5 Times John Cena praised his WWE opponents

When one lists down some of the greatest WWE Superstars in the history of this industry, John Cena's name is bound to be mentioned somewhere at the top. John Cena made his WWE main roster debut in the spring of 2002, and it didn't take him long to rise up the ranks and become one of the hottest acts on WWE TV.

John Cena won his first WWE title at WrestleMania 21, by defeating JBL and ending his almost a year-long title reign. It has been a while since Cena became a part-time WWE Superstar and shifted his focus on being a Hollywood actor. Over the course of his legendary stint with WWE, John Cena remained at the top for the better part and had epic feuds with some of the biggest Superstars of the modern era. Cena is regarded as one of the classiest acts in real life when it comes to supporting his peers. In this list, we will take a look at five times John Cena had nothing but praise for his WWE opponents.

#5 John Cena praises The Fiend for carrying WWE through the COVID-19 pandemic

John Cena came back to WWE on the SmackDown after Super ShowDown 2020, where The Fiend lost his Universal title to WWE Hall of Famer Goldberg. The show saw Cena being confronted by The Fiend, who proceeded to challenge Cena to a match at WrestleMania 36. Bray Wyatt came out victorious at the event, in what was one of the most unique matches WWE has ever presented. Months later, Cena had praise for The Fiend, as well as Seth Rollins, for carrying the shows during a tough time in a non-fan environment.

Bray is obviously doing a great job and Seth Rollins has done an unbelievable job of adapting to a crowdless environment.

Bray Wyatt is still one of the hottest acts in all of WWE and is currently involved in an intriguing angle with Alexa Bliss. There are tons of possibilities WWE can explore with The Fiend in the near future, and he will certainly go down in history as one of the most unique characters fans ever witnessed.

#4 John Cena heaps praise on his WrestleMania opponent, The Rock

The Rock came back to WWE in 2011, following a seven-year hiatus. The Great One slammed John Cena in his return promo, kicking off a two-year rivalry that would culminate at WrestleMania 29 with Cena defeating The Rock for the WWE title. Back in 2018, John Cena talked about The Rock in an interview and heaped praise on the WWE veteran.

“The Rock is in a conversation by himself. He is an anomaly, he’s done unbelievable things in the world of sports and entertainment. There is only one man even involved in that conversation and it is him, he sets the bar rather high.”

John Cena and The Rock's rivalry led to their first match at WrestleMania 28, which was dubbed "Once in a lifetime". The Rock came out victorious but the feud was far from over. They faced again next year, with Cena getting a win over The Rock. Cena has followed in The Rock's footsteps and is now a popular Hollywood actor.

#3 John Cena opens up to Christian about good Randy Orton is

Recently, while speaking with Busted Open Radio, WWE veteran Christian opened up on a conversation that he once had with John Cena. The duo was watching Randy Orton perform in the ring against an unnamed wrestler, on a monitor backstage. This was back in 2011 when Christian was feuding with Orton over the World Heavyweight title. After the match, Christian told John Cena how Orton doesn't realize how good he is. Cena responded to Christian, and said, "He has no clue."

John Cena and Randy Orton aren't strangers in the least. Both rose to prominence at around the same time, on different brands. After John Cena was drafted to RAW in 2005, he had several feuds with Orton over the next few years, over the WWE title. Cena and Orton's rivalry is dubbed by many as their generation's Rock vs. Austin. The duo is friends in real life, and both men have praised each other on multiple occasions in the past. Orton is still a mainstay in WWE and is all set to challenge Drew McIntyre for the WWE title at Hell in a Cell.

#2 John Cena praises Roman Reigns for handling the audience during promos

Back in 2017, Roman Reigns was on top of the world, after defeating The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33. After SummerSlam 2017, Reigns came face to face with another WWE legend, John Cena. Reigns and Cena kicked off a rivalry and a match was set for WWE No Mercy. Fans were excited beyond belief as this was one match that could have easily headlined WrestleMania. A few days before the match, John Cena opened up on Roman Reigns' ability to handle the audience and had nothing but praise for him.

“I think that's a testament to Roman Reigns' ability to handle the audience. You need pretty broad shoulders. That he hasn't had to come to anyone else for advice shows exactly how strong he is."

Reigns went on to defeat John Cena at No Mercy in what seemed like a "passing of the torch" moment. Cena turned into a part-time Superstar while Reigns became the face of WWE. The Big Dog is currently the Universal Champion on SmackDown and is hands down the biggest heel in WWE at the moment.

#1 John Cena has praise for arch-rival Brock Lesnar

John Cena and Brock Lesnar's rivalry goes way back to 2003 when Lesnar defeated Cena at Backlash to retain the WWE title. Fast forward nine years, Cena was addressing the crowd on the post-WrestleMania 28 episode of RAW when Lesnar made his WWE return after eight long years and hit an F5 on Cena to a loud pop. Cena eventually defeated Lesnar at Extreme Rules but was squashed by The Beast two years later at SummerSlam. Earlier this year, John Cena spoke about Lesnar in an interview with Sports Illustrated.

I really do think so. I genuinely think he has a good understanding of who he is. I think he’s the best at when he needs to be dominant, he’s the best in situations of jeopardy.

Both Brock Lesnar and John Cena are not a part of WWE at the moment. While Cena is making a name for himself in Hollywood, there isn't much known about Lesnar except that his contract with WWE has expired and there's no indication as to whether we will see him again.