Ranking John Cena’s top 10 greatest WWE moments
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The 16-Time WWE Champion Is One Of The Most Popular Superstars In The Company.
John Cena is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time with a monumental wrestling career. John Cena has been in WWE for over 21 years and has been the constant face of the company. He plays a major role in the success of the company in reaching globally with his charismatic looks, masculine body, down to earth personality, and great wrestling skills.
He is now a part timer in the company and shows up on rare occasions. As Cena is said to return to the company in the upcoming episode of SmackDown and to India, to celebrate his home-coming here are the top 10 greatest moments of John Cena.
John Cena’s greatest WWE moments:
10. Cena’s Debut
In June 2002, Kurt Angle issued an open challenge to the superstars of the SmackDown locker room for a fight. Where John Cena made his WWE television debut and answered Angle’s challenge. He introduced himself and attacked Kurt Angle right away as he possessed “Ruthless Aggression” to face Angle. Although it was Cena’s debut he got the cheer as a result of Angle’s hate. Cena lost the match, but got appreciated for the efforts by the veterans backstage.
9. First Title win
In 2004, Cena developed a feud with Big Show as he eliminated Cena in the Royal Rumble match. Cena challenged Big Show for a United States Championship match at WrestleMania XX. Where Cena defeated Big Show by hitting him with Brass Knuckles and FU (now AA) for the win. Cena won the United States Championship for the first time and marks the first title win for him in WWE.
8. Battling the Nexus
In 2010, the first season rookies of the NXT dominated the main roster by attacking superstars on the main roster, officials and commentators. John Cena was their primary target and kept attacking him over and over. On the road to SummerSlam, John Cena formed “Team WWE” to face the Nexus in a 7 on 7 Elimination Tag Team Match. Where Team WWE dominated Nexus and won the match. John Cena was the lonely survivor of the match as he eliminated the leader of Nexus, Wade Barrett in the end for the win.
7. Winning the 2013 Royal Rumble
John Cena entered the 2013 Royal Rumble as the 19th entrant. Cena and Ryback were the last two to stay in the ring, where the momentum shifted on either side. At the end, Cena eliminated Ryback and won the 2013 Royal Rumble for the second time.
6. First WWE Championship
At the 2005 Royal Rumble, John Cena and Batista were the last two contestants of the rumble match, where both landed on the floor through the ropes at the same time. Both claimed themselves as the winner, where McMahon restarted the match where Cena lost. At No Way Out, Cena got an opportunity to face Kurt Angle to become the #1 Contender for the WWE Championship to face JBL at WrestleMania 21. Cena won the match and punched his ticket to WrestleMania.
At WrestleMania 21, JBL dominated throughout the match, but Cena countered him in the last minute and won the match and the WWE Championship with a FU. This was the first world championship win for Cena.
5. 2008 Royal Rumble Return & Win
John Cena suffered a legitimate pectoral muscle injury in October 2007 and underwent surgery. He was away from action for a long time and surprisingly returned at the 2008 Royal Rumble. He entered the Rumble match as the 30th entrant and eliminated Triple H in the end with an Attitude Adjustment over the top rope for the win. This marks the first Royal Rumble win for John Cena, where Cena broke the least time spent in a ring by the eventual winner.
4. Defeating Orton in the Iron Man match
John Cena and Randy Orton had one of the great rivalries in WWE. In 2009 their feud went on a whole new level while they fought for the WWE Championship. They fought three pay-per-views before the Bragging Rights. Orton won twice in a controversial way and Cena once. With Orton being the champ, Cena challenged him for one last match in a 60-man Iron man match, Orton accepted it and added stipulations that if Cena lost the match, he should leave Raw and the match should be on anything goes rules.
Cena picked the first win by STF (1-0), Orton pinned Cena by RKO (1-1), Orton countered AA to RKO making it a double count (2-2), Cena pinned Orton after a Super AA from the top rope (3-2), Cody and Ted Dibiase made Orton pin (3-3), Orton threw Cena on the electronic wall for the seventh fall (4-3), Cena pinned Orton (4-4), Orton pinned Cena with an elevated DDT for the ninth fall (5-4), Cena pinned Orton after AA through the commentary table (5-5), Cena made Orton tap out to the ATF at the final seconds making it 6-5 to become the WWE Champion for the fifth time.
3. Conquers Brock Lesnar
At WrestleMania 28, Cena lost the match to The Rock and accepted his loss the following night, where Brock Lesnar returned after almost eight years and attacked Cena with an F5. Lesnar and Cena developed a great feud which resulted in a brawl. Both were extremely anticipated to keep their hands on each other and finally booked an Extreme Rules match in the Extreme Rules ppv.
Lesnar made Cena bleed right after the bell rings with a vicious elbow strike. The match went brutal, where Cena won by hitting Lesnar with the steel chain and an AA to the Steel Stairs.
2. Defeating The Rock at WrestleMania 29
After a defeat to The Rock at WrestleMania 28, John Cena re-initiated the feud. The Rock won the WWE Championship at Royal Rumble by defeating CM Punk, where Cena won the Royal Rumble match and challenged him to a rematch after a year, but this time the title was on the line.
At WrestleMania 29, Cena and The Rock fought, where Cena came to rectify his mistakes from the previous year’s match but The Rock took Cena lite. The match went so close where Rock delivered three Rock Bottom, Cena delivered three AA. At the end John Cena countered the fourth Rock Bottom to an AA for the win. After the match, The Rock praised Cena as the new WWE Champion by lifting his hands.
1. 16 time World Championship
AJ Styles defended his WWE Championship against Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin in a Triple Threat match on an episode of SmackDown. Where AJ Styles retained the title, but was confronted by the returning John Cena. Who challenged AJ Styles for the WWE Championship match at Royal Rumble to become the 16 time champion.
This is one of the best matches in 2017, where both fought until they ran out of gas. Styles and Cena went on delivering their signature moves, finisher and submission maneuver on each other, however everything ended in a near fall. At the end, Cena countered the Phenomenal Forearm into a couple of AA to pick up the win. Cena became the 16 time world champion and equaled the record of Ric Flair.
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