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At WrestleMania 36, John Cena made his return to in-ring competition in WWE when he faced 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt in the first-ever Firefly Funhouse Match.
However, when I say "in-ring return" it quite exactly wasn't a proper wrestling match, as some of you might have hoped for, rather it felt more like a bizarre story which focused on the major aspects of Cena's career and left all of us wondering what the aftermath of the match could be.
With Wyatt possibly securing the most important win of his career at WrestleMania, the question remains, what's next for John Cena? Where does the 16-time World Champion go on from here?
To answer all those questions, the man himself took to social media and actually teased the possibility of retiring from the Pro Wrestling business, amidst all the potential signs that the Firefly Funhouse was indeed Cena's last match in WWE.
However, considering the man and the performer John Cena is, you would expect that there are still a few fights left within The Cenation Leader if this indeed is the initial stage of his retirement.
There are a few names from the WWE roster whom Cena is yet to share the ring with, in the company. Having already faced some of the well-established names in the business such as the likes of The Undertaker, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, AJ Styles, Randy Orton, The Rock, CM Punk and even Seth Rollins, the only thing we hope at this point is Cena competing in his final few dream matches.
With that being said, here is a list of 5 Superstars from the WWE roster whom John Cena needs to face before retiring.
#5 The Velveteen Dream
The Velveteen Dream is currently one of the top Superstars on the NXT roster. One can argue that he could be the most charismatic Superstar if you take all three brands into consideration. However, things always weren't like this for The Dream and if you would recall, the former NXT North American Champion had to struggle a lot in the initial stages of his WWE career.
Not only did The Dream get eliminated from WWE Tough Enough but struggled to win over the fans when he first started out in NXT. It wasn't until when Dream actually started showcasing his mic skills and won over the WWE Universe with his in-ring skills.
This was similar to what John Cena also had to go through during the initial days of his career. The former WWE Champion, as you may remember, broke out as a top Superstar after he went a gimmick change and introduced the Dr. of Thuganomics character.
With The Dream previously also hinting the fact someday he and Cena will square-off at WrestleMania, maybe we could indeed witness these two share the ring at some point. And, in all honesty, this is a match that solely needs to happen because of the promo exchange between the two!
#4 Austin Theory
Some of you might consider Austin Theory as a "new guy" in WWE, considering that he recently signed for the company and within a few short months of his debut, Theory has now even competed in his first WrestleMania, as well.
Despite being unsuccessful in capturing the RAW Tag Team Championships from The Street Profits at WrestleMania 36, the future seems brighter than ever for Austin Theory and one man who certainly would agree with this is non-other than John Cena.
During his time with EVOLVE Wrestling, Theory sure did earn achieve a lot of accomplishments and in an EVOLVE recap interview from a few years ago, the former EVOLVE Champion randomly called out John Cena, stating that he heard the latter was trying to pass the torch and asked him to get in contact with Theory.
Cena, in classic fashion, took to Instagram and responded to Theory by posting an image of him, of course with no caption whatsoever. Theory's comments sure did catch the attention of the 16-time World Champion and with the former still being in his early 20s, maybe WWE could actually have Cena pass the torch to the former EVOLVE sensation.
#3 Adam Cole
Remember when I mentioned that through the years, John Cena has pretty much faced every superstar in WWE? Well, almost everyone and the Cenation Leader certainly has stepped into the ring with the newcomers in the company.
Be it a veteran like AJ Styles or an up and comer like Sami Zayn, Cena has done it all. So why not have him face one of the hottest stars (if not the hottest, at the moment) on the company right now in the form of Adam Cole?
Adam Cole made his WWE debut in 2017 and since his very first day,the Panama City Playboy formed The Undisputed Era faction, which you would certainly consider as one of the best groups in the world today. He went on to become the inaugural NXT North American Champion, held the NXT Tag Team Championships, and is currently over 300 days into his first reign as NXT Champion.
The Panama City Playboy's run in WWE has been no short of brilliant so far and a feud with John Cena could very well help Cole establish himself as the marquee name of the WWE. With the likes of Kyle O'Reilly, Bobby Fish, and Roderick Strong on Cole's side, a feud between The Undisputed Era and John Cena would definitely be something the WWE Universe would love to tune in for.
#2 Samoa Joe
Samoa Joe and John Cena have quite a history with each other. During the initial stages of their careers, Cena and Joe worked together in Ultimate Pro Wrestling, mostly during the 2000s period.
Joe also went on record to claim that it's been 18 years since he and Cena had squared-off in a wrestling ring and based off on that match, WWE eventually went on to hire the latter while Joe went in his own direction. Cena and Joe have been in the ring almost two decades ago, however, with The Cenation Leader inevitably entering the last few stages of his career, a rematch between him and the former NXT Champion is a must-need.
In the past, there have been a few rumors of Joe and Cena possibly facing each other at a big stage in WWE, however, now is surely the time for the company to head towards the direction of booking a match between the pair.
Joe himself has been struggling a bit to break out in WWE and while having won the WWE NXT and United States Championship in the past, many fans believe that the former TNA sensation needs to win the WWE Championship before calling it a day for himself.
And, a win over John Cena is maybe exactly what Joe needs at this stage of his career!
#1 Goldberg
Talk about John Cena and legendary matches!
During the 18-year tenure of his WWE career, John Cena has faced the likes of The Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, The Rock, AJ Styles, CM Punk, Brock Lesnar and many other notable names who have stepped foot into the business.
However, if there's one man whom Cena is yet to share the ring with it has to be Goldberg. While Goldberg had retired from Professional Wrestling a few years ago, the former WCW icon made his return and also captured the WWE Universal Championship, not once but twice.
With Goldberg losing the Universal Title to Braun Strowman in a crushing manner on Night 1 of WrestleMania, maybe it is time for the former to focus on a picture that doesn't involve the Universal Title after all.
There is no surprise to the fact that Goldberg will be retiring from in-ring competition within a few years and with Cena also heading down that path, maybe the best decision for the veteran pair would be to have the one and only match against each other in their careers.
