ECW One Night Stand to challenge Cena for the WWE Championship. During the match, interference from Edge allowed RVD to capitalize and hit a Five-Star Frog Splash on The Champ to win the title.

John Cena set to face Brock Lesnar at Wrestlepalooza

Last week, John Cena made his final SmackDown appearance as an active wrestler. He competed against Sami Zayn for the U.S. Championship in an entertaining match.

However, the match finished abruptly after Brock Lesnar showed up. He hit both Zayn and Cena with an F-5 before delivering a message to The Cenation Leader backstage.

The Beast Incarnate said that he will see Cena at Wrestlepalooza on September 20, and WWE soon made the match official. Lesnar made a shocking return to the company last month at SummerSlam, attacking the 17-time World Champion after his match with Cody Rhodes.

If you use quotes from this article, please credit TMZ Sports and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.

About the author

Sherjeel Malik is a writer at Sportskeeda and covers pro wrestling. He was hooked on the product from the moment he saw The Hardy Boyz jumping off ladders during the Attitude Era. While he comes from an engineering background, Sherjeel’s love for pro wrestling and content writing led him to pursue a career in sports journalism. Before assuming his current role at Sportskeeda, Sherjeel worked at other reputable organizations for five years.

While writing articles, he ensures that he only relies on credible sources for information and covers relevant subjects that do not project an agenda against a particular person or association. WWE legend Paul Heyman once shared Sherjeel’s work on his social media handle.

Sherjeel’s earliest memory of pro wrestling is watching Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Undertaker square off for the WWE Title in the main event of a pay-per-view in 1998. His favorite wrestlers are Randy Orton and Jeff Hardy. While he admires Orton for his character work as a heel, he looks up to Jeff because of his unique wrestling style and risk-taking ability.

If he could go back to the Attitude Era, Sherjeel would like to manage Ken Shamrock and be his mouthpiece. He feels Shamrock’s promo skills prevented him from becoming a main event-level act in WWE. Hence, he would like to help the UFC Hall of Famer get over with fans.

When not writing about pro wrestling, he likes to read classics and fiction books.

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Edited by Sherjeel Malik