John Cena Versus Austin Theory To Kick Off WrestleMania 39

At WrestleMania 39, John Cena will make his return to "The Show of Shows" to challenge Austin Theory for the WWE United States Championship. And now, thanks to Michael Cole, we know that it will be the match that kicks off night one of WrestleMania. During Friday night's episode of "SmackDown," Cole announced that "the greatest of all time," in his opinion, will be kicking off festivities the night of April 1 at SoFi Stadium when he goes one-on-one with "The Now."

While this match had been building for months, be it intentionally or otherwise, due to "The Peacemaker" star's schedule, it was always going to be difficult to confirm. That is, until the March 6 episode of "Raw" came around, when Theory interrupted a returning Cena to challenge him to a match at WrestleMania. At first, the man behind "Hustle, Loyalty, and Respect" declined, declaring that Theory wasn't ready. In response, he accused the 16-time world champion of "giving up," and Cena wasn't going to take that, declaring, "I may not care about you, but I'll never give up on them. Remember this moment, you just made the biggest mistake of your life."

In the weeks since, Theory has tapped into a more ruthless side while picking up victories over both members of the Street Profits, Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford, in separate singles matches. After defeating Dawkins, Theory locked in Cena's favored submission hold, the STF. Following his victory this past Monday, he declared that Ford may have not believed in him before, but he does now. Theory promised that, at WrestleMania, he'll make Cena believe too.