Related
For the first prison term since he became the face of theWWEin 2005,John Cena is a bounder . The hand-to-hand struggle world has been buzzing ever since Cena array himself with The Rock in the closure minute of theElimination Chamberpremium live upshot , and all eyes are now directed towardsWrestleMania 41whenhe’ll challenge Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship .
With rough 30 scheduled dates leave before his retreat at the end of 2025 , Cena will bet to make the most of this new persona as his year - long retreat tour rolls on . But who will step up to confront the now - sinister 16 - fourth dimension former world champion ? permit ’s dig in :
7Cody Rhodes
The American Nightmare
The dependable news is we ’re catch this at least once . And in a perfect macrocosm , you have Cena succeed the friction match atWrestleMania 41through underarm means , then run it back to get the WWE Championship back on Rhodes before the end of the class . you may have the rematch atSummerSlam , giveSurvivor Seriesthe encouragement it ’s been sorely lacking or hype up whatever Cena ’s final booked appearance of the year hoist up being ( judging by the calendar , that would be the Dec. 29 episode ofWWE Rawat the latest ) .
Despite WWE ’s Elimination Chamber changing wrestling history , turning John Cena heel reportedly was n’t The Rock ’s original plan .
Like most of these , there ’s a lot of history to grasp into . Rhodes held up Cena as his paragon long before he was ever perceived as the main eventer and has openly talked abouttrying to live up to Cena ’s exampleof what it means to be the case of the forwarding . Rhodes could also be the one to eventually snap Cena out of this villain turning , but that ’s a tarradiddle for another 24-hour interval .
6CM Punk
Bring Back 2011
strong-armer made it vindicated onWWE Rawthathe ’s fierce with Cena- both for wrick his back on the principles he claimed to stand for over 20 years but also for stealing Punk ’s opportunity to in conclusion master consequence WrestleMania .
" Hustle , loyalty and deference for 20 plus years , and now everybody see what I ’ve known all along , that you ’ve been selling all these hoi polloi , and all these Kyd bulls — , " Punk enunciate regarding Cena . " Who gave up in the Elimination Chamber ? It was n’t me . You ’ll never see CM Punk give up on his dreams of main eventing WrestleMania . Ironically Mr. ' Do n’t Quit ' , Mr. ' Do n’t Give Up ' , you gave up on yourself . You gave up on all of these people , you give up on all those kids . The joke ’s on you . I ’m go to see you down the route , and I ’m going to get my hand on both of you bald frauds and when I do , you ’re last to ' make a regard ' that I never did ! "
The pair ’s solid chemical science led to a run of nifty lucifer in the former 2010s . Even though it ’s been 12 age since their last singles encounter , it ’s not gruelling to imagine they could draw it off again .
5Randy Orton
One Last Time
Cena had an extensive inclination of rivals from his full - meter run as the grimace of WWE . But here ’s the thing -he wo n’t be capable to wrestle most of themduring this retirement tour . Batista is in Hollywood , Triple H and Shawn Michaels are both retired and Edge is over in AEW . And unless they have him rick back into a babyface apace , a third match with The Rock is unlikely .
Randy Orton is a 14 - time World Champion who has build a legacy of his own in WWE . Here are the best matches that he has had for the troupe .
But then there ’s Randy Orton , one of Cena ’s oldest foes . Their contention was beaten into the priming coat to the point of charade in the belated 2000s and other 2010s , but to have them wrestle a singles match in 2025 is more of a nostalgia act . Only this time there ’s an real hooking - Orton is the face and Cena is the bounder , a never - before - seen moral force .
4Roman Reigns
The Tribal Chief
Once you get past Cena vs. Rhodes and Cena vs. Punk , there is n’t a big match WWE can book right now thanCena vs. Reigns III . And there ’s plenty for both man to slump their dentition into :
3Bron Breakker
The Next Big Thing
While the presentations are different , in many ways Bron Breakker represents Cena in his early WWE days . He ’s portray as an unstoppable fireball , charge with potential and circled by fans and savant alike as a future pillar of WWE ’s main consequence view .
WWE buff had to expect until 2025 to see John Cena fully turn heel , but many times during his career he trod the line between full and evilness .
Watching Cena take on a rising star from the new coevals endowment while simultaneously outrun Father Time could make for some excellent storytelling . Side note - this storyline would also knead with a Cena vs. NXT Champion Oba Femi matchup , though it ’s unlikely that Femi will get the call - up in clip to lock horns with Cena .
2Teaming With The Rock
The Hollywood Mega Powers
While The Rock ’s schedule will preclude him from competing atWrestleMania 41this year , the theme of him team up up with Cena for a match later on in the class is too tempting to pass up . The opponents could be some compounding for Rhodes , Reigns , Punk and Seth Rollins , and it could be a massive draw poker for one of the B - tier premium resilient events or an episode ofSaturday Night ’s Main issue . It does n’t even matter which side wins - when you ’re able to put that much star power in the closed chain together , you do n’t pass up on the chance .
1Sami Zayn
An Ultimate Underdog
Zayn has securely found himself as a beloved babyface , one who still has n’t oversee to win a world championship in his lengthy WWE career . And yet , no matter how high the odds are stacked against him , fans get invested every time he tries to win the big one .
While John Cena connect The Rock and turning cad on Cody Rhodes was scandalous , WWE had been dropping lead for quite some time .
A Zayn vs. Cena equal where Cena is the cowardly champion looking to retire with his 17th reign intact would outfit right into that formula . Zayn in all probability wo n’t be the one to knock him off his pole , but it ’ll be a must - see main outcome if there ’s even a 1 % chance Zayn might win .
