3 Times John Cena allegedly didn't want to lose in WWE and 2 times he did

#4 John Cena wanted to lose against Shinsuke Nakamura (WWE SmackDown)

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, John Cena wanted to lose clean against Shinsuke Nakamura on the August 1, 2017 episode of WWE SmackDown.

Nakamura defeated Cena to become the new number one contender for Jinder Mahal’s WWE Championship ahead of SummerSlam 2017. While WWE’s higher-ups always intended for Nakamura to win, the Japanese star was originally supposed to pick up the victory following interference from Baron Corbin.

However, as the GiveMeSport report below states, Cena allegedly stepped in and asked if the match finish could be changed.

“According to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it was Cena himself who disliked the original plan, and then pushed for Nakamura to pick up the clean win.”

Unfortunately, the John Cena vs. Shinsuke Nakamura dream match did not go exactly as planned. Nakamura dropped Cena on his head in the closing stages of the match, causing him to receive backlash when he returned backstage.

The King of Strong Style revealed in an interview with Gorilla Position in 2018 that he thought his WWE career was “finished” after the mistake.

Nakamura went on to lose against Jinder Mahal at SummerSlam, while Cena defeated Baron Corbin at the same event.