John Cena takes hilarious at-bat with Savannah Bananas

WWE is going ahead with WrestleMania 40 without a set storyline for its 16-time world heavyweight champion John Cena, so the future Hall of Famer is having some fun with what is typically a busy start to the year.

During the home half of an inning during their game in Tampa on Saturday, Cena made an appearance in full Banana gear after exiting the dugout to his WWE theme song ‘My Time is Now.’ After taking a ball on the first pitch while boasting a ridiculous batting stance, Cena was eventually struck out by former Pittsburgh Pirates minor leaguer Bret Helton.

He charged the mound, and right before Cena was about to his five moves of doom — he had a change of heart. Oh, and the umpire might have hit an elbow drop somewhere in there as well.

JOHN CENA IS A SAVANNAH BANANA pic.twitter.com/inebcxIhce

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) February 10, 2024

If you thought this was ridiculous — this is par for the course when attending a Savannah Bananas event. After departing the realm of amateur baseball in the summer of 2022 and have since become an exhibition barnstorming baseball team where entertainment is emphasized over skill and strategy.

For that reason, Cena was able to trade his jeans shorts in for bright yellow baseball pants.

While Cena is busy entertaining crowds outside of the squared circle, WWE most recently promoted its ‘Road to WrestleMania’ by having its biggest stars on the card meet for what was supposed to be a press conference.

This event, which WWE held in Las Vegas in the leadup to Super Bowl LVIII, turned into a monumental moment for the company as 2024 Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes — after loads of support came out in his favor — confirmed that he would be challenging WWE Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns for the title in the main event of WrestleMania 40.

Rhodes’ decision came after Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson had seemingly inserted himself into the main event above Rhodes. #WeWantCody trended on social media for a week and has since forced WWE’s hand to push him into the main event akin to Daniel Bryan or Kofi Kingston in previous years. WWE doesn’t capture lightning in the bottle all that often anymore — and when they do there’s always a push-pull between the fans and the decision-makers running the show, the fans let them know that Cody’s story must be finished.

Likely, Cena will still be a part of WrestleMania in some fashion even if it’s not in a wrestling capacity. Whether he is a host, makes a special appearance to beat down a bad guy, or even becomes a special guest referee for someone’s match remains to be seen.

At the same time — it seems as though The Rock doesn’t have an opponent anymore.