Thomas Hall's 10 Favorite John Cena WWE Matches

The last time really is now. This weekend, after over twenty years of greatness (your mileage may vary), John Cena is ready to hang up the sneakers after his one final match with Gunther at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Cena announced his retirement over a year in advance and that has led to several looks back at his incredible career. That’s what we’re going to be doing here, with a look at most of his greatest matches and why they worked so well.

Note that I’ve limited myself to one entry per opponent. Cena has faced some people in multiple great matches, but with such a long career, you have to spread the wealth a bit. Also keep in mind that this is a top ten list. There is absolutely no such thing as a definitive version of this so please don’t think that this is anything more than what I’d go with for such a list. There were SO many great Cena matches throughout his career that I’m bound to miss something.

10. John Cena Vs. Kurt Angle (No Way Out 2005)

Stipulation	WWE Championship Number One Contender Match
Time	19:21
Winner	John Cena

While Cena has had a lot of opponents over the years, everything started with Angle. Cena’s debut match on June 27, 2002 saw him answer Angle’s open challenge, which tied the two together in a certain way over the course of their careers. They would meet multiple times in various matches, but this one very well might be the best of them all over the years.

This was actually a tournament final to determine the new #1 contender to the SmackDown World Title, with the title match taking place at WrestleMania XXI. At the end of the day, while Angle was certainly a major star and a bonafide main eventer, it was Cena’s time to shine and that’s what would wind up happening. Cena was ready to move up the ladder, but he needed another win first.

That win came against Angle in what was probably their best match ever. These two worked well together and there is something about Angle’s style that always works. The legendary amateur status gave him instant credibility and it meant that Cena was going to have to put in the work to beat him.  We saw exactly that in Angle’s hometown, as Cena slayed one of his first dragons to move on to his destiny at WrestleMania.

9. John Cena Vs. The Rock (WrestleMania XXVIII)

Stipulation	Singles Match
Time	30:35
Winner	The Rock

I kept looking at the list and I’m almost astounded that this one is so low. This is a case where the match itself isn’t the big draw, but rather the build towards the match. The match had been teased for a long time on the way to Wrestlemania XXVII, to the point where the reigning champion, The Miz, was an afterthought in his own WrestleMania main event. That’s because The Rock was back for the first time in a long while and had his eyes on Cena, which is where things got interesting.

The night after WrestleMania XXVII the challenge was laid out and accepted, as Cena and The Rock would finally squash off… in a year. This gave us one of the all time greatest countdowns, as Cena had a year to get ready for the biggest match of his career and bring the fans along with him. That’s exactly what he did, as we got to the point where I had to see what was going to happen. I didn’t know if the match was going to be good or bad, but I had to see it.

What made it better though was the match wound up being pretty incredible. Even if the wrong person won, they beat the fire out of each other in front of a stadium full of people. Cena sitting there after the match, having lost everything, instantly became an iconic image and came after a match that somehow almost lived up to its incredible hype. This was probably the biggest match of Cena’s career and he rose to the challenge, as he so often does.

8. John Cena Vs. Edge (Unforgiven 2006)

Stipulation	WWE Championship TLC Match
Time	25:28
Winner	John Cena

You absolutely have to include an Edge match in a Cena list and this was their big crowning achievement. Edge had managed to retain the title over Cena in Cena’s hometown at SummerSlam, so it was time for Cena to face Edge in Edge’s hometown in Edge’s match for Edge’s title. That’s one of those cases where everything was set up to perfection and then they had the Tables Ladders and Chairs match.

And that match wound up being outstanding, with Cena bringing the violence as he is so capable of doing when given the chance. This match was about surviving all of the weapons and concepts that you could put together using them, and Edge had the advantage. The idea here was that Edge had the experience and knew what he was doing in this environment, but unfortunately for him, that is where Cena tends to shine.

What followed a twenty five minute war as the two of them used whatever they could find to beat each other into the ground and claim the title. They would face off multiple times in their careers but it never got this good, with Cena being able to pull it off and get the title back, which he would go on to hold for over a year. This was one of the best of Cena’s genre matches, as he could do the hardcore stuff really well, apparently if it included climbing a ladder.

7. John Cena Vs. Brock Lesnar Vs. Seth Rollins (Royal Rumble 2015)

Stipulation	WWE World Heavyweight Championship Triple Threat Match
Time	22:42
Winner	Brock Lesnar

This was during Lesnar’s true Beast Mode, as he smashed through Cena to win the title at SummerSlam 2014 and was reigning on high as the unstoppable monster. It was clear that Cena couldn’t stop Lesnar on his own, so it was time for Rollins to join in the fight. Unfortunately Rollins and Cena hated each other as well, so it felt like a mixture of a triple threat match and a handicap match.

In this case, that turned out to be quite the successful recipe, as the three of them had one heck of a match which unfortunately isn’t brought up very often. The big idea here was Cena and Rollins trying to cut Lesnar off and then fight each other for the title. That’s fine in theory, but unfortunately the two of them fought so long that Lesnar was able to get back up and take both of them out to retain the title.

This was a match where they didn’t try to do anything too complicated, but rather went with the all action formula. The match runs over twenty minutes and they pretty much do not stop throughout, making it one heck of a spectacle. Lesnar retained, but that was the right way to go here. It was Lesnar’s time atop the company and it would take someone special to get the belt off of him. Cena wasn’t that man, but he certainly tried to be.

6. John Cena Vs. JBL (Judgment Day 2005)

Stipulation	WWE Championship I Quit Match
Time	22:46
Winner	John Cena

We’re going with the violence again, as this was an I Quit match. Cena had won the SmackDown World Title from Layfield at WrestleMania earlier in the year and Layfield wanted to get the gold back. The idea was to beat Cena to the point where he would have go give up, which made sense for someone like Layfield in theory, but as usual, it didn’t quite go to plan.

The problem with Layfield was he was ultimately a big bully. Therefore, he was always going to run his mouth and then get caught in the end when someone stood up to him. That is exactly what Cena did, as Layfield tried to take it too far and learned the hard way what Cena was willing to do to win a match. Cena eventually broke a pipe off of a truck and walked towards Layfield, looking rather terrifying on the way. Layfield gave up and Cena took him out again anyway, like a true hero should.

Much like Lesnar’s Beast Mode, Cena has a certain switch he can activate and turn into one of the scariest people in wrestling. He doesn’t go there often, but there is a look in his eyes the shows you he is ready to fight and nothing is going to stop him. We hadn’t really seen that from him in the main event scene yet and that is what we got here, with Cena bringing the pain to take Layfield out at Judgment Day 2005 and move on with his title reign.

5. John Cena Vs. Umaga (Royal Rumble 2007)

Stipulation	WWE Championship Last Man Standing Match
Time	23:12
Winner	John Cena

One of the many monikers that Cena has earned over the years is Super Cena. He has turned into one of the true superheroes of wrestling and that fits him rather well when he is fighting a monster. While Cena has fought a bunch of them over the years, his best match against one happened against a certain Samoan Bulldozer, which happened to be another violent showdown.

Cena had already beaten Umaga with a rollup earlier in the month to end his undefeated streak, but that was "just" a wrestling match. With Umaga, it was about going to another level of violence, which is what happened here. It felt like a superhero against a crazed monster, which basically made the match something out of a comic book. That’s exactly what is should have been and DANG did it work.

Cena came into the match with bad ribs so Umaga already had a target. Unfortunately there was only so much that he could do, as Cena went to that place he could so rarely reach and then took it to another level. Eventually Cena destroyed the ring and choked Umaga out with the ring rope to retain the title. It felt like Cena was ready to rip Umaga apart if he had to, which showed you just what he could do if he was given the chance.

4. John Cena Vs. Daniel Bryan (SummerSlam 2013)

Stipulation	WWE Championship Singles Match
Time	26:55
Winner	Daniel Bryan

I went back and forth with some of the last remaining picks but this one absolutely had to make the list. What made this work was that, in addition to being quite the dream match from about six years prior, it was a straight wrestling match. Bryan had become the hottest star in WWE and Cena personally selected him for the Raw World Title match at SummerSlam. That is quite the honor and it set the stage so well.

What followed was a match for the ages, as Cena hung in there with the technical master the entire time and looked like he was going to retain the title more than once. However, Bryan eventually wore Cena down enough (Cena having a baseball sized lump on his elbow didn’t hurt) and he debuted the running knee to win the title. It was a battle between two top stars and a passing of the torch as Bryan was now the top man.

This one worked because Cena was in the ring against one of the best technicians of his era and the whole thing still worked. Cena is known for his violent brawls and wild matches, but this was more toned down and showed that he could wrestle with the best of them, which has shown on multiple occasions. It was also a case of Cena putting someone over clean as a sheet, which doesn’t happen often but when it does, it carries quite the impact.

3. John Cena Vs. AJ Styles (Crown Jewel 2025)

Stipulation	Singles Match
Time	27:10
Winner	John Cena

Ok so I completely get the appeal of putting their SummerSlam 2016 or Royal Rumble 2017 match on here, as those matches absolutely stole the show, with the SummerSlam one being an instant classic. However, this was their final encounter as it was clear that Cena was retiring (with Styles not far behind him) and the fans wanted to see it one more time. That’s exactly what happened at Crown Jewel 2025, and sweet goodness did it wind up working.

What followed was a pair of legends throwing everything they had at each other, with the fans eventually requesting that they do various moves and the two of them doing as they were told. The audience was right there with them throughout until Cena finally put Styles away. There was pretty much no story to the thing but that wasn’t the point. Instead, it was all about having a great time and showing what two people with this kind of talent could do if given the chance.

When I watched this match live, the word that came to my mind was “special”. It wasn’t a match that was going to work under regular circumstances, but given the people involved and their history, the match wound up being something unlike anything we had seen before and it absolutely blew away my expectations. The crowd carried this to a completely different level and it was one of the best things I’ve seen in wrestling in a very long time.

2. John Cena Vs. Shawn Michaels (Raw, April 23, 2007)

Stipulation	Singles Match
Time	55:49
Winner	Shawn Michaels

Like him or not, Cena is undoubtedly a legend in wrestling. He has been around for a very long time and for a lot of fans, he is the biggest star they have ever known. His legend had to begin at some point though and part of that that took place with a certain match in London, England on April 23, 2007 (which happened to be Cena’s thirtieth birthday for your trivia of the day).

Cena had previously defeated Michaels in the main event of WrestleMania XXIII earlier in the month but it was time for a rematch. What followed was the two of them facing off for nearly an hour, with Michaels ultimately winning the non-title match with the superkick. It was a great match which came out of absolutely nowhere, with both guys leaving it all in the ring throughout.

What really made this one stand out was Cena looking like he was completely fresh a good thirty minutes into the match. It made fans wonder what they were seeing here, as even Michaels was winded by that point while Cena looked like he was just getting started. It was an all time classic that came out of absolutely nowhere and saw the two of them showing what they could do if given the chance. As luck would have it, they did better than anyone could have hoped them to do.

1. John Cena Vs. CM Punk (Money In The Bank 2011)

Stipulation	WWE Championship Singles Match
Time	33:44
Winner	CM Punk

They don’t happen often, but there are certain matches where you know you’re seeing something different. The idea of the match was pretty unique, as Punk’s contract was expiring and he was threatening to leave Money In The Bank (taking place in Punk’s hometown of Chicago) with the title, as promised in his legendary Pipe Bomb promo. Cena was ready for the challenge and wanted to fight, but a certain question was asked: “What if you can’t beat him?”

With that, they had me. In theory, Cena had to win because the company had to have its top championship. But what would happen if he didn’t? I wanted to see what was going to happen and I had to see the match as a result. As luck would have it, Punk wound up winning the title and leaving with it as champion, marking one of the most intriguing What If’s in WWE history (and ok yes he was back about a week later but DANG it worked at the time).

In addition to the buildup, the match itself was one of the best of its generation, with the established top star of the company slugging it out with someone with a massive chip on his shoulder and everything to prove. This was a match where I didn’t know what was going to happen and I was biting on every near fall until Punk won. Not only was it great, but it felt huge, which is where Cena tends to shine like no other.

As I was putting this list together, it amazed me how many options I had throughout Cena’s career. I even left off things like Kevin Owens at Elimination Chamber 2015 (the promos that set it up were great), the four way with Randy Orton, Michaels and Edge at Backlash 2007 (still one of the best finishing sequences I’ve ever seen) or Backlash 2006 against Edge and Triple H (not the most memorable match but it was a heck of a fight and I was there live). Cena might not be the most popular star among some fans, but he has more than earned his reputation as a legend and it’s a shame that we can’t see him anymore.

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