Who will answer John Cena’s HIAC U.S. title open challenge?

It’s become fairly common knowledge that John Cena will be taking an extended break after tonight’s Hell in a Cell event at Staples Center in Los Angeles. Honestly, we could all use a break from Cena, am I right? And in his defense – he could use a break from us too. Fear not though folks, John will be back the day after Xmas to take on Sheamus at a MSG house show in NYC, because, if we’re being honest, a holiday season without Cena would be like Santa missing Christmas, except far, far worse.

What isn’t common knowledge though is who will be answering  Cena’s U.S. title open challenge tonight inside of Staples. We also don’t know for sure, but can only assume that Cena will do the job and drop his title to whomever does answer the bell at Hell in a Cell. Then again, this is John Cena we’re talking about. We can only hope he’ll put someone over tonight and leave the ring to give the man some time to bask in the glory. All we can do here though is speculate – and speculate we shall. Here’s a quick look at 5 men whose time could be now.

Dean Ambrose – Ambrose was originally scheduled to team up with Randy Orton on the kickoff show against Wyatt family members Braun Strowman and Luke Harper. Now, with Orton out due to injury and Harper away due to personal reasons – Ambrose has gone from one of the company’s top guys to kickoff show filler to off the card completely.

Ambrose has what it takes to be the top face of the company during Cena’s absence and there’s no better way to do so than have him pin Cena clean in a singles match – something he’s yet to do in his career (he did beat Cena last October on RAW in a contract on a pole match).

Ambrose is one of the few men on the roster that can easily keep the U.S. title relevant while Cena is away. Maybe he’ll even defend it a few times during what would be his second reign with the strap.

Daniel Bryan – There is no better option on this list, or in the world to defeat Cena tonight than everyone’s favorite YES! man – Daniel Bryan. According to Bryan, he was actually cleared to compete this past summer – it’s been the WWE doctors that have been holding him back due to their concern over the Aberdeen, Washington born superstar’s concussion issues – and rightfully so.

With Cena out of the picture until after Christmas, putting a title back on Bryan in his first match back and letting him ease his way back into contention for the World title as we head into Mania season would be a dream come true for the WWE and fans alike. Kudos to WWE if they can pull this off without it being spoiled before tonight’s show. Can you imagine the pop Bryan will get once his music hits? I get goosebumps just thinking about it.

Finn Balor – Another major goosepimple situation would be if Finn Balor came out as Demon Balor tonight to defeat Cena, claim his title and make a permanent move up to the main roster tonight. The former Bullet Club leader has spent more than enough time, almost a year to be exact, down at NXT. With Apollo Crews being groomed to be the next guy, it’s time to bring Finn up and let him make an immediate impact tonight by defeating Vince’s golden boy just like another NXT champ, Kevin Owens, did after being called up. Balor could easily pull double duty before dropping the NXT strap to Crews at the next TakeOver event.

Cesaro – It wasn’t too long ago that Cena was praising Cesaro after putting on some out of this world matches with the “Swiss Superstar”. Cesaro is one of those guys that just doesn’t know how to have a bad match when given the opportunity. If Cesaro was allowed to start his own open challenge and given a couple of segments on RAW to wrestle the men who answered his challenge you’d see a lot of smarks looking for something else to complain about on Monday nights.

Samoa Joe – Last, but not least, I give you Samoa Joe. After losing a Battle Royal to determine the number #1 contender for Finn Balor’s NXT championship, it’s becoming clear that Joe isn’t being groomed for NXT gold. Both Balor and Joe could and should be on the main roster yesterday and at the ripe young age 36, the former TNA and ROH champ isn’t getting any younger.

All we can do is hope and pray that we get one of the aforementioned 5 men to answer Cena’s challenge tonight and not a Sheamus or a Big Show situation that could cause the crowd and the fans watching on the Network at home to erupt in a chorus of boo’s.