After Cena’s surgery today, World Wrestling Entertainment announced that the prognosis was "excellent".
Dr. Joseph Maroon, who performed the surgery, said that Cena could start working out as early as next week and should be back in the ring in the next 2-4 months. The earliest you can expect him back would be Survivor Series or at the latest, The Royal Rumble 2009.
Dr. Maroon told the WWE website, “We performed a microsurgical removal of a large disk fragment compression on the spinal cord which was weakening the nerve leading to the right arm," He also said, "We created a small incision in the front of the neck using an operating microscope to remove the fragment from the spinal cord and nerve. The operation took approximately an hour and a half."
The basic feeling within WWE is that the company and Cena were both extremely lucky the injury wasn’t worse, as it could have necessitated fusion surgery.