What's Next for John Cena After Losing at WWE TLC?

John Cena lost his bid to become the new WWE World heavyweight champion at December 15's TLC pay-per-view.  Cena faced off against Randy Orton, World title versus WWE title, with the winner becoming the company's unified champion.

And now that it's all over, the question becomes: What's next for John Cena?

I have to say that I did not expect this outcome.  While it's true that fans should never say never when it comes to Vince McMahon's company, the fact is that this is also John Cena's company.  And John Cena just does not lose on the main event stage.

John Cena is booked time and again under WWE's bright lights, and he consistently comes out on top.  In fact, there are only a handful of Superstars in the company that can go over on John.  The truth is it's a very short list.

In addition to Orton, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan and The Rock are three men who have recently pinned John Cena cleanly.  And while it's not impossible to see John lose against anyone else, it just does not happen very often at all.  This is understandable in many ways, mostly because Cena is WWE's top guy and has been for a very long time now.

So imagining him losing at what the company was promoting as an extremely historic event just did not even seem like a possibility.  The title unification match appeared to be in the bag for John Cena, because every match he's booked in seems to be in the bag.

But when he lost to Randy at TLC, the entire dynamic of WWE was thrown off.  The main storyline centering on Orton as the "face of WWE" actually seems to have been validated, and now Cena is on the outside looking in.

Or is he?

Therein lays the real issue with this angle.  That issue comes from the fact that even when Cena loses, he never really loses.

One black mark on his career means virtually nothing in the long term because he is the true face of WWE.  Everything revolves around John.  Until the moment that he either steps back from the ring or is perhaps encouraged to take a step back by the company, Cena will remain at the top.

But what happens now?  Do we expect Cena to step right back into WWE's title picture against Randy Orton?  Did the clock begin ticking on Orton's reign as the new WWE World champion the moment he won the title belt?

For me, there are only two real possibilities.  The first is the most obvious: Cena goes for the rematch that he should probably receive at the Royal Rumble.  Even though the TLC match was to unify the championships, Cena should still be the first one to get a crack at Randy, and that will likely happen very soon.

Of course even if he doe get a shot at Randy, that does not necessarily mean that he will win. After all, WrestleMania 30 is not far away, and it's usually around this time every year that fans begin to look forward to WWE's biggest annual event.  If Cena were to challenge Randy at the Rumble and win the WWE World Championship, it could perhaps be anti-climactic leading to WrestleMania in 2014.

There is likely more drama in Cena facing Orton at Mania for the belt, maybe even in a triple threat with CM Punk as a second challenger.

So if an immediate title program with Orton is not in the cards right now, then that means Cena needs a distraction.  But who will that distraction be?

This is a tough one, because there are not many main event stars with an open dance card right now. The aforementioned CM Punk has heat with The Authority, which could lead to a future match against Triple H.

Daniel Bryan is somewhat in limbo right now, as his issues with Bray Wyatt seem to be unresolved. And even though he could finish up with them soon, the fact is that he remains one of WWE's top faces. I do not believe that there is anything to be gained by putting him in a program with Cena again at this point.

Another possibility that perhaps could lead to WrestleMania 30 is the one that many fans have been debating for a while now: The Undertaker.

Could Cena challenge Undertaker's undefeated streak at Mania?  Would the company want its current No. 1 Superstar to take the win against Taker, who could quite possibly hang it up after that match?  I have to say that I have always thought the distinction of beating Undertaker at WrestleMania should go to a man on the way up, not an established star.

But in the long term, anything is possible for John Cena.  Perhaps thinking that far ahead is simply too far ahead.

In the short term, however, I keep coming back to Randy Orton as the most viable opponent for Cena. And the end of Monday Night Raw on December 16 seems to reinforce that notion, as John was laid out by the champ after attempting to help Daniel Bryan.  It does appear as though the Royal Rumble rematch is likely going to be signed in the very near future.

What happens after this rematch is anyone's guess.  But one thing is for sure: Whatever the plan is, it will very likely lead to WrestleMania 30.