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John Cena is easily one of the biggest wrestling Superstars on the planet. He has been the franchise player for the WWE for almost 15 years and has finally started to slow down. In his run from 2002 onwards, Cena has been a part of some of the best rivalries that the WWE Universe has ever seen. There are names that are and will be forever be associated with The Champ's career.
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One man alone cannot make history, however, if his name pops up enough you know that he was of an unmatched calibre. John Cena is exactly that, having made history inside the squared circle while delivering some tremendous moments opposite some great wrestlers week after week. Let's take a look at some of John Cena's greatest rivalries in the WWE.
#1 Randy Orton
Randy Orton makes it on this list by virtue of how many times he has faced off against Cena. They have had 21 matches on pay-per-view against each other. That is more times than Sting vs. Flair or Hogan vs. Savage. Even though this rivalry has been overdone to death, it is still one of Cena's greatest rivalries.
They started their feud back in Ohio Valley Wrestling in 2001 but made history in the WWE after 2007. Orton's first WWE Championship reign came after injuring Cena before No Mercy 2007. They feuded at the start of 2008, as they faced off in a triple threat match at WrestleMania 24, in which Orton pinned Cena. 2009 was the main year for the two as they faced off in five PPV matches, including an I-Quit and Iron Man Match, both won by John Cena. Their final PPV match came at Hell in a Cell 2014, which Cena won.
Probably their biggest match came at TLC 2013 when they faced off to unify the WWE and World Heavyweight Championship. Cena was holding the Big Gold Belt to Orton's WWE Championship. They faced off in a TLC match which saw Orton win the belts and unify the belts.
Orton also became the final World Heavyweight Champion. The sheer number of times this match has taken place, and how these two men carried the WWE for so long on the back of this rivalry.
#4 AJ Styles
Mr. TNA and Mr. WWE squared off in 2016 and 2017 to create absolute wrestling magic. An unlikely duo, Cena and Styles was a dream match for many people but one that people never thought they would see. What they did in 2016 was great, but their final match in 2017 captivated wrestling fans to a point that it will be talked about for years to come.
Styles had come to WWE and been promoted really well. After a surprising loss at WrestleMania 32 to Chris Jericho, Styles became the number 1 contender to Roman Reigns' WWE Championship. This gave him credibility, for his eventual feud with John Cena over the summer of 2016. Their first match came at Battleground 2016, as Cena teamed up with Enzo and Cass against Styles, Gallows and Anderson (The Club).
Cena pinned Styles to win this match. The next two matches saw Styles beat Cena, first at Money in the Bank and the next, and more emphatic one, at SummerSlam. Styles eventually became WWE Champion, in a triple rivalry involving Dean Ambrose also.
Their best match came in 2017 when the two faced off for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble. This match is considered to be one of the best of either man's career. A very NJPW style match, where both men went for high spot after high spot, the near falls and finishers kept the crowd hooked. Even though Styles' great championship run came to an end at the hands of John Cena, this match was the best way to end this rivalry.
#3 Batista
In my opinion, an extremely underrated rivalry, Batista and John Cena had a great rivalry in their time together in the WWE. With identical paths to the top of the card, Batista and Cena were sons inter-connected from their day in OVW, that it is mind-blowing to think that they didn't come to blows until 2008.
Cena and Batista first interacted as the final two of the 2005 Royal Rumble, which Batista won. Despite this, both men became world champions at WrestleMania 21. Cena captured the WWE Championship and Batista did the World Heavyweight Championship. As both men anchored different brands, it took till 2008 for the two to meet for the first time. They made an odd-couple Tag Team Championship pairing on their way to SummerSlam 2008, where Batista won (and injured) John Cena.
The Cena injury becomes a big part of their eventual 2010 rivalry. Batista stole the WWE Championship from John Cena after having a match with him after he won the belt at Elimination Chamber 2010. After this, the two were on a collision course towards WrestleMania 26, where Cena recaptured the belt. He then defended it in a Last Man Standing and an I-Quit Match, comprehensively vanquishing Batista.
Their best match cannot be pinpointed, as all the matches have a similar level of quality, but if pressed, it would either be their WrestleMania encounter or their SummerSlam match. This may be the case because both matches were simple one-on-one matches without any screwy finishes. SummerSlam was a clash of titans won by Batista and WrestleMania was a revenge match, won by Cena.
#2 Edge
You could argue that Edge is John Cena's biggest rival ever. Anyone who has watched WWE from the 2000's know how big Cena vs. Edge was in 2006. That one rivalry, which spanned over nine months was one of the best rivalries that WWE have put together in the last 10 years. This rivalry was historic from their very first interaction, as Edge cashed in on Cena's WWE Championship at New Years Revolution in 2006.
The cash-in set the seeds for a tremendous rivalry, but it got off to a tepid start. A very meh first encounter at Royal Rumble 2006 just saw the title being sent back to Cena for WrestleMania season. However, after One Night Stand in 2006, where Rob Van Dam was added to the rivalry for a bit, the rivalry really picked up. Edge, along with Lita outsmarted Cena at every occasion.
Edge slapped Cena's father, Cena threw Edge into the Long Island Sound etc. This rivalry was creating some of the best TV in a while. You could feel the hatred between the two men. This rivalry had a re-hash in 2009 over the World Heavyweight Championship, also including The Big Show. It was a great second instalment, with the end coming with Edge defeating Cena in a Last Man Standing match.
The best match of this rivalry was also the final one. Just like Randy Orton before, Cena and Edge's best match was a TLC Match at Unforgiven 2006. The stipulation was that if Cena lost the match, he would leave for SmackDown and never challenge for the WWE Championship again.
Edge was undefeated at TLC matches and the match was also in his hometown of Canada. The match was tremendous and saw Cena FU Edge off the ladder through two tables for the win.
#1 CM Punk
Possibly one of Cena's most iconic rivals for what these two did together. Cena and Punk achieved things no one would have expected them to. A most likely scenario with these two men would have Cena easily beating Punk, as Punk was never really a guy portrayed to be competitive with Cena, but that didn't happen over the course of this tremendous rivalry.
The rivalry's genesis is questionable, but we have to start at the iconic pipe-bomb promo. After Cena lost tables match to R-Truth, Punk came out and dissed Cena and the WWE for everything they stood for. All the hypocrisy and all the false narratives exposed, and the fourth wall broken. Punk's contract was on the verge of expiring and everything hanging on John Cena to defeat Punk and ensure the belt stays in the company, Punk shockingly defeated Cena in Chicago at Money in the Bank 2011, in one of the best matches in WWE history.
Punk then defeated Cena again at SummerSlam 2011. They kept feuding over the course of the next two years, with some memorable matches being the one at Night of Champions 2012 and Survivor Series 2012. Their final match came in a number one contenders match for the WWE Championship in 2013, in a barn-burner match of a match on Raw.
Their best match is easily the one the two had at Money in the Bank, with their match at Raw being a close second. The Money in the Bank match was rife with tension. The wonderfully built story along with a hot crowd that was very into the match. Despite the mini interference from Vince McMahon, Cena lost the match and Punk ran off into the crowd with his WWE Championship, in a tremendous match which no one saw ending like this.
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