Is John Cena's Extreme Rules Injury Legit?

Smoke and mirrors.

As soon as John Cena's bloody match with Brock Lesnar had come to a close—and he'd put the full stop on his now infamous post-fight promo—the Internet was awash with rumours that he was suffering from a legitimate injury.

Indeed, hobbling down the ramp away from the ring, he was heard to say to ring-side doctors: "It's torn."

WWE.com was quick to post the news that Cena was indeed hurt:

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"The most obvious injury was the laceration to his head, which caused a substantial amount of bleeding," said WWE locker room physician Dr. Chris Amann. "He also has suffered a shoulder injury. Initial testing in the training room leads me to believe there may be torn muscles, possibly a torn rotator cuff or a biceps muscle."

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However, it doesn't take a genius to appreciate the fact that not of all the content that WWE.com publishes should be believed.

This is, after all, the same physician who not too long ago reported that CM Punk was suffering from a concussion after being hit over the head with a beer bottle by Chris Jericho.

A source at F4WOnline (h/t Wrestling Inc.) reported in the wake of Beth Phoenix's "injury" that the WWE were going to push for more injury-related storylines:

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"As seen on Monday night, WWE did an injury angle with Beth Phoenix that appeared to be legit. Expect to see more of this as WWE is trying to do more "plausible" injuries where they initially don't reveal that it's a work and report it on their website like they would a real injury. The idea is for the talents to use Facebook and Twitter to help get the injuries over."

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Believe it or not, the audience's gradual turn against Cena has been a serious problem for Vince and the WWE.

Reading between the lines, Cena's words sounded suspiciously like those of someone who is being forced to take a leave of absence by a higher power:

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"All of us—good guys, bad guys, big guys, small guys—all of us give everything we have every night for you guys. And if I gotta take a vacation, so be it. If I'm going away for a while, I just wanna say thanks for one hell of a last ride. I feel great tonight, even with this Chicago crowd that may or may not like me."

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It's no secret that Cena is their No. 1 guy—the face of the brand.

But the manner of his victory over the monster heel Lesnar and his impending absence from our screens is an absolutely genius move by the suits.

If the past few months have taught us anything, it's that the pops for a returning superstar are the biggest in the business.

And despite the loss, having Lesnar "injure" Cena is another perfect way to keep his legitimacy as a dominant force.

We are, after all, building to a clash of the titans at next year's WrestleMania between Brock and Rock, so to have Rock come in as an underdog would be the perfect set-up storyline.

He is, after all, "Rocky."

There is no doubt that Monday Night Raw will go a long way to clearing up any questions raised as a result of Cena's odd promo, and there is the possibility that this article will be proven false.

Yet another conspiracy theory from a paranoid fan.

Or maybe the line between reality and fiction has just been made even shorter by Vince and the gang.

And that they're taking great pleasure from manipulating our emotions.

Even so, can you imagine that return pop?