Late Tuesday afternoon/early evening I am sitting in a make shift catering area in the old Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh going over my notes for Friday Night Smackdown that was to be taped in a few minutes. The catering area was essentially a ghost town as the  ECW taping was in progress and others were getting ready for SD.  I needed a quiet place to re-write my announcer notes and catering was it. Then came a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see who it was and low and behold it was John Cena....fresh out of surgery.

I was shocked to see John, who had just had neck surgery earlier in the day, up and around much less dropping by the ancient Igloo to simply say hello to "the boys." As I understand it, a disc in Cena's neck herniated and a fragment stuck into his spinal cord causing obvious discomfort and numbness down his right arm and into his hand. Dr. Joseph Maroon,  a renowned  Neurosurgeon and Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the team neurosurgeon for the Pittsburgh Steelers expertly handled the Cena's repair. This was a procedure  that Dr. Maroon called an "emergency surgery." 

John's surgery was a micro-surgical removal of a large piece of disc material that infringing John's spine. Cena told me that the doctors took a small piece of bone from a cadaver to use for the neck fusion. 

Cena is expected to begin physical therapy next week and could be back in the ring in between 2-4 months according to Dr. Maroon. 

Wednesday morning as I was going thru the Pittsburgh Airport one of the security guys said Cena had come thru earlier alone and in excellent spirits and moving just fine.

Cena's surgery wasn't as drastic or invasive as what some other WWE Superstar's have endured and one thing that helped was the quick response time of Cena himself. If John had ignored the symptoms this matter would have ended up an entire different story without the quick and positive results of Tuesday. 

Cena, a former offensive lineman in college, still has that blue collar work ethic and toughness that O-Linemen are known for. On the flight back to Oklahoma from Pitt, I got to thinking about how many wrestlers, obviously those not long on character, would have  "milked" this injury for all its worth. 

Whether one is a fan of Cena's work or not is beside the point in this discussion as no one with any reasonable amount of common sense can deny Cena's passion for the business and his dedication to his vocation.

I do know that the WWE is a much better place with Cena than without him.

Friday Night Smackdown was a nice wrestling show, in my view, featuring  two particularly good matches including Jeff Hardy vs. MVP and HHH vs. Shelton Benjamin. Add a couple of debuts of newcomers plus a live appearance by the Undertaker and I would suggest that Friday Night Smackdown is a keeper. The show was long on wrestling and not overly long on talk which is always a nice formula in my old school eyes.

We are really selling a bunch of our Championship Original 97% Fat Free Beef Jerky which now comes in a new bag.  Also, we still have autographed J.R.'s Cookbooks available for only $9.99. Check 'em out....and thanks! 

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.