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Last night on Raw, WWE waited and waited and waited to deliver John Cena to the masses. WWE certainly hopes the audience didn't completely tune out waiting through what I felt was a messy show prior to the final segment.

But, the build and anticipation was effective for the final segment of Raw last night. For fans who didn't order the Survivor Series PPV on Sunday, they just wanted a glimpse of what this version of Cena would look like after being off TV for several months and after the weeks of video build-up prior to the PPV.

There is something different. It was obvious to anyone who bought Survivor Series on Sunday or tuned in for the final quarter-hour of Raw on Monday.

Cena is finally a man. What was that old WrestleMania slogan from a few years ago? "We're All Grown Up" or something like that.

The thing about Cena is that he's developed a balance. We saw it last night. He's a man, but he's also content enough in his character to hang around the kids like Hulk Hogan and play the "common man" role like Dusty Rhodes.

It's like being a real man in a real relationship with another person. You're content enough in your own manliness to be sensitive and emotionally connected to another person. A little too deep and personal? Sorry, I'll move on.

Before this return, Cena's character lacked confidence in what he was doing. His constant self-depreciation about "well, I guess not everyone can like me" or "I like poop" generated the classic eye-rolling material that drew the boos and hurt his character.

Last night on Raw, Cena was scripted to be completely confident in exactly what he was doing and what he stood for. Hang around a bunch of kids, like Triple H has insecurely talked about before? Go for it. Play the Dusty Rhodes common man? Yeah. Beat the snot out of a heel without any remorse and still have the fans? You betcha.

Cena has exuded nothing but confident the last two nights. Related to the beat down he put on Chris Jericho last night, Jamie Penick and I discussed this in the Raw post-game show on whether Cena went over the line to pseudo-heel territory. Analyzing the situation, we concluded Cena didn't cross the line. He was backing up words with actions.

It sets up Chris Jericho to come back next week and play the victim by pointing out that he was physically unprovoked and that Cena played into exactly what he talked about during his promo about being a coward of a man.

We know Chris Jericho is on top of his game as a heel who twists the truth in order to fit his own beliefs. We now know that Cena is about to come into his own as The Man to lead Raw going forward.

Combining the greatness of Jericho with Cena's self-discovery as a character will only lead to great, compelling TV. WWE just had to find a way to get people to order a PPV in less than three weeks for Cena vs. Jericho. That shouldn't be too difficult based on the epic nature of last night's final segment.

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