John Cena: 10 Best Matches Of His Career

There are simply four words to describe John Cena; Greatest of All Time. Whether you like him or you hate him, cheer him or boo him, you can’t deny that he is the absolute greatest sports entertainer in WWE history. The man is a draw, a polarising figure who creates so much buzz from very little. He has done everything asked of him by Vince McMahon after first appearing with Ruthless Aggression in 2002. Nearly losing his job for his very ‘vanilla’ presentation, he became the Doctor of Thuganomics and his stock went through the roof.

Fans will get on him for his inability to wrestle because he doesn’t do 450 splashes and superkicks but Cena has had some absolute barn burners in his 20 years of professional wrestling. It does take two to tango and Cena has mixed it up with some of the best, creating nothing short of magic. Cena being a record-tying 16, count them; SIXTEEN, time world champion, the man has been in some scraps that even the most anti-John Cena fan would have to admit, warranted the appreciation.

Cena has obviously had more than ten incredible matches, so a little shout-out to his WWE title loss to RVD at One Night Stand 2006 and his title triple threat with Shawn Michaels and Triple H at Survivor Series 2009.

#10. John Cena vs Brock Lesnar vs Seth Rollins | WWE Championship Match | Royal Rumble 2015

This match had everything; the wrecking machine champion, the up-and-coming main eventer and Mr. Money in the Bank, and the 15-time world champion desperate to get revenge and claim the record-tying 16^th.

As much as Cena is a part of this match, it felt more like the emphasis was on Seth Rollins, inside the ring with two absolute icons, one being Brock who went on an absolute tear on both men and J&J Security. Seth hits a beautiful springboard knee on both men after Cena powers up Brock, still holding onto the Kimura lock. The match revolved around Cena and Rollins trying to keep Brock at bay but also trying to defeat the other, whilst Brock would come back in and assert his dominance. Brock would be the subject of torture by the other two men; three AA’s, a curb stomp, being thrown through the barricade, into the steel stairs, the steps bounced off his head, and Rollins putting him through the announce table with a frog splash.

Whilst the EMT’s would tend to Brock, the action between Seth and Cena was fluid, as expected, including a Shield bomb from Seth and J&J. Lesnar appears, taking two shots from the briefcase but picks Seth out of the air with an F5 for the win. Frantic, fun, and well fought. 

#9. John Cena vs Randy Orton | ‘I Quit’ Match for WWE Championship | Breaking Point 2009

If Randy isn’t Cena’s greatest rival, he’s the second-best. The matches these two athletes had were just pure brilliance, especially with Orton in his unhinged phase of his career. An I Quit match was apt for three things; the PPV name, Cena being the ever-valiant babyface and Orton being the despicable champion with the odds stacked against him, interference from Legacy would give Cena the title.

Cena starts off hot but Orton takes control and quashes any comeback Cena mounts. They head outside where chaos ensues, Orton stomps on Cena’s head whilst he lays on the stairs, sold brilliantly by both men. Orton would handcuff Cena to the ropes and around the ring post to torture Cena with kendo sticks and chairs. What I love about this is Orton would play with the keys, hung around his neck, mocking and teasing Cena, whilst Cena screams in pain, struggling to say no to the referee. Cena would get out and handcuff himself to Orton, beating Orton down. A tug-of-war would ensue reaching for the key until Cena counters and chokes Orton into submission with his own arm. Resilience personified; John Cena wins his sixth WWE Championship. 

#8. John Cena vs Shawn Michaels | WWE Championship Match | Wrestlemania 23

I have a weird love for this match, it was the main event of the first Wrestlemania DVD I owned. The story of this was simple, Cena could not get the better of Michaels, while HBK used his experience and ring psychology to gain the upper hand.

Michaels controlled the early portions, ducking and diving to infuriate Cena into making more mistakes. Michaels hits a beautiful moonsault onto Cena from the apron to ringside, before targeting the knee of Cena to keep him off balance and take away his power game. That, however, wouldn’t work as Cena would use his strength advantage to take over. We’d get a ref bump midway through, giving Michaels the chance to hit a piledriver on Cena onto the steel steps. More back and forth from both men, hitting their comeback sequences and finishers but to no avail. This match took it out of both men completely, they were using each other’s bodies to keep the other up before Cena would trip Michaels into the STFU, cranking it in and causing HBK to submit, Cena would salute the camera to his dad, who was watching at home. 

#7. John Cena vs Brock Lesnar | Extreme Rules 2012

RAW after Wrestlemania 28 and Cena suffers a crushing loss to The Rock, calls him out to shake his hand. The well-known guitar chord strikes throughout the arena and returns The Beast Incarnate, eight years after departing the company. He lays out Cena with an F5 with John Laurinaitis claiming Brock is back to bring legitimacy to the WWE. Cena coming out at Extreme Rules with the retro padlock and chain around his neck meaning he’s here for a fight, Brock hot off his UFC run changing his look from the trunks to the MMA shorts brings such an aura of realism to his character.

Brock would target Cena’s arm with the Kimura Lock and launch Cena arm first around ringside, before hanging Cena by his feet, upside down with Cena’s chain and batter the arm against the apron. We’d get two ref bumps from Charles Robinson, Brock taking out the replacement referee. Brock would launch himself from the steps onto Cena, who was on the apron. First, taking a nasty spill over the ropes, second time around, he’d jump straight into Cena’s fist wrapped in his chain causing the Beast’s head to bust open. Cena would hit an Attitude Adjustment on the stairs for the win, just like that. He took every single ounce of punishment from Brock and still came out on top.

#6. John Cena vs CM Punk | RAW, February 25^th, 2013

A match so good, it appeared in The Hangover Part III. After Cena won the Rumble and Punk lost the WWE title to The Rock, these two men competed with the spot at Mania on the line.  A very back and forth contest between two of the best, Punk at his best heel work, controlling matches as people do against Cena.

Cena would fight back, powering Cena up (the scene used in The Hangover Part III) but Punk would get right back on top, dodging a Cena shoulder tackle. Punk would counter again, this time countering Cena’s spinning powerbomb into an Anaconda Vice, also countering the STF into the Anaconda Vice. Punk had Cena’s number, it was put together brilliantly, fans thinking Cena’s spot at Mania was in jeopardy. The crowd in Dallas were HOT for this match, biting on every nearfall.

Counter after counter from both these men, kick-outs after their finishers were hit, submission attempts. This match had everything and it was for FREE, on Monday Night RAW. This match even had a PILEDRIVER, did it end the match? Absolutely not. What would end this match is John Cena hitting a hurricanrana and an AA for the three. These men went hell for leather on weekly TV and absolutely delivered. Inside the Tokyo Dome, Dave would be giving this *****.

#5. John Cena vs Umaga | Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Championship | Royal Rumble 2007

I think a lot of people going into this match, did not expect it to be as good as it was. But they absolutely blew it out of the park with this hard-hitting scrap. Umaga still had the aura about him of being unstoppable with Cena growing into the hero we know him as today, taking on larger men in a no-rule stipulation. Cena also went into this with injured ribs, due to prior attacks from the Samoan Bulldozer, giving us more drama and more babyface fire from the WWE Champion.

Obviously, Umaga controlled, beat Cena down, and would stop the multiple flurries from him until the champion would get all of the jabs, he needed to get in. Both men pulled off some fantastic spots, Cena picking up the steps and launching them from the ring to ringside into Umaga’s face. Umaga’s ‘handler’, Astrada, undid the turnbuckle from the corner, telling Umaga to use it for his Samoan Spike but would have that countered into a rope-assisted STFU from Cena. Cena wrapped the ropes around Umaga’s neck, his face pouring with blood, causing the challenger to pass out in a brilliant end to this match. 

#4 John Cena vs Edge | TLC Match for the WWE Championship | Unforgiven 2006

A wrestler losing in their hometown? For WWE? NEVER.

Cena would head into enemy territory against his greatest foe, Edge, in Edge’s hometown in Edge’s match, TLC. What I love about this match is the pure emotion on his face as he’d lift the title above his head, which shows what professional wrestling is all about.

As every match between these two men would go, very even to start, both men knowing the other so well. Edge would be the first to get the toys, hitting a reverse DDT onto upturned chairs, reversing a suplex, using this to take control of the match to huge cheers from the hometown crowd. The momentum would swing, Cena hitting a hip toss on a ladder before the momentum swung back the other way, Edge hitting a powerslam through a table. Edge would channel his inner Shelty B, running up the ladder to jump out on Cena who was at ringside.

A constant back and forth between the two rivals, battling over the WWE Championship, Cena would put the STFU on Edge, who was sandwiched between the ladder. We’d ultimately get to one of the best spots in a TLC match, Cena hitting the FU on Edge from the top of the ladder, through two tables, before pulling down the WWE Championship to once again, be atop the mountain. 

#3 John Cena vs Daniel Bryan | WWE Championship Match | Summerslam 2013

The real star moment in Bryan’s rise to stardom, being handpicked by Cena as his opponent for the WWE Championship with Triple H as the guest referee. The whole point of this was Bryan is a wrestler, and Cena is a sports entertainer, which gave us Cena trying to outwrestle Bryan. Both men would use their own skills to their advantage; Cena and his power, Bryan and his technical ability. The real x-factor was the audience in attendance, fully behind Bryan giving him that second wind and keeping him going to counter everything.

Bryan would punish Cena with heavy strikes, countering an STF into one of his own and the AA into the Yes Lock. Both men would pull out the big guns, slugging it out before engaging in a slap fight which Bryan would win with his feet. Eventually, Bryan hits the running knee to win his first WWE Championship. Until, Triple H turns on him, hitting a pedigree and allowing Randy Orton to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase, walking out as the WWE Champion. Before the cash-in, a clash of styles, a clinic, and an all-around incredible match. 

#2. John Cena vs AJ Styles | WWE Championship Match | Royal Rumble 2017

A match I don’t think anyone ever expected, Mr. WWE vs Mr. TNA. AJ Styles headed into this match as the WWE Champion with Cena fighting for his 16th championship reign, their third meeting in the space of a year but with the championship on the line giving us higher stakes. Again, like his match against Bryan, he would use his power over AJ whilst AJ would use his speed and technical ability and it’s something Cena is so good at, working with a smaller man who is able to use their speed to keep Cena on the ropes.

This match felt like a do or die for Cena after his prior losses to AJ, with his nickname Big Match John, it felt very apt in this match. He brought it, as did AJ, and gave us a perfect end to the trilogy of matches they had. Both men would kick out of each other’s finishers as well as escape each other’s signature submissions. Eventually, after multiple times, Cena would hit the AA to bring himself the victory and the record-tying 16^th WWE Championship.

#1 John Cena vs CM Punk | WWE Championship Match | Money in the Bank 2011

You just knew this was going to be first, given it was the first WWE match in 14 years to be given five stars by Dave Meltzer, these two went to war and it gave us an absolutely compelling story to follow. CM Punk holding the WWE to ransom to get what he wants with Cena being the face of WWE was superb.

The match itself? Amazing. Hard-hitting, technical, compelling. Chicago was the right place to do this, the partisan CM Punk crowd with Cena being the outsider just gave it another level of superb. Most people would think the inclusion of Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis would deter from the story, but having Cena lose the match because he wanted to do it the right way was fantastic.

Cena banged out some incredible moves in this match as well to keep up with the more indie style of Punk, springboards and a little bit of highflying. Annoyingly, the story didn’t get stretched and Punk would leave with the title but returned about two weeks later. But that doesn’t matter, this match slapped. 

These ten, plus many more, are one of many reasons why John Cena is the greatest of all time. Alongside his promo ability, star power and draw outside of the ring, you can’t deny a man from a small town in Massachusetts would become an absolute megastar.