To promote their upcoming Amazon Prime Video movie, “Jackpot,” John Cena and actress/comedian Awkwafina recently appeared in an episode of The Autocomplete Interview on WIRED’s YouTube channel.
One of the questions Cena fielded was “What was John Cena’s best year?” His response was at least partially tongue-in-cheek, as he went on a mini-rant about how he is doing great things these days and still has a lot left to do, instead of having his “best years” behind him.
Like many others, that made me ask myself a question… what really was John Cena’s best year?
So, I figured I’d try to answer that question.
To make things easier, I figured I would narrow it down to just his wrestling career. This is a wrestling column on a wrestling site, after all. Therefore, all of John’s movies and television appearances aren’t going to count for anything here.
Next, I had to figure out some sort of criteria to judge things. I decided on a mix of things in and out of kayfabe… championships won, lengths of title reigns, achievements, “Big Four” main events, match quality, PWI 500 crowns, overall importance to the WWE product, and so on.
The most important thing to remember, however, is that a lot of this is subjective. Your choice for Cena’s “best year” might differ from my choice, and that’s fine. It makes for better discussion and debate.
I’ll be listing my choices for his top five years, starting with the fifth best, and closing things out with his best year.
Get it?
Got it?
Good.
Let’s rock.
2015: You have no idea how much it hurt me to rank this year so “low” on the list. If you were to ask me what my FAVORITE year of John Cena’s career, I would probably point to 2015. He was in the middle of a switch in his career, moving down the card and largely working with the “independent darling” wrestlers. The man was wrestling like he was auditioning to be a part of the 2016 Battle Of Los Angeles tournament for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.
Let’s start by looking at his achievements and accomplishments for the year…
– Two United States Title reigns, for a total of 182 days during the year as champion
– An all-time classic Triple Threat Match with Brock Lesnar & Seth Rollins at the Royal Rumble
– A great trilogy with Kevin Owens at Elimination Chamber, Money In The Bank, and Battleground
– A Television Match Of The Year candidate with Cesaro on the June 29th episode of Raw, and then another one in their rematch the next week
– A second great trilogy, this time with Seth Rollins, on the July 27th episode of Raw, at SummerSlam, and at Night Of Champions
– An underrated trilogy with Rusev, taking place at Fastlane, WrestleMania, and Extreme Rules
As you can see, this wasn’t a big year for Cena when it comes to being on top of the card. He had no World Title wins of any kind. There were 11 pay-per-views that he wrestled on, and he didn’t participate in the main event of any of them.
That workrate, though… my goodness, he worked the entire year with a chip on his shoulder, wrestling with different styles to match his opponents, and he pulled off some of the absolute best matches of his career. Whatever social experiment he was running in 2015… it was successful.
2013: Another one of my favorite years in John’s career, 2013 saw him not only be able to achieve a lot of success for himself, but also play a pivotal role in the meteoric rise of another WWE superstar. More on that later. For now, let’s take a look at his achievements and accomplishments for the year…
– Winner of the Royal Rumble
– One WWE Title reign, for a total of 133 days during the year as champion
– One World Heavyweight Title reign, for an additional 49 days during the year as champion
– Participated in the WrestleMania main event
– Participated in the SummerSlam main event
– #1 in the PWI 500 (yes, I’m aware that part of the judging window was in 2012)
– Teamed with Ryback and Sheamus in a very entertaining six-man tag against The Shield at Elimination Chamber
– A Television Match Of The Year contender against CM Punk on the February 25th episode of Raw
– A classic against Daniel Bryan at SummerSlam
– Continued his “story” against The Rock at WrestleMania in one of the biggest matches in the history of the sport to that point
– An underrated pair of matches against Ryback at Extreme Rules and Payback
– Was the perfect victim in Mark Henry’s infamous “retirement” on the June 17th episode of Raw
A little bit of everything here. You can’t start the year much stronger than winning the Royal Rumble, and he used that to earn a WrestleMania rematch against The Rock, who became the WWE Champion in the main event of the Rumble pay-per-view.
One of my all-time favorite Cena matches is his SummerSlam contest. He practically bent over backwards to make Daniel Bryan look like a million bucks, and more importantly, make Bryan look like he belonged in the main event picture. This was during DB’s ascension to superstardom, and when WWE was tripping all over themselves to find any excuse they could to keep from giving fans what they wanted by pushing him.
Cena might not have been involved in as many great matches as he had in 2015, but his overall year was a lot more well-rounded, and his success in the main event scene helped to place 2013 just ahead in the overall rankings.
2006: In 2005, Cena capitalized on his rapidly growing popularity, winning the WWE Championship for the first time and signaling his arrival as a big-time player. While his 2005 was a success, it was also filled with plenty of hurdles.
His in-ring work wasn’t quite where it would be in future years, and there was a pretty decent portion of the WWE Universe that were already starting to wonder whether or not he was “ready” for the role of being the WWE Champion, wrestling bigger and longer matches.
I was already a big fan of his, but 2006 was when I first started seeing the pieces falling into place. Things finally started to “click” for him, and it showed in his work.
Let’s look at his achievements and accomplishments for the year…
– Three WWE Title reigns, including one where he entered the calendar year as the champion, for a total of 246 days with the belt
– Participated in the WrestleMania main event
– Participated in the SummerSlam main event
– #1 in the PWI 500
– Becoming a major “road game” player, overcoming hostile crowds at WrestleMania (vs Triple H), One Night Stand (vs Rob Van Dam), and more to have good-to-great matches
– A legendary pentalogy of matches with Edge at Backlash (also involving Triple H), SummerSlam, Unforgiven, the October 2nd episode of Raw, and the December 18th episode of Raw, creating one of the best feuds in company history
The list might not seem as long as the other years, but a lot of that is due to his year-long feud with Edge. Cena just about started 2006 by dropping the WWE Title to Edge at New Year’s Revolution on January 6th, and he closed the year out by facing Edge in two separate matches on the December 18th episode of Raw.
The feud with Edge, as well as the ability to work under the pressure of some of the most hostile crowd reactions anyone can remember, truly defined John Cena’s 2006 and really helped to set the tone for the rest of his career.
2007: The momentum Cena built up in 2006 was definitely carried over into 2007, where he showed that he had the staying power necessary to go down in history. 2005 had those hurdles I talked about, and 2006 had people still wondering if he was going to be a flash-in-the-pan.
Let’s go ahead and look at his achievements and accomplishments for the year…
– One WWE Title reign, where he entered the year as champion, and held the title for 275 days during the year
– One World Tag Team Title reign (with Shawn Michaels) that lasted 63 days
– Participated in the WrestleMania main event
– Participated in the SummerSlam main event
– #1 in the PWI 500, making him the third man in history (behind Bret “The Hitman” Hart and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin) to not only get the top spot twice, but to do so in back-to-back years
– An “out of nowhere” classic against Umaga at the Royal Rumble
– A great match against Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania, followed by an even better rematch on the April 23rd episode of Raw
– One of the better Fatal Four Way matches in company history at Backlash, where he defended his WWE Title against Shawn Michaels, Edge, and Randy Orton
– Carried The Great Khali to the best singles match of Khali’s career in a No Holds Barred bout at One Night Stand
– One of the best Five Way matches in wrestling history, where he defended his WWE Title against Randy Orton, King Booker, Mick Foley, and Bobby Lashley
– Helping take Bobby Lashley to perhaps the best singles match of Lashley’s career to that point at The Great American Bash
– The first great match of his epic rivalry with Randy Orton, taking place at SummerSlam
“Big Match John” was really starting to show up on a regular basis by this point, and it didn’t matter who was in the ring with him. Umaga was a super talented “big man” performer, but he wasn’t exactly known for his great matches, but he had one with Cena. Khali was still relatively new to the company, but he damn sure wasn’t known for his tremendous prowess in the ring, but Cena was able to get a pretty decent match out of him. John was able to step up, and that made his opponents want to step their game up against him., which is a sign of a true great in the sport.
Well, with those out of the way, it’s time to discuss my choice for the best year of John Cena’s first ballot WWE Hall Of Fame career. If you’ve been paying attention, I don’t think my choice is going to come as a surprise.
2011: Upon looking at people discussing this topic elsewhere, a lot of the responses were right in line with my picks, with the order perhaps switched around a bit. 2015 gets a ton of love because of Cena changing his in-ring style around. 2005-2007 get a lot of love, as well, for being the starting point of his career truly taking off.
2011, though, seems to get everyone’s attention. Let’s discuss why, first by starting with John’s achievements and accomplishments for the year…
– Three WWE Title reigns, for a total of 111 days with the belt
– One WWE Tag Team Title reign (with The Miz), although it lasted mere minutes, with he and Miz defeating Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel, only for the former champs to get an immediate rematch that saw Miz “turn” on his partner and have the belts go right back to The Corre
– Participated in the WrestleMania main event
– Participated in the SummerSlam main event (technically)
– Participated in the Survivor Series main event
– Was victorious in one of the better Elimination Chamber matches in the match’s history, earning the right to go to WrestleMania to challenge for the WWE Title
– Won the WWE Title in a very underrated Triple Threat (with The Miz and John Morrison) Steel Cage match at Extreme Rules
– He was the catalyst for CM Punk’s “Pipe Bomb” promo, which led to them having one of WWE’s all-time great matches at Money In The Bank, followed by a really good rematch at SummerSlam
– A really good trilogy against Alberto Del Rio at Night Of Champions, Hell In A Cell (Triple Threat including CM Punk), and Vengeance
– A super fan tag match that saw him and The Rock defeat The Miz and R-Truth at Survivor Series
Let’s talk about that last one for a moment. This was also the year that saw the feud between Cena and The Rock get underway, which ended up being a wild blend of work, shoot, and worked shoot. I’m going to give Cena points for that alone.
Cena vs Punk was one of the best feuds of the entire decade, if not more than that.
Cena vs Rock was one of the best feuds of the entire decade, if not more than that.
Both feuds saw some of the best work of Cena’s career, both in the ring and on the microphone, and they were, for all intents and purposes, happening at the exact same time. If that’s all he did during the entire 2011 calendar year, it would be in contention for something like this. Everything else he did was gravy.
This was the year that saw Cena take his already considerable skillset to the pantheon of true greatness, in my opinion. The aforementioned Punk and Rock feuds were fantastic tests for him, and he passed both with flying colors. Punk and Rock are two of the best mic men of all time, for vastly different reasons, but John not only showed he could hang with them, but he proved that he belongs in the same conversation.
In the ring, this was the year that a lot of his “independent wrestling” schtick began to come out. While Punk wasn’t the first big independent name Cena had ever worked with, you could say that Punk was one of the first (if not THE first) that saw John use less of the “WWE Style” of wrestling and more of what his opponent was doing, as he needed to “keep up.” It’s a plan of attack that he would work on for the next few years of his career, marking an entirely new chapter that saw him be smart enough to adapt to the changing times.
Now, it’s your turn. What do you think is the best year of John Cena’s pro wrestling career? You can use the criteria I used here, or whatever criteria your heart desires. As always, feel free to hit me up in the comments section below, or on Twitter (@HustleTheSavage), and let me know what’s on your mind.
Time to move on to my Weekly Power Rankings, before I close things out with the list of songs I was listening to as I put this week’s column together.
Weekly Power Rankings
The Street Profits vs DIY: With the Profits winning this and earning a shot at the WWE Tag Team Titles, can we give them something substantial to do, please? With The Bloodline currently in possession of the titles, I’m not exactly high on Tez and Dawkins winning, but even if they lose, can we not just have it be a ho-hum loss and then have the challengers crawl back into the basement with nothing to do? The Profits haven’t held titles since they dropped the Smackdown Tag Team belts to Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode on the January 8th, 2021 episode of Smackdown. That’s way too long ago. The titles don’t have that name anymore, Dolph Ziggler is no longer with the company, and Robert Roode is working as a producer for the company because he retired from in-ring competition.
Andrade vs Carmelo Hayes: I’m not sure if WWE is trying a “Best Of 29” series between these two, but they’re off to a great start in their rivalry, that’s for sure. Melo finally picked up his first win after two straight by Andrade, so it’s clear things will continue, at least for a bit longer. I’m okay with that.
Michael Oku: Two of the absolute best matches I’ve seen over the last two-plus years have been singles bouts between Oku and Will Ospreay for RevPro in the United Kingdom. Their match in 2022 was my pick for Match Of The Year, and… spoiler alert… their match from earlier this year is basically guaranteed to be in the running for the 2024 Match Of The Year. With news that Oku is on the verge of signing with AEW, it’s a chance for some new eyeballs to witness Oku’s in-ring magic, and yes, it’s a chance to see Oku and Ospreay share a ring together again.
Roman Reigns & Jacob Fatu: They finally crossed paths, and once again, Fatu is booked to look like an absolute monster. Even in a walking boot, he was able to get the better of the most dominant champion of the current era, and do something that the rest of The Bloodline wasn’t able to do. Reigns vs Fatu is a future WrestleMania main event if WWE plays their cards right.
Wes Lee: In his first promo since his shocking heel turn, Wes did a great job of explaining himself, weaving in worked shoot elements to talk about his relationship with Zachary Wentz and how their run with NXT ended. His heel run is off to a really good start so far.
Bron Breakker vs Sami Zayn: Tons of in-ring chemistry. That’s what these two have together. In what certainly seemed like the official blowoff of their feud, Bron picked up the victory and should be moving on to something else now.
Damian Priest, Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan & Dominik Mysterio: All four of them are playing their current roles to perfection. Priest and Ripley are full-fledged faces here, and the WWE Universe seems to be more than willing to cheer for them. Dom and Liv are slimy, and the WWE Universe is more than willing to hate everything they say and do. Their mixed tag at Bash In Berlin is going to be a lot of fun, but I think there could be something special in an eventual singles match between Rhea and Dom. That could be an amazingly fun spectacle at some point.
Zack Sabre Jr: The winner of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s G1 Climax tournament, he earns a shot at the IWGP World Heavyweight Title in the main event of the company’s Wrestle Kingdom show on January 4th. However, after he won the tournament, he hinted that he didn’t want to wait that long, indicating that he would be challenging for the title on October 14th at the King Of Pro Wrestling show. ZSJ had himself a great tournament, and earned every bit of his title shot, whenever he decides to use it.
Claudio Castagnoli vs Lio Rush: Not that Claudio needs the help, but damn, his strength is really and truly showcased a lot when he faces smaller opponents. He’s able to look superhuman, and in Lio Rush, he has an opponent that can bump his ass off and make everything look like death. Lots of fun here.
Top Flight vs MxM Collection: Mansoor and Mason Madden have been entertaining since arriving in AEW. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who watched them in WWE. They really commit to their characters, and that makes everything they do better.
Nathan Frazer & Axiom vs Andre Chase & Ridge Holland: The NXT Tag Team Champions finally dropped their titles, but perhaps not to the team people expected. Frazer and Axiom deserve a ton of credit for having one of the better reigns in the history of those titles. Every match they were in felt big, and they always ended up being very exciting. Kudos to Ridge Holland here, too, for what was probably the strongest in-ring performance of his career. He looked great and showed all the potential that NXT has seen in him since he made his debut.
Tony D’Angelo vs Charlie Dempsey: The Heritage Cup has grown to become a major part of what NXT is trying to do these days. As entertaining as Tony D’Angelo was as the owner of the cup, the match style and the rules are catered to someone like Dempsey. He shines in this role, and I’m glad to see him in the top spot once again.
Orange Cassidy vs Roderick Strong vs Kyle O’Reilly: I’m pretty sure Kyle O’Reilly has it in his contract that he has to team with, or feud with, his friends for the rest of eternity. That’s the most logical explanation for things at this point. It just has to be.
FTR vs The Acclaimed: The outcome was choreographed from several miles away, and I would rather not watch Max Caster do anything for 30 minutes, but the match was still fun. Now, both teams go to All In(nit) to face The Young Bucks in a Three-Way for the AEW Tag Team Titles. I would’ve gone with Bucks vs FTR if that was my option, but hey, I’m sure the match at the pay-per-view will still be good.
All In 2025: This is going to be a very interesting experiment for AEW. After back-to-back years holding the All In(nit) pay-per-view at Wembley Stadium in London, next year’s edition will take place at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. AEW has been struggling to sell tickets in the United States, and this will end up being their biggest, and most ambitious, show in the country to date. In the same city of Arlington, AEW has been struggling to sell out episodes of Dynamite and Collision, where the ticket setup is for just under 1,300 fans. The largest attendance for anything at Globe Life Field is for a Morgan Wallen concert in 2022, when 43,598 fans were in the building. I’m not saying there will be 42,000 unsold tickets for the show on the day of the pay-per-view, but nothing that has been happening in any sort of recent history says that it will be easy for the company to sell this show out. I’d love to be wrong, because it would be a great visual if they could pack tens of thousands of people into a baseball stadium. We’ll see.
Mercedes Moné vs Hikaru Shida: Even though Shida is a three-time AEW Women’s Champion, and has held that title for more days than any woman in company history, there was zero doubt over the outcome here. Mercedes has a big-time match against Britt Baker at All In(nit). She wasn’t going to drop the TBS Championship a week before the show. It wasn’t a surprise to see this match end up being entertaining, though, so that’s good.
Mike Bennett & Matt Taven vs Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara: Out of nowhere, Dustin Rhodes has begun his complete takeover of Ring Of Honor. On July 27th, he teamed up with Marshall and Ross Von Erich to become the brand new RoH Six-Man Tag Team Champions. Three weeks later, he and Sammy become the new RoH Tag Team Champions. At 55 years of age, Dustin is now a double-champion. Pure Champion Lee Moriarty, Television Champion Atlantis Jr, and World Champion Mark Briscoe need to watch their backs. “The Natural” is coming for them as the 2024 Belt Collector.
Bronson Reed: Another week, another batch of Tsunami splashes. In a short amount of time, WWE has made him look like one of the most dangerous men in the business. It remains to be seen if it will lead to anything as far as winning matches goes, but it’s a great start.
This Week’s Playlist: “Die With A Smile” by Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars… “1982” by That Mexican OT, Curren$y & LE$… “Serenity” by Vended… “Down To You” by Marianas Trench… “Part Of Your World” by New Found Glory… “In Desolation” by Born Of Osiris… “No Tomorrow” by All That Remains… “The Potion” by Ludacris… “We Got” by Ludacris, 2 Chainz, Chingy & I-20… “Money, Cash, Hoes” by Jay-Z & DMX… “A Week Ago” by Jay-Z & Too $hort… “Reservoir Dogs” by Jay-Z, The Lox, Beanie Sigel & Sauce Money… “Intro (Dynasty)” by Jay-Z… “Where Have You Been” by Jay-Z & Beanie Sigel… “What More Can I Say” by Jay-Z… “Dirt Off Your Shoulder” by Jay-Z… “The Impression That I Get” by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones… “The Red” by Chevelle… “A Change Is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke… “Umbrella” by Rihanna & Jay-Z… “Let’s Go” by Trick Daddy, Twista & Lil Jon… “Take It To Da House” by Trick Daddy, Trina, Money Mark, Sung, J.V. & Co… “I Love A Rainy Night” by Eddie Rabbitt… “Carrying Your Love With Me” by George Strait… “I Cross My Heart” by George Strait
