For the better part of a decade, John Cena has been a headliner at the grandest stage of them all. From championship matches to personal feuds, Cena has clashed with legends, veterans, and rookies at Wrestlemania. Cena has competed in 13 matches at Wrestlemania and I'm going to rank them from worst to best, in my opinion.
13. John Cena and Nikki Bella vs The Miz and Maryse
Wrestlemania 33
-This match wasn’t very good because it was basically used as the gateway for Cena to propose to Nikki at Wrestlemania. The best part of this feud with Miz impersonating Cena with his house rules. Classic stuff there, but this match was subpar.
12. John Cena vs Miz
WWE Championship
Wrestlemania 27
-Mainly used as the vehicle for The Rock vs Cena, this match took a backseat to that. Miz and Cena had the tough task of main eventing a bad show, but their match was just lifeless. I don’t blame either man or The Rock for this honestly. I just blame the booking of this and the pacing. It could have been better, but unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be.
11. John Cena vs Edge vs Big Show
World Heavyweight Championship
Wrestlemania 25
-This match wasn’t bad. It just had to follow the greatest wrestling match ever. Cena lifting Edge and Big Show was a cool spot, and overall, this was a decent contest.
10. John Cena vs The Rock
WWE Championship
Wrestlemania 29
-This match was okay. The thing holding back this match is the fact that the belt was on the line. It felt like the belt had taken a backseat to the feud. You wouldn’t want the marquee match on the marquee show of the year to have your most important title be second fiddle, plus no one was asking for this rematch.
9. John Cena vs Triple H vs Randy Orton
WWE Championship
Wrestlemania 24
-Arguably the 3 biggest guys in the industry at the time fighting at Wrestlemania was great. They put on a decent match all things considered. I was surprised they went with Orton for the win honestly, but this was solid.
8. John Cena vs Big Show
US Championship
Wrestlemania 20
-This was the perfect way to open the show. Cena winning his first title in a very solid match with the crowd firmly behind him was fun, and of course him picking Big Show is always a moment.
7. John Cena vs Batista
WWE Championship
Wrestlemania 26
-I really think the build to this match would’ve been better had they used the build that their Summerslam match had. Instead they had Batista who was the WWE Champ acting jealous of the guy who WASN’T the champ, but his promos were solid. Still, this was a pretty decent contest and a solid WWE Championship match.
6. John Cena vs JBL
WWE Championship
Wrestlemania 21
-I always felt this match was a bit underrated. The storytelling in the match was great as well as the build to the match. Cena wins his first WWE Championship and put an end to the long reign of JBL.
5. John Cena vs Bray Wyatt
Wrestlemania 30
-This might have been the most underrated match of both men’s careers as well as the most underrated match on the Mania card. We got to see the good Bray Wyatt here and aside from the result, which was wrong (Bray needed the win), this was a really good match IMO. The Wyatt Family added to the match as well as Cena second guessing himself throughout, but if Cena would have lost, it would have made it even better.
4. John Cena vs Rusev
United States Championship Wrestlemania 31
-This was a GREAT contest. Rusev and Cena have great chemistry and even though the anti-American angle is played out, I thought the match itself was stellar.
3. John Cena vs Triple H
WWE Championship
Wrestlemania 22
-This was such a great contest. Triple H was always gonna carry his weight but Cena came to play on this night. Having HHH tap out gave Cena an even bigger boost than he already had. The crowd was hot for this match and split, one of the first real vocal rejections of Cena as the forced face on a big show. 12 years ago.
2. John Cena vs Shawn Michaels
WWE Championship
Wrestlemania 23
-Originally meant to be a rematch from the year prior, HBK came in and filled in for the injured HHH. This is by far the best WRESTLING match Cena has ever had at Mania (possibly ever). HBK took Cena to wrestling school on this night and Shawn showed he still had it when the lights were at their brightest. I was very tempted to put this number one and it probably should be, but....
1. John Cena vs The Rock
Wrestlemania 28
-The biggest match in the career of John Cena. Even though we had a year build, it was phenomenally done for the most part. The real life animosity made this match even bigger than it was. While not the greatest match in terms of technical ability (that’s Wrestlemania 23), this was HUGE, on par with Rock vs Hogan, but just a bit more fluid. Wisely, they actually went with The Rock for the win in his hometown nonetheless. This isn't the best Cena match, but with the build and the year long promotion, it is the biggest and greatest match in his Mania career.
-Phranchize
0 comments:
Post a Comment