The History Of John Cena At WrestleMania
For the first time in 12 years, WWE will be holding a WrestleMania event without the face of their company, John Cena, on the cards. Whilst all injuries are pretty sad news, some fans are rejoicing at the idea of a Cena-less Mania (these are the same fans who are dreading a Reigns-ful Mania). By looking at Cena’s Mania history, whilst being undoubtbly incredible, it’s hard to argue that he’s been booked a little too strong to some people.
So, with no Cena at WrestleMania 32 (or WrestleMania Star), lets look back at Cena’s Mania history, and why CENA WINS LOL exists.
WrestleMania XX: vs. Big Show (United States Championship)
Whilst there could be an argument that Cena made his WrestleMania debut the previous year, it was just during WWE’s free Heat Pre-Show, doing a rap/promo. WrestleMania XX was his in ring debut at the event.
His rivalry began with Big Show at the Royal Rumble of 2004, which was eventually won by Voldemort. Cena lasted until the final 6, but he was tossed out of the Rumble by Big Show and suffered a legitimate leg injury that, watching back, looked incredibly painful.
Cena was in a support brace for the next few weeks, but it all worked to set up his angle with Big Show at Mania, with the US title on the line, and the first of Cena’s many “underdog” performances.
John Cena did go onto to beat Big Show, after nailing him in the head with brass knuckles, after distracting the referee, and went on to hit the 500 pound Show with an FU, in his own “slamming the Giant” moment.
Cena held the belt for around 4 months, but was ultimately stripped of the championship after he accidently knocked over General Manager Kurt Angle.
Cena’s WrestleMania score stands:
Wins – 1
Loss – 0
Championships won – 1
WrestleMania 21: vs. JBL (WWE Championship)
Cena had become a hugely popular rising star by the time the 2005 Rumble rolled round. On that night, he had one of the biggest pops out of everybody. Whilst it looked like Cena co-won the match with Batista, at first, due to the fact that THIS NEVER MEANT TO HAPPEN AND BATISTA COCKED UP, they had to re-enter and do the final spot again at the demand of a furious (and injured) Vince McMahon.
This didn’t stop Cena, who was the US champion at this point. Cena faced off against Kurt Angle at No Way Out to determine who will get a WWE Championship match at WrestleMania, after Batista confirmed he would remain on RAW to challenge for the World Heavyweight Title. With Cena’s victory over the man who beat him during his debut match, Cena swiftly entered a fued with JBL and his stable known as “The Cabinet”, which consisted of Orlando Jordan and The Basham Brothers… think Evolution but without any charisma or general fan appeal.
Cena lost the US title to Orlando Jordan, after being distracted by JBL. The following week, they “blew up” his US Spinner Belt and brought back the WWE Original design.
Cena was fed up of JBL’s antics, and demanded to fight him. But GM Teddy Long stated that Cena had to wait. Cena ignored this and attacked JBL’s cronies regardless. Long added a new stipulation that, if Cena laid a hand on JBL before WrestleMania, then Cena would forfiet his title match, with the loop hole being that, if JBL attacked first, only then could Cena retalieate.
Finally, the rivalry came to a head at WrestleMania in a fairly lackluster bout, which saw Cena end JBLs 280 day streak as WWE Champ.
That summer, Cena and his championship (now the infamously detested spinner belt design) were drafted to the RAW brand. In January of 2006, Cena finally lost the WWE Championship at New Years Revolution after Edge cashed in his Money In The Bank Breifcase (which he had been holding onto since Mania too), after Cena defended it in an Elimination Chamber match
Cena’s WrestleMania score stands:
Wins – 2
Loss – 0
Championships won – 2
WrestleMania 22: vs. Triple H (WWE Championship)
So with Edge winning the title from Cena, and ending his 280 day streak as Champion, much like what Cena did with his championship win. The stage was set for a rematch between the two of them at the Royal Rumble. Even though Edge had been one of the most entertaining heel champions of this time, sadly it was cut short as his reign lasted 21 days, as Cena regained the title, and set the stage to defend it at WrestleMania.
Rey Mysterio was the 2006 Royal Rumble winner, and decided to challenge for Kurt Angle’s World Heavyweight Championship, on the SmackDown! brand. This left the WWE Championship in a match unknown. So a “Road To WrestleMania” tournement was started, which was won by Triple H. This is most notible for his first mention of being “The King of Kings” a phrase, and even theme song, that was spawned from that promo.
Despite the winner of the Rumble, supposedly, getting a shot at a World Title in the main event, Rey, Angle and Orton (who had entered the mix at this point) were pushed earlier down the card, to make room for Cena and Triple H to own the main event.
The lead up to the match was fairly lackluster, and the actual event itself was fine, but nothing to write home about. But the two major things that happened during this bout were as follows:
1). This is when the crowd turned on Cena. WrestleMania 22 marked the downfall of Cenas popularity with the fans. Triple H, who was the heel of the night, was getting cheered heavily with Cena getting boo’d for all his offense. It’s funny that a similar situation is happening 10 years later…
2) CM Punk came out as a gangster during Cena’s entrance. Seriously, one of Cena’s future rivals actually accompanied him when he was an “unknown”.
Triple H wasn’t successful on this night, Cena walked out with the same championship he walked in with. John Cena did, inevitably, drop the championship. This time to Rob Van Dam at ECW’s One Night Stand in the main event, in a rare occurance to when the Money In The Bank winner (RVD) announced ahead of time, when he planned to cash in the contract.
And if you thought the WrestleMania 22 crowd was tough on Cena… just check out his reception at One Night Stand.
Cena’s WrestleMania score stands:
Wins – 3
Loss – 0
Championships won – 2
Championships defended – 1
WrestleMania 23: vs. Shawn Michaels (WWE Championship)
Cena regained the WWE Championship at Unforgiven, in September of 2006 after defeating Edge, the man who ended his first reign, in a TLC Match.
So, another WrestleMania, another WWE Championship match for Cena. However after 2 lack luster builds and matches, Cena finally delivered a Mania quality match, and who better than going up against Shawn Michaels.
Once again, SmackDown! won the Rumble this time round, with the Undertaker choosing to face Batista with the World Hevayweight Championship on the line. So in the wake of Takers decision, a match was set on RAW to determine who would face John Cena for the WWE Championship. Edge and Randy Orton, who were a tag team known as Rated-RKO, would face Michaels in a Triple Threat match. As you could guess, Michaels ended up being the winner.
This left Rated-RKO with a sour taste in their mouth. In response they went on a ramage against Michaels and Cena, indavertantly uniting the two future WrestleMania opponents, to the point of even winning the World Tag Team Championship. But this worked into Rated-RKO’s tactis, as they did all they could to sabotage their, already fragile, partnership, which featured many near heel turns on Michaels part, as he was clearly tempted to attack his partner/opponent.
Michael’s babyface attitude prevailed however, and it was Tag Team Champ against Tag Team Champ in the main event. It was a match that many consider to be a career highlight for Cena, and others view as legitimising him as a major player within WWE. Even though “Mr. WrestleMania” nearly got the win, Cena defeated Michaels and gained some new respect, if not by the fans, by at least Michaels himself.
The two would clash again on RAW shortly after, in an edition being recorded in England. The two battled for nearly 1 hour in a non-title match, where Michaels finally got redemption. Cena and Michaels would drop the Tag belts to the Hardy Boys after finally butting heads. With Orton and Edge (who had just split as a team) joining in the fray.
Regardless, Cena retained the belt till October of that year, marking a 13 month reign that would only get beaten by CM Punk 5 years later. Cena was stripped of the championship on an edition of ECW, with a new WWE Champion crowned at No Mercy when Orton was awarded the belt after (kayfabe) injurying Cena. In reality, Cena tore a muscle against Mr. Kennedy on an episode of RAW.
Cena’s WrestleMania score stands:
Wins – 4
Loss – 0
Championships won – 2
Championships defended – 2
WrestleMania XXIV – vs. Triple H vs. Randy Orton (WWE Championship)
With Randy Orton running rampant over the WWE after taking Cena’s championship via injurying him (he did lose it and then re win it in the same night at the aforementioned No Mercy, but that’s neither here nor there). Cena made a dramatic return to the company after only 3 months, despite being reported that he could be out for 6.
Cena returned at the Royal Rumble by entering at number 30. The final person Cena eliminated? His WrestleMania 22 opponent, Triple H. The stage was set for the returning John Cena to slay the man who had put him out of action, and Cena knew this. However, he didn’t want to wait till WrestleMania XXIV, he wanted Orton earlier, and instead, cashed in his title shot early at No Way Out. The two fought hard, but Orton got himself intentionally DQed, so even though he lost the match, he still walked out with the WWE Title. With that, and Triple H winning an Elimination Chamber match earlier in the night to get the opportunity to face the the WWE Champ at Mania. It seemed that the main event had removed Cena from the equation completely.
Cena argued to, then, GM William Regal, the next night on RAW, that due to Orton DQing himself, it was only fair that he gets a rematch at WrestleMania. However, Triple H was next in line as Cena had used his shot at the belt already. So Regal put Cena and Orton in a non-title re-match. If Cena won, the match at WrestleMania would become a Triple Threat match. The added twist? Triple H was the referre. As you can probably guess, Cena walked out that night victorious, and knowing he had regained a chance to fight for the WWE Title. But that joy was short lived as Triple H nailed both Cena and Orton with a Pedigree. Never the less, Cena was inserted into the match against his long standing rival, and his WrestleMania 22 opponent.
Even though Cena and Triple H were the babyfaces of the story, it didn’t stop them from going after each other. Unlike the previous year where it was teased that Michaels would attack Cena, Triple H had no hesitation over screwing Cena over if he could.
Eventually Regal did a “Triple Threat Takeover”, where the three participants were given the chance to book their opponents into matches for the night. First was Cena, who booked Triple H vs. Randy Orton. The next week was “WrestleMania Rewind” night, where Randy Orton booked Triple H in a match against his WrestleMania XV opponent, Kane, and booked Cena in a rematch from WrestleMania 23 against Shawn Michaels. But Triple H got the last laugh, as on his night in charge, he booked Orton and Cena into being a tag team against the entire RAW roster. After being overcome with the number of people attacking them, Triple H came out and finished off both Cena and Orton to stand tall above their bodies.
The three of them had a match that, many were surprised to find quite entertaining. It involved a number of high spots, including one that featured Orton doing a cross body off the top rope onto Cena, who was sat on Triple H’s shoulders. However, only one man could win. Cena got Triple H into an FU, but was countered and Triple H Pedigreed Cena. Before Trips could get the pin however, Orton ran in and punted Triple H in the head. Orton covered Cena and got the pin. Giving Cena his first ever definitive WrestleMania loss.
Cena’s WrestleMania score stands:
Wins – 4
Loss – 1
Championships won – 2
Championships defended – 2
WrestleMania XXV – vs. Big Show vs. Edge (World Heavyweight Championship)
In a very odd move, it was on an episode of RAW that SmackDown! general manager, Vickie Guerrero, announced what match would main event the SmackDown! brands side of WrestleMania. With her (kayfabe) husband, Edge, being the World Heavyweight Champion, she announced he would defend the belt against Big Show at the Grandest Stage Of Them All… and everybody groaned.
Just before the match was signed via Big Show and Edge putting their signatures on a contract, John Cena comes to the ring. You see, Cena had lost the World Heavyweight title to Edge at No Way Out in an Elimination Chamber match, almost mirroring their encounter over 3 years ago. Cena got into the ring and whispered something into Vickie Guerrero’s ear, who then screamed that the match was officially cancelled.
Fans were left confused, but it got worse when Vickie announced a few weeks later that Cena was being added into the Edge and Big Show match, to create a Triple Threat match, Cena’s second consecutive match of this type at WrestleMania. The reason why? Apparently Cena had footage proving that Vickie and Big Show had been in an affair, and was threatening to reveal the footage to the public if he wasn’t put into the title match. Yes readers, if you blackmail people to get what you want, you can still look like the good guy, if the other person is disliked more…
Surprisingly, Edge didn’t turn babyface by dumping Vickie for her adulterous behaviour. Instead he had a match against Cena, where Vickie was the referee, with the stipulation being that, if Cena touched Vickie, he would be removed from the Triple Threat match. During the match, Big Show came down to the ring, and the two of them tied up Cena in the ropes and completely decimated him. But then Edge gave Big Show a spear, to remind him that it is, indeed, a Triple Threat match
The three went at it, but it wasn’t quite as special as the previous years Triple Threat match involving Cena. As well as that, as you can tell, the build for the match was pretty lackluster, due to WWE focusing on Orton vs. Triple H for the WWE Title as the main feud going into the show. At one point, Cena hoisted both Show and Edge up onto his shoulders, to hit a double AA, but Edge escaped and nailed Cena with a low blow. Never the less, Cena hit the AA on Show and Edge, individually, and covered Big Show to walk out as the World Heavyweight Champion.
Cena only held the belt for a few weeks however, at Backlash, as he lost a Last Man Standing match against Edge after Big Show interfered and Choke Slammed him through a spot light.
Cena’s WrestleMania score stands:
Wins – 5
Loss – 1
Championships won – 3
Championships defended – 2
WrestleMania XXVI – vs. Batista (WWE Championship)
WWE finally wanted to pull off their “Modern Day Dream Match”, two of the biggest babyfaces in the company during the mid to late 2000s and WWE was determined to put them in a WrestleMania main event at some point. The careers of Batista and John Cena mirrored each other in a lot of ways. Both debuted in WWE in 2002, and on the SmackDown! brand. Both men gained momentum as heels, and eventually met at the 2005 Royal Rumble, where the two squared off and accidental eliminated each other at the same time. Both went on to face World Champions at WrestleMania 21, and both won. Both men also held onto their respective world titles for similar lengths of time (Batista’s reign was a few days longer, but he vacated the title due to an injury).
Batista eventually turned heel, and aligned himself with Mr. McMahon leading up to his feud with Bret Hart. John Cena opposed this, trying to help Bret, but he too was decimated by The Animal. At Elimination Chamber in February of 2010, in the opening match held in the Elimination Chamber itself, Cena ended up being victorious by dethroning Sheamus (ironic, considering Sheamus eventually won King of The Ring), but as soon as the match ended, McMahon came onto the stage, declaring that Cena must defend the Championship immediately against Batista, shades of New years Revolution was felt as Batista beat Cena cleanly to win the WWE title.
Cena requested a rematch for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania. But, in typical heelish tactics, McMahon and Batista were reluctant in giving him a shot. Instead McMahon said that Cena must defeat Batista on an episode of RAW in order to get his title match. Batista heeled things up though and got himself intentionally DQed, but without realising, handed Cena the victory and a match against him at WrestleMania.
The match was on, and Batista dominated for most of it. But Super-Cena managed to get back into the fight, including nailing Batista with a top rope 5 knuckle shuffle. Batista went for a Batista Bomb but Cena reversed it, and locked Batista into an STF, to which he tapped out with. Giving Cena the championship, his 6th win, and his 3rd Mania victory via submission.
Batista and John Cena continued their rivalry into the summer, with Cena remaining victorious over Batista in several different match types, including an I-Quit Match. Cena eventually lost the championship to Sheamus, whom he took the belt from months prior, at the Fatal 4-Way event.
Cena’s WrestleMania score stands:
Wins – 6
Loss – 1
Championships won – 4
Championships defended – 2
WrestleMania XXVII – vs. The Miz (WWE Championship)
The start of this feud, weirdly, doesn’t begin with either man in the match. But it is quite important to note exactly what happens here, as it has a knock on effect over Cena’s next few WrestleManias.
On a February edition of RAW, it was announced that The Rock was returning to WWE to act as Host for WrestleMania. This was The Rock’s first in ring appearance in over 5 years, and he came out to do a promo that lasted around 20 minutes. The main target of this promo, was non other than John Cena. The two men had some legitimate issues between them, and Cena ranted against The Rock 3 years prior to UK Newspaper, The Sun, over The Rock using pro wrestling as a way to get into the acting business, and pretty much trashed him for leaving the fans behind in favour for Hollywood.
Later that week, WWE was holding their Elimination Chamber event, John Cena once again won his match in the Elimination Chamber, earning himself a shot at The Miz’s WWE Championship at the biggest show of the year. The next night on RAW, now as the number 1 contender and the match officially booked, Cena came to the ring as his original rapper gimmick to rap against The Rock for calling him out days prior, once again alluding to and defending his comments that he made to The Sun.
The Rock returned via satellite to make his intentions clear, stating that he did leave to go to Hollywood to open the doors for other wrestlers to make the same move and legitimise WWE stars as more than just “wrestlers”. But it wasn’t until the RAW before WrestleMania that The Rock and John Cena shared a ring, With the two men, clearly at odds, The Miz came to the ring to remind everybody that it is he, who is in the Main Event against Cena and not The Rock. The Miz, and his alley Alex Riley (who?) took it upon themselves to take down Cena and Rock in the ring, but the two heroes hit back and cleared the ring of the Champion and his student. Only for Cena to hit the Rock with an AA going into the event.
Probably the most lackluster show, with what could be Cena’s most lackluster affair at the event. However, it was saved by a number of things (that Miz video package is still spoken about today!) Surprisingly, Miz and Cena had a pretty even battle, which saw both main hit each other with their signature moves. The fight eventually left the ring, and the two men knocked each other out resulting in a double count out, meaning Miz actually defended his championship. The Rock made his way down to the ring and announced that, as the host, he would be restarting the main event. Cena rolled Miz back into the ring, and was poised to win the match, until The Rock laid Cena out with a Rock Bottom in retaliation for the Monday before. Miz saw his opportunity and pinned Cena in the ring, giving him his second ever defeat at WrestleMania.
The feud between Cena and Rock had only just begun however, as, the next night on RAW, The Rock challenged Cena to a match at WrestleMania XXVIII, for what was booked as “Once In A Lifetime…”
Cena’s WrestleMania score stands:
Wins – 6
Loss – 2
Championships won – 4
Championships defended – 2
WrestleMania XXVIII – vs. The Rock
Their match was set, a year in advance. Talk about long term booking! Whilst the Summer of Punk took over the majority of WWE Storylines for the summer of 2011, the presence of Cenas confrontation with The Great One was always lingering in the background, as the commentators and Rock’s occasional appearances always reminded us. Their rivalry picked up once again in November though. Cena had reignited a feud with The Miz, and his new tag team partner, a heel R-Truth, in a team named “The Awesome Truth” (because… well what other name would they go by I guess?) Cena challenged the two to a match at Survivor Series and requested that his tag team partner be his WrestleMania opponent, The Rock… after spitting on the microphone, please let nobody ever forget about him spitting on the microphone.
Even though The Rock accepted Cena’s request, it didn’t cool the dislike between the two characters. Instead it may have just fuelled it further. After “The Most Charismatic Team Of All Time” defeated Awesome Truth, Rock laid Cena down with a Rock Bottom, to remind him that the match between the two was still on.
After teasing a potential heel turn in preparation for his WrestleMania match, Cena eventually entered Miami to face The Rock in, surprisingly, John Cena’s first non-championship WrestleMania match. No seriously, go back and look at this article, this is the first time he’s been in a match at WrestleMania where he didn’t defend or challenge for a championship.
Whilst some may argue that this wasn’t a particularly great wrestling match, that doesn’t take away from the spectacle that this match was. After a year long build between the two men, tag teams formed and destroyed in 1 night, being icons of two different WWE Generations, and having two different singers introduce the men, you couldn’t get more excited, and neither could the fans in attendance. For a good couple of seconds, both The Rock and Cena just stand in the middle of the ring, absorbing the energy the Miami fans are giving off.
The Rock still looked great in the ring, and clearly trained hard for this match. Cena became the defacto heel of the encounter, one he didn’t shy away. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a turn, but he was the cockier of the two in the match, clearly not taking the older Rock as seriously as he probably should have. This became Cena’s undoing, and he tried to mimic The People’s Elbow, but was caught by The Rock, who pinned Cena to get the win.
Cena’s WrestleMania score stands:
Wins – 6
Loss – 3
Championships won – 4
Championships defended – 2
WrestleMania 29 – vs. The Rock (WWE Championship)
Following his loss to The Rock, Cena claimed to have the single worst year in his personal and professional life. The night after WrestleMania XXVII, after wanting to congratulate The Rock on the win, he was attacked by the returning Brock Lesnar. His soon divorced his wife (in real life). That summer, he won a Money In The Bank match to get a shot at the WWE Championship, and became the first man in the history of the company to fail in winning the championship after cashing in, failing to beat CM Punk on numerous occasions and even losing to Dolph Ziggler in December of 2012. Cena attributed all these hardships to failing to beat The Rock, and feeling like he didn’t prove himself.
Cena’s luck changed however when he won the most predictable Royal Rumble match in history in January of 2013. After The Rock beat Punk for the WWE Title, ending his 400+ day reign, the match was pencilled in, the rematch was anticipated. It was now Twice In A Lifetime. Things were thrown into disarray when CM Punk remained in the title picture though, after failing to regain the title in a rematch against The Rock, Punk convinced Cena to put his WrestleMania title shot on the line in one of the best RAW matches in recent memory, but Cena retained and the Match was officially set in stone.
In a fantastic example of “The sequel is never better than the original”, The Rock and Cena had their rematch, and it was pretty lackluster. Imagine very little build, and not even a hype package at the start of the match. Both Rock and Cena kinda looked like they didn’t want to do that match, like they wished they could be doing something different. The two of them basically only used their signature moves, which resulted in lots of counters and near falls. It became pretty boring and formulaic quickly, and with the fact that we had already seen this match before, ruining the “speciality” of the encounter, it just all fell flat. The Rock, sadly, got injured during the match, pretty much meaning his in ring career came to an end, not because it was super serious, but he was in the middle of shooting a Michael Bay movie that, then, had to film around his injury, resulting in lost time on the production. Since then, no film insurance company would touch The Rock if he was still considered an active wrestler.
Eventually the match mimicked the ending of the previous encounter. Cena got cocky and went to use The People’s Elbow. The Rock got ready to counter him, but when he jumped up to hit Cena with a Rock Bottom, Cena had learnt his lesson, it was a ploy to get The Rock on his feet. Cena nailed The Rock with an AA, and won the match, and the WWE title.
John Cena held onto the WWE title until August. Cena requested that Daniel Bryan challenge for the WWE Championship in the main event of SummerSlam, with Triple H as the referee. Cena dropped the belt to Bryan, who was gaining a lot of popularity, and left the company for a few months to heal up triceps injury he had sustained. (Bryan then lost the WWE title to Randy Orton on the same night, but that’s a story for another day).
Cena’s WrestleMania score stands:
Wins – 7
Loss – 3
Championships won – 5
Championships defended – 2
WrestleMania XXX – vs. Bray Wyatt
By the end of 2013, John Cena had won the World Heavyweight Championship. It was at this point the company decided to unify the two major world titles, mainly due to the fact that the Brand Split had pretty much been discontinued. Cena lost the match to Randy Orton, who unified the World Title with the WWE Title, to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Cena was given a rematch at that the Royal Rumble, but was screwed out of the match by the Wyatt Family, who had debuted only a few months prior.
At the Elimination Chamber match, the next month, the WWE World Heavyweight Title was being defended in an Elimination Chamber match. But once again, Cena was screwed out of winning the match, and the Championship by the Wyatt Family.
Wyatt claimed that he targeted John Cena, because he represented a hollow illusion of being good and right, and end “the era of lies”. Wyatt wanted to turn John Cena into a monster, and prove that he was a fraud to destory is legacy. Yeah, it was a Bray Wyatt feud, it was never going to make sense. Never the less, Cena challenged Bray to a match at WrestleMania, which Bray accepted.
Whilst I doubt anybody would really remember this match in Cena’s career, it proved to be an interesting one, never the less, mainly due to the presence of Bray Wyatt. With Wyatt’s bizarre in ring tactics, and Cena’s formulaic approach, it created a unique match up that we hadn’t ever seen. On several occasions, Wyatt encouraged Cena to turn to the dark side, by hitting him with a steel chair, or the steel ring steps, and thus destroy his own image and legacy as a heroic character. Cena even seemed to contemplate it on a few occasions, but over came the desire. It also included a few high spots of Cena jumping off the top rope onto the remaining Wyatt Family members, and even putting Luke Harper through the barricade at ring side. After Wyatt took too long to hit his signature, Sister Abigail, due to singing “He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands”, Cena reversed it into an AA and took the win. Earning Cena’s first, non-title, under card match win.
Cena’s WrestleMania score stands:
Wins – 8
Loss – 3
Championships won – 5
Championships defended – 2
WrestleMania 31 – vs. Rusev (United States Championship)
It seems fitting that we end this with the same championship that started it all, the United States Championship.
John Cena and Rusev entered a rivalry against each other in the February of 2015. Rusev was the United States Champion, and was undefeated. Cena wanted to knock Rusev down a peg or two, and the match was set at Fastlane. Surprisingly, Cena actually lost the match after passing out from Rusev’s signature move “The Accolade”.
Rusev used this win to continually insult the USA, much to the irate of John Cena. Cena challenged Rusev to a rematch at WrestleMania with the US title on the line, but Rusev kept denied his request. Eventually Cena placed Rusev in an STF hold, and refused to let go until Rusev accepted Cena’s challenge. After passing out, and being revived by Cena, just to be locked in the hold again, it was eventually Lana who accepted Cena’s request on behalf of Rusev, to get Cena to leave Rusev alone.
Then came WrestleMania 31 (or WrestleMania Play Button, whichever you prefer), Cena came to the ring and Rusev drove to it on a damn tank! The match started and Rusev pretty much dominated Cena for the early go. John managed to come back against the attack, including using a new move to his arsenal, a springboard Stunner. Lana eventually got onto the ring apron, but was accidently knocked off by Rusev, which caused a distraction and allowed Cena to capitalise and hit Rusev with an AA, taking the US title from the Bulgarian Brute, and hand him his very first pinfall loss since debuting on the roster almost a year prior.
Cena would hold onto the US title till SummerSlam (again, similar to 2 years ago), where he faced off against WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, who also won his title at WrestleMania 31 after cashing in his Money In The Bank contract. Cena appeared to be winning the match until SummerSlam’s guest host, and rival to Seth Rollins, Jon Stewart interfered and whacked Cena with a chair and costing Cena both Championships. Why? Because if Cena won the match, he would match Ric Flair’s record of being a 16 time World Champion, something that Stewart (and pretty much everybody in the world) didn’t want to see happen.
Cena’s WrestleMania score stands:
Wins – 9
Loss – 3
Championships won – 6
Championships defended – 2
Whilst it’s inevitable that Cena will make some sort of appearance at WrestleMania in Texas this year, it is still strange to believe that this is the first WrestleMania since WrestleMania XIX that Cena hasn’t been featured on. It is somewhat refreshing, considering how dominate he’s been at the event, and how many times he’s been IN the main event at WrestleMania, but one can’t seem to think that WrestleMania does indeed feel like it’s missing a big ingredient…
Follow The Suplah
