John Cena & Nikki Bella def. Miz & Maryse; Cena asks Nikki to marry him

After proving themselves the true “It” couple by defeating The Miz & Maryse in an action-packed WrestleMania Mixed Tag Team Match, John Cena & Nikki Bella got engaged on The Grandest Stage of Them All.

In the months preceding The Show of Shows, The A-Lister and his devious spouse made it their mission to paint a picture of Cena and Nikki as nothing more than “fake” and “power-grabbing,” a sentiment they brought to life in a series of scathing mic rants and Total Bellas parodies unblock proxy uk.

John Cena & Nikki Bella team up to face rival power couple The Miz & Maryse: Courtesy of the award-winning WWE network.

For their part, The Cenation Leader and Fearless Nikki maintained that Miz had stolen everything he was from other, “more talented” competitors, while Maryse had never really done anything at all. As a result, WrestleMania became an opportunity for each couple to show their opponents, the WWE Universe and themselves what they were truly all about.

The contest kicked off with special guest ring announcer Al Roker of NBC’s TODAY Show commanding center stage. However, once the bell rang, it was all about the players. Miz and Maryse began by playing mind games on Nikki and Cena unblocked games 66. This allowed the gloating A-Lister to gain the early advantage on The Leader of the Cenation, an edge he would maintain throughout much of the match. Even when Cena made it to his corner to attempt to tag in Nikki, Maryse prevented it by attacking his lady love from behind.

After their WrestleMania victory, John Cena pops the question to Nikki Bella in front of millions watching live around the world: Courtesy of the award-winning WWE Network.

Things took a drastic turn, though, when Nikki suddenly slapped the taste right out of Miz’s mouth. Cena tagged in Nikki, and the Fearless Superstar took charge. From there, it was all downhill for The A-Lister couple, as Cena and Nikki executed a double Knuckle Shuffle, followed by Cena hitting the Attitude Adjustment and Nikki delivering the Rack Attack 2.0 for the double pin.

As the dust cleared and it looked like the excitement of their victory had reached its zenith, Cena decided to tell Nikki and the capacity crowd at the Orlando Citrus Bowl a story. He revealed that when she was being wheeled into surgery last year, he asked a groggy Nikki if she knew that he would one day marry her. Cena then proceeded to drop to one knee in the ring and deliver a bombshell by asking Nikki to do just that. In front of a worldwide audience, Nikki instantly said yes, and the pair embraced.

In the wake of the huge news, the happy couple not only proved themselves victorious both in the ring and in life, but they’ve also made a WrestleMania Moment that will never be forgotten

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WWE 2K16 wrestlers include Steve Austin, John Cena and ... Marvel's Carnage?

2K Sports has given fans a first glimpse at the WWE 2K16 roster this month, and today they've released the first in a series of weekly character announcements leading up to the game's release date of October 27. And what an eclectic bunch it is.

The full list of superstars shown off thus far includes Bad News Barrett, Booker T, Colonel Mustafa, Daniel Bryan, Emma, Eva Marie, Finn Balor, General Adnan, John Cena, Kalisto, Kane, Lord Steven Regal, Paige, Seth Rollins, Sin Cara, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Summer Rae, Tamina and Triple H. Oh, and The Terminator, if you pre-order.

I'm going to be honest here: as a child of the '90s, I'm pretty happy that the WWE is still supporting the gawdy costumes and ridiculous facepaint that defined pro wrestling when I was growing up. That spirit is alive and well in Finn Balor, pictured above, in particular: While it's not a 1:1 recreation of the Spider-Man villain (which Balor has pulled off before), there's no denying his look borrows heavily from Carnage of Marvel comics - a blob of sentient alien goo that's symbiotically merged to a serial killer.

And here I thought Kane, brother of The Undertaker who died-but-didn't-die-maybe in a fire, was ridiculous(ly awesome).

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John Cena and WWE Superstars honor U.S. armed forces in Memorial Day tribute video

WWE Superstars will honor the U.S. armed forces for Memorial Day through a historical meets modern video.

Beginning with footage of former President Ronald Reagan, the tribute focuses on his 1982 Memorial Day speech. “In America’s cities and towns today, flags will be placed on graves in cemeteries,” stated Reagan. The WWE stars then begin fading in, echoing the words of the president. “Public officials will speak of the sacrifice and the valor of those whose memory we honor,” restated John Cena.

Many other WWE members appear in the tribute, including Roman Reigns and Dolph Ziggler. Designed as a pledge from WWE for the heroes of our military, the video includes various photos from military memorials, including a Cooper Field Fort Hood gravestone with the words, “Their sacrifice will always be remembered by a grateful nation,” said by former President George W. Bush.

The video ends with the final statements from the 40th president. “A general called our troops our secret weapon. Just the best darn kids in the world,” said Reagan.

The tribute will debut at the beginning of Monday Night Raw on the USA Network this Memorial Day, but you can see the video now, above. 

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The main event scene gets murky on RAW

What seemed like an obvious transition in the main event picture from Night of Champions to Hell in a Cell has been thrown into disarray over the past two weeks.

On Monday night, Dean Ambrose once again was the feature attraction as he tormented Seth Rollins throughout the night. He had stolen the Money in the Bank briefcase on Smackdown, and continued to walk around with it. Later in the night, he turned the briefcase over to Rollins (accompanied by Jamie Noble, Joey Mercury and other “security”) only to have green slime shoot out of it as if Rollins was on “You Can’t Do That On Television."

Later, Triple H and Stephanie made a tag match with Ambrose and John Cena (who had come out to attack Rollins earlier in the show) against Randy Orton and Kane.  After a match that had Cena play the face-in-peril, Ambrose received the hot tag, and was about to pin Orton when Rollins came in.

Instead of a straight beatdown, it seemed like Cena and Ambrose would get the better of the three, until they started bickering over who would get to attack Rollins. Cena would attack, then Ambrose would pull him away, and try to attack Ambrose himself. This repeated several times until Kane and Orton got involved again.

Both Cena and Ambrose received an RKO, choke slam, and then Curb Stomp onto the briefcase before the show ended with Rollins, Orton and Kane standing tall.

So the question is simple: Where are they going with all this?

After Night of Champions, it seemed clear that they were going toward Cena vs. Brock Lesnar and Ambrose vs. Rollins at Hell in a Cell.  Both feuds had enough built-in animosity (and screwy finishes) that a Cell made perfect sense.

But now, Cena has become intertwined with Rollins and Ambrose, and Lesnar is nowhere to be found. If this becomes some sort of triple-threat (or even Fatal Fourway if you include Orton) in the main event at Hell in a Cell, it completely neuters the emotions that Ambrose and Rollins had built up for this match.

That match seemed destined for a Hell in a Cell, themed pay per view or no, and to add more people to it would take away from it.  It also raises a question as to why Cena/Lesnar ended in a DQ finish at Night of Champions. If this is simply because of Lesnar’s contract situation, then he should’ve beaten Cena so it would make sense for Cena not to get a rematch.

With three RAWs left before Hell in a Cell, it’s not too late to make the card a little cleaner. However, the wrestlers will need to start separating from each other soon if the Hell in a Cell card is going to look better.

The Rest of RAW:

- I didn’t really talk much about the opening segment, which featured The Authority and Seth Rollins. In the midst of it, Paul Heyman came out to confront Rollins about him getting involved in the Cena/Lesnar match. He teased some potential tension between The Authority and Lesnar if they get involved with his match again.  Rollins apologized for getting involved, and said it won’t happen again. It was nice to see Lesnar at least mentioned on RAW after having no mention last week, but the question still remains why there hasn’t been any push toward a match with him.

- The triple threat match for the Intercontinental title between Dolph Ziggler, The Miz and Cesaro was fantastic.  While most triple threat matches end up just having the wrestlers take turns on the outside, this had all three engaging with each other for most of the match.  It’s something that’s incredibly hard to do, but these three made it work, and led to some very nice spots during the match.
 Dolph ended up retaining, but it’s likely not the last we’ve seen of these three, though it looks like Miz may be moving on to the US title, as we’ll see next.

- Sheamus beat “Damien Mizdow” with Miz on commentary. The mach was made because Miz and Sandow complained to Stephanie and Triple H that they missed out on Miz’s IC title match. Hard to say if this is truly Miz moving on, or if he’s just going to bounce between title pictures until he wins one.

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John Cena makes Real Americans look weak on WWE Raw

Yesterday on this blog I wrote about John Cena giving praise to Antonio Cesaro in the ring in Munich, Germany. I talked about the differences between John Cena the human being (who is among the most charitable faces of a company anywhere) and John Cena the character (whom many people dislike because he is often portrayed as super human, often beating superstars when the odds are gravely against him).

On this week's RAW we got another example of the latter.

John Cena faced the Real Americans in a handicap tag team match. Cena overcame the 2-on-1 obstacle, including distractions from Alberto Del Rio, to win the match in convincing fashion, making Jack Swagger tap to the STF and also dodging Cesaro's wildly popular Giant Swing.

Basically, John Cena got another win his character really doesn't need, defeating a tag team that is likely poised to challenge for the a title very soon. The win isn't a necessity for Cena, but the loss makes the team look weak.

Sure, it makes sense to the story, as Del Rio got involved after the match, but that was my takeaway -- The Real Americans look weaker after this match than they did entering it.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW

** Big Show put Randy Orton through a table and it looked like it hurt.

** Santino was wearing horns as he and Los Matadores beat the "Union Jacks" (3MB). el Torito did not hump Santino's leg, for those curious.

** Damien Sandow beat Kofi Kingston (let's pause to remember he was a Money in the Bank briefcase-holder some 3 weeks ago).

** Curtis Axel defended his Intercontinental title successfully against Dolph Ziggler.

** Tamina beat Nikki Bella.

** Fandango beat Tyson Kidd with the same Sunset flip/reversal combination that British Bulldog used to beat Bret Hart at Summerslam 1992, also in England (as I like to point out often on Twitter, #TheLittleThings).

** R Truth beat Ryback (!!!!!)

** ADR submitted Big E Langston.

** The Shield, Wyatt Family and much of the WWE roster including CM Punk and Daniel Bryan brawled, perhaps setting up a Survivor Series match.

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Ric Flair approves as John Cena puts hurt on Jon Stewart at WWE Raw

Slated to simply serve as the "host" of WWE SummerSlam on Sunday, celebrity guest Jon Stewart wound up surprising fans by interfering in one of the main events to a shocking outcome. Stewart returned to the squared circle at Monday Night Raw in Brooklyn, presumably to explain his actions.

Stewart on Sunday influenced the Title vs. Title match at the WWE pay-per-view, hitting John Cena with a chair -- thus allowing Seth Rollins to retain his World Heavyweight Championship and win Cena's United States Championship.

On Monday, Stewart tried to explain why.

"It was not in any way to help Seth Rollins retain the heavyweight championship, as well as he fought. It was not to help The Authority, because it was best for business. It was because, in my heart, I could not let John Cena tie the great Ric Flair for 16 championships because, in my mind, 'The Champ is Flair,'" he said. "Not on my watch. Wasn't going to let it happen."

That's when Flair's music hit and The Nature Boy walked to the ring. "You have messed up everything," Flair said.

Then, it was Cena's turn to hit the ring, take the mic and lambaste Stewart for his actions.

Stewart tried to hold his ground, verbally, against the 15-time champion, and it cost him in the end.

Cena, who has not held the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in more than a year, is looking to tie Flair's record of 16 world title reigns.

Jon Stewart interfered in SummerSlam on Sunday. (WWE)

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Update: John Cena unable to travel to WWE Live Event in Australia, Shawn Michaels to serve as guest General Manager

UPDATE, 8/1/15: Unfortunately, due to an injury sustained on Monday Night Raw this past week, John Cena is unable to travel and will no longer be appearing at next week’s Australian events.

General Manager for the Australian events, Shawn Michaels, has today announced that former United States and WWE Tag Team Champion Cesaro has been added to the tour and will appear at all three WWE Live Events.

WWE Universe Down Under, WWE.com has learned that Shawn Michaels will serve as special guest General Manager at the upcoming WWE Live’s three events in Australia from Aug. 6-8.

The WWE Hall of Famer will certainly makee a showstopping impact at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Thursday, Aug. 6, Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on Friday, Aug. 7 and Sydney’s Qantas Credit Union Arena on Saturday, Aug. 8.

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