Predicting John Cena's 2018 feuds and title reigns

With 2018 fast approaching, we have been taking a look at some of WWE’s most popular Superstars and predicting what may or may not happen in their careers over the next 12 months.

In this article, we focus on John Cena – a man who began 2017 by winning a record-equalling 16th WWE title and ended the year as a ‘free agent’ who appears on Raw or SmackDown Live whenever time allows it.

Will either brand become his permanent home in 2018? Will he break Ric Flair’s World Championship record? Who will he face at WrestleMania 34? Will he make more appearances than he did in 2017?

From the obvious to the not-so-obvious, we predict who “The Franchise” will battle against in 2018 and take a look at what championships he could realistically win by the time the year is out.

#5 Samoa Joe feud

Samoa Joe's August feud with John Cena never really got started

For somebody who is often dismissed as a ‘part-timer’, it might come as a surprise that John Cena had more than his fair share of matches and rivalries in 2017, featuring on seven pay-per-views in total.

His most high-profile matches came against AJ Styles at the Royal Rumble, The Miz & Maryse at WrestleMania and Roman Reigns at No Mercy, but things could have worked out very differently in his battle with “The Big Dog” had Samoa Joe not been injured.

Joe and Cena were reportedly set to feud after SummerSlam, with WWE saving the WrestleMania-worthy match against Reigns for a later date, but they were forced to bring those plans forward when “The Destroyer” was ruled out for two months with a knee injury.

With Cena able to compete on either Raw or SmackDown Live, expect WWE to revive his rivalry with Joe at some point in 2018.

#4 Shane McMahon feud

Very few fans would have expected John Cena to face The Miz, Rusev and Baron Corbin in pay-per-view matches in 2017. Equally, very few would expect him to feud with Shane McMahon in 2018, but we’re going to stick our necks on the line and predict it anyway.

The reason is simple: Shane O’Mac has become more and more power-hungry over the last few weeks, as Daniel Bryan continually warns him, and the SmackDown Live Commissioner looks to be slowly but surely undergoing a heel turn.

If that happens, he’ll need some friendlier faces than Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn to feud with, and no friendly face has had more battles with bad-guy authority figures than Cena over the last 15 years.

Whether it be Eric Bischoff, Vince McMahon, Vickie Guerrero, John Laurinaitis, AJ Lee or Triple H and Stephanie, you can bet that “The Face That Runs The Place” will be there to save the day if there’s a bad guy running the show, and we reckon the same might happen in 2018 if a power-crazy Shane remains in charge of SmackDown Live.

#3 Cesaro feud

If WWE gave out an award for the company’s best in-ring performer in 2017, Cesaro would be a top contender to win the prize.

“The Swiss Cyborg” has had a career resurgence alongside Sheamus as one half of The Bar, now three-time Raw Tag Team champions, and the two have been involved in some of WWE’s best matches of the last 12 months.

Still, with Sheamus reportedly suffering from injuries and Cesaro simply too good to be in tag teams for the bulk of his career, you have to assume that their unlikely tag-team pairing won’t last much longer.

If WWE decides to give Cesaro another push as a singles wrestler in 2018, there would be no better high-profile opponent to have a classic pay-per-view match with than Cena.

#2 Record-breaking WWE Championship reign

Whether it happens in 2018, 2019 or 2020, you can bet your life savings on John Cena winning his 17th World Championship before his legendary career comes to an end.

“The Franchise” defeated AJ Styles for the WWE title at the 2017 Royal Rumble – a match that was recently named WWE’s Match of the Year – and in doing so he equalled Ric Flair’s long-standing record of 16 title reigns.

Early rumours for WrestleMania 34 suggested that Cena would win the 2018 Royal Rumble to set up a featured match against Jinder Mahal at “The Show of Shows”, where he almost certainly would have broken Flair’s record.

Of course, Jinder is now out of the WWE title picture and Cena’s rumoured WrestleMania opponent has changed (more on that shortly!), so be prepared to wait until later on in the year to see him potentially make history.

#1 The Undertaker feud

It's unclear if The Undertaker will have one more match

If you were to make a list of the dream WrestleMania feuds of the last 15 years that never happened, there’s a good chance that John Cena vs. The Undertaker would be at the top of a lot of people’s lists.

The two have only ever met in a singles match once on pay-per-view – Vengeance 2003, with ‘Taker getting the win – and rumours persist on a yearly basis about a potential battle on the grand stage of WrestleMania.

If recent reports are to be believed, Cena’s match in New Orleans in April will be bigger than the WWE Championship, leading to talk that he could face a returning legend, such as Batista, Goldberg or, you guessed it, The Undertaker.

We’ll find out more about “The Phenom” and his future plans when he appears on Raw’s 25-year anniversary show on 22 January 2018.

If he announces his retirement, then his farewell at WrestleMania 33 was perfect. But if he announces that he will lace up the boots again and have one more match at WrestleMania 34, then there are many possible opponents but none would make more sense than Cena.

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