5 Big WrestleMania plans for John Cena that were canceled

If John Cena's latest comments about his WrestleMania 37 status are to be believed, the former World Champion won't be a part of the grand event this year.

John Cena first appeared at WrestleMania, way back in 2003. Cena rapped to cardboard cut-outs of Jay-Z and Fabolous, who were set to engage in a rap battle with him, but no-showed the event.

John Cena has done it all at WrestleMania. He has been featured in world title matches, has wrestled the very best, and will be remembered as one of the biggest Superstars in the event's history. As WrestleMania approaches closer, WWE starts making big plans for its top Superstars at the event, and the same has been the case for Cena over the years. Sometimes though, these plans end up getting canceled and replaced.

In this list, we will take a look at five original WrestleMania plans that WWE had for John Cena, which were canceled in favor of other plans that eventually made the cut.

#5 John Cena's planned match with Lars Sullivan at WrestleMania 35 did not happen

At WrestleMania 35, John Cena didn't compete but was involved in a segment with Elias. To the surprise of the fans in attendance and the millions watching at home, Cena came out donning the rapper gimmick that he had popularized during the height of the Ruthless Aggression Era.

Initially, WWE had planned a match for John Cena at WrestleMania 35, against Lars Sullivan. In early 2019, Sullivan was supposed to make his debut and target Cena on WWE TV, kicking off their feud on the Road to WrestleMania. Lars ended up leaving due to an anxiety attack, thus forcing WWE to cancel the plans.

At WrestleMania, Elias didn't expect John Cena's "Doctor of Thugonomics" persona to interrupt his concert. Cena insulted Elias using his rap skills, and then put him down to a huge pop from the WWE Universe. As for Lars, his career never picked up, minus a few short-lived dominant runs, and he was released in early 2021.

#4 John Cena's planned match with Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 25 was canceled

John Cena was involved in a triple threat match for the world heavyweight title at WrestleMania 25. Cena has always been synonymous with the WWE Championship and seeing him raise the world heavyweight title at The Grandest Stage Of Them All was certainly a strange visual.

Originally, WWE had big plans for Cena at the event, and he was set to compete in a dream match for the ages. Hulk Hogan once revealed that he was supposed to battle Cena at The Show of Shows in 2009.

“WrestleMania 25, I was supposed to take on John Cena. But my back blew out. I was in the middle of my fifth or sixth back surgery and I was supposed to wrestle John. That was the most disappointing one, not being there.”

Due to WWE's plans getting canceled close to WrestleMania, things had to be rushed and John Cena was put in the title picture in a hurry. Cena feuded with Edge and Big Show on the Road to WrestleMania, with the trio competing in a triple threat outing at the event.

In the end, John Cena pinned Big Show to become the new World Heavyweight Champion.

#3 John Cena's planned match with Elias at WrestleMania 36 did not happen

John Cena had one of the most unique matches of his career at WrestleMania 36, against Bray Wyatt. The Firefly Fun House match featured a never-before-seen presentation, and the cinematic aspect of the bout gave WWE lots of room to experiment and do something unusual. Fans may not know that WWE had other plans for John Cena at The Grandest Stage of Them All in 2020.

Here's Elias spilling the beans on what were WWE's plans for him at the show:

"The year after was supposed to be myself against John Cena at WrestleMania in a three-year running story. Things obviously changed and that didn't end up happening."

At WrestleMania 34, right before his match with The Undertaker, John Cena attacked Elias.

The same story was repeated a year later at WrestleMania 35, where Cena put Elias down after insulting him with a rap performance. Instead of going ahead with the original plan, WWE pitted Cena and Wyatt at WrestleMania 36.

Cena battled Wyatt in a cinematic match and was taken down memory lane by the sinister star. In the end, Wyatt's mind games proved to be too much for John Cena, and he lost the match.

#2 John Cena's planned match with The Undertaker at WrestleMania 32 was canceled

At WrestleMania 32, John Cena didn't compete, and it was the first time since 2003 that he hadn't wrestled a match at The Show of Shows. Cena still showed up though, to help The Rock fend off The Wyatt Family.

Later that year, Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer discussed WWE's plans for a Brock Lesnar vs. Shane McMahon match that never happened and revealed that WWE had planned to have John Cena wrestle The Undertaker at WrestleMania 32.

“I cannot bring myself to believe that they’re going to do [Shane McMahon vs. Brock Lesnar]. I just don’t understand why you would waste a Brock Lesnar match on Shane McMahon. The Shane vs. Undertaker match was a fallback plan after John Cena got hurt and they had nobody else for The Undertaker.”

At WrestleMania 32, John Cena made his surprise return and helped The Rock take down The Wyatt Family. The Undertaker defeated Shane McMahon inside Hell In A Cell.

Two years later, John Cena finally got to face The Undertaker at WrestleMania, but he was squashed in a match that didn't even last five minutes.

#1 John Cena's potential triple threat match with The Rock and CM Punk did not happen at WrestleMania 29

At WrestleMania 28, John Cena lost to The Rock in a "Once In A Lifetime" match, which WWE had been promoting for a year. At WrestleMania 29, WWE gave the fans yet another John Cena vs. The Rock outing, this time for the WWE title.

WWE originally had different plans for the main event of the show, and it was going to be a triple threat match between The Rock, John Cena, and CM Punk.

According to The Rock, WWE had initially planned for him to win the WWE title at Elimination Chamber, instead of Royal Rumble. As a result of those original plans, The Rock would defend his belt against John Cena and Punk at The Grandest Stage Of Them All.

Cena would still have won the match, but the triple threat main event could have certainly garnered more fan interest than what actually went down. The WWE Universe had already seen The Rock vs. John Cena, and many of them weren't happy to witness the same WrestleMania main event in a row. CM Punk ended up losing to The Undertaker on the same night.