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JOHN CENA SIDELINED FOR AT LEAST SIX MONTHS DUE TO INJURY; NEW WWE CHAMPION TO BE CROWNED SUNDAY

All of World Wrestling Entertainment's long and short term plans were torn to shreds with the reality that WWE champion John Cena will be out at least 6-8 months, possibly longer after Cena was diagnosed Tuesday with a complete and severe tear of his right pectoral muscle by Dr. James Andrews.

During ECW on Sci Fi, Vince McMahon announced that Cena has been stripped of the WWE championship, ending the longest reign for the belt since Hulk Hogan's first title reign in the mid-1980s.  McMahon announced a new champion would be crowned at this Sunday's No Mercy PPV in Chicago, Illinois, although details of the match were not announced.  

The original plan for No Mercy featured Cena vs. Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing Match.  WWE ran a go-home angle for the PPV last night with Orton attacking Cena after his defeat of Ken Kennedy, nailing Cena with an RKO on the announcers' table.  The No Mercy match would have led to a rematch between the two at Cyber Sunday with fans getting to vote on the stipulation of the match, including the possibility of a Hell in the Cell encounter.

Cena's injury took place early in his match against Kennedy as Cena executed a hiptoss.  The move ended awkwardly with Kennedy landing atop Cena, who then nailed an armdrag.  The two ended up in the corner, which led to a clean break.  Cena backed up to the opposite corner of the ring and was obviously favoring his arm.  Cena gutted through both the match and post-bout angle with Orton.

WWE vaguely acknowledged the injury on their website shortly after PWInsider.com broke word of the pectoral tear.  That initial story promised that Cena would wrestle this weekend despite the injury but once the severity of the tear was confirmed, that idea was dropped.  WWE publicly diclosed the severity of Cena's injury late Tuesday afternoon.

"[Cena] has a complete tear of his pectoralus major muscle," WWE physician Dr. Ferdinand Rios told the official WWE website. "Because he’s so big, [the tendon tear] is behind the muscle. It was hard to diagnose."  According to Rios, Cena will be hospitalized for a few days to learn the rehabilitation procedure he must undergo. His arm will be immobilized for a week following surgery.

Cena's expected recovery time before his surgery put him back in April 2008 at the earliest, which meant he would miss Wrestlemania, at least from an in-ring standpoint. The initial "worst case scenario" was that Cena would be cleared to return by June 2008. However, Vince McMahon's ECW statement may mean Cena will be out even longer than initially feared.

McMahon stated during the onset ECW on Sci Fi that Cena "could be out for up to one year", which is a frightening concept as he is the company's top star by far, has been a workhorse and ambassador for the company since being elevated into the top-tier, and is an extremely important piece of their house show and merchandise business.

WWE's website reported that Cena's injury was so severe, he required immediate surgery. The site has already posted photos of the surgery.

It was tentatively expected that Cena would be in the main event for Wrestlemania XXIV, likely against Triple H, which would have been a rematch from their Wrestlemania 22 main event in Chicago. As irony has it, that match was also scheduled for Wrestlemania 23 in Detroit until Triple H suffered a quadraceps tear. Shawn Michaels vs. Cena headlined Mania 23 instead.

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