This coming Tuesday on SmackDown Live, WWE champion John Cena and Randy Orton will do battle after Orton pinned Cena in tag team action this past week. But it will be far from the first time they have faced off, however, as their bad blood dates back to nearly a decade ago.
The former Ohio Valley Wrestling standouts initially went one-on-one in early 2007, and since then, they have had nearly two dozen singles matches against each other. Their upcoming encounter on SmackDown will actually mark the first time they have had a match on the blue brand, interestingly enough.
They may never have had the strongest in-ring chemistry as opponents, but they have produced their fair share of entertaining matches. Before they rekindle their rivalry, let's look back at their five best bouts from over the years.
#5 Hell in a Cell 2009
At Breaking Point 2009, John Cena beat Randy Orton in a less-than-stellar “I Quit” match to win his premiere WWE Championship in nearly two years, but Orton was willing to do whatever it took to get the gold back. And if it meant going to hell and back to do so, then so be it.
Cena and Orton stepped inside Hell in a Cell in October 2009 and battled valiantly over the company's most prestigious prize. The match took place in the middle of the show, sandwiched in between two other HIAC matches, but it was arguably the best of the bunch.
They traded finishers back and forth in an effort to take home the title, but neither were successful. It wasn't until Orton connected with a sadistic punt kick on Cena that he was deemed the victor and the new champion.
#4 SummerSlam 2007
Almost a decade ahead of their upcoming clash on SmackDown Live, John Cena and Randy Orton contested their first-ever pay-per-view match at SummerSlam 2007. At the time, Cena was in the midst of a record-setting reign as WWE champion while Orton was an upstart on the Raw roster.
Orton had made things personal with Cena in the weeks preceding the pay-per-view, so it was a match most fans wanted to see. And up to that point, it hadn't been done to death like it has been all these years later.
They deserved to headline SummerSlam that night, as they had the best bout on the entire show. Even in defeat, Orton had a strong showing, leading to the continuation of their feud through the fall.
#3 Hell in a Cell 2014
With so many Superstars out injured in the fall of 2014, John Cena and Randy Orton were forced to rekindle their rivalry heading into Hell in a Cell. Needless to say, fans weren't exactly anticipating their encounter at the event, especially since they had just faced off earlier in the year at Royal Rumble.
Despite Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins headlining the show, Cena and Orton were the ones competing for a future WWE World Heavyweight Championship match in the absence of then-champion Brock Lesnar. With the stakes raised ever so slightly, they produced a much better match that fans figured they would.
Although they somewhat fell victim to the same formula they had worked for years of constantly kicking out of each other's finishers, they made excellent use of Satan's Structure and had an extremely enjoyable match. Cena had his hand raised in the end, but only after an admirable effort on Orton's part.
#2 TLC 2013
The more things change, the more they stay the same. That was evident when it came time to unify the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships at TLC 2013 and the men in possession of the two titles were John Cena and Randy Orton, who had largely dominated the landscape of WWE for the past decade.
If nothing else, it was a marquee match for the pay-per-view, and the addition of tables, ladders and chairs to the equation made it significantly more enjoyable. Save for a few sloppy spots here and there (most notably at the end where Cena failed to fall through a table), but it was a very physical match on the whole where both men gave each other beatings of a lifetime.
Cena was on the verge of victory on several occasions, but ultimately, Orton outsmarted him to make history and become the first-ever WWE World Heavyweight champion. The Age of Orton was once again upon us.
#1 Bragging Rights 2009
Truth be told, I wouldn't classify any of the aforementioned matches between John Cena and Randy Orton as anything more than very good. But this bout in particular from 2009's Bragging Rights pay-per-view stands out among them all as a classic content of the modern age.
For months, Cena and Orton traded the WWE Championship back and forth in a series of unforgettable matches, but at Bragging Rights, it was time for the rivalry to culminate once and for all in an Iron Man match. Prior to this point, it had been nearly four years since we saw a match of this kind held in WWE, so it was a special situation and this storied feud was worthy of being blown off in it.
They managed to achieve the impossible by maintaining an entertaining pace throughout and keeping the crowd engaged the entire time. With mere seconds left on the clock, Cena forced Orton to tap out to the STF to clinch his seventh world championship.
