The 10 Greatest Matches of John Cena's Career

This Period in Pro Wrestling, since the beginning of 2024, has been one defined by reflection and remembrance if nothing else. In which we've said in-ring farewells to icons and legends such as Sting, Bryan Danielson, Christopher Daniels, Homicide, Goldberg, as well as Joshi stars Meiko Satomura and Tam Nakano.

Now with only a few weeks remaining in 2025, we're nearly set to make a pair of emotional goodbyes to two men who played monumental roles in the success of the industry on opposite ends of the earth for the better part of the last 25 years: Hiroshi Tanahashi, who quite literally saved New Japan Pro Wrestling from the brink of finacial ruin and from the clutches of late stage Inoki-ism en route to becoming the world renowed "Ace", who'll retire after one final Tokyo Dome battle with Kazuchika Okada on January 4. Then, this Saturday night, a man who began from the streets of little-known West Newbury, Massachusetts, and is now an icon the world over, 17-Time WWE World Champion John Cena.

A man who was as polarizing an in-ring performer at his peak, Cena's in-ring ability, and more importantly, match catalog, are hard to deny with just one final bout, against Gunther this Saturday evening, left in his Hall of Fame career. A student of the game, with the vintage tape collection to prove it, Cena's prints are over some of the best bouts that have ever taken place in a WWE ring, and I figured what better time than now to rank the best of the best. Without further ado, here are my Top 10 matches of John Cena's career.

Honorable Mentions:

- John Cena vs. Claudio Castagnoli (WWE Monday Night Raw, July 6th 2015 for the United States Championship)

- John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar (WWE Extreme Rules 2012, Extreme Rules Match)

No. 10) John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Edge vs. Randy Orton (WWE Backlash 2007, Fatal Four Way Match for the WWE Championship)

[WON: ★★★★ 1/2, Cagematch: 8.90/10, Dropkickd: 4.4/5, The Gaffney Rating: ★★★★ 1/2]

As I've gotten older, Fatal Four Way matches, regardless of promotion, do almost nothing for me for a variety of reasons. This Backlash match, in which Cena retains the WWE Title against 3 of the 10 top members of his rogue's gallery, is one of four or five exceptions. If you're on Twitter, you've almost certainly seen this finish get circulated through every once in a while, and as great as it is, the other 19 minutes of this match are equally as great. Love the dynamic of this being between two (relatively) short-lived tag teams of Rated-RKO and the Cena-Michaels union, and how that led to some teamwork and descension moments throughout this one. More than anything else, this match flows really well, and it never feels like there's too much going on. Excellent match and coming under the 20-minute mark to boot!

Lastly, huge, and I mean HUGE pop for the Jim Ross line of, "That partnership lasted longer than one of your marriages King."

No. 9) John Cena vs. Kevin Owens (WWE Money in the Bank 2015)

[WON: ★★★★ 1/2, Cagematch: 9.00/10, Dropkickd: 4.4/5, The Gaffney Rating: ★★★★ 1/2]

Imagine telling someone from 2008 to 2013 that Kevin Steen would not only enter a program with John Cena the millisecond he made it to WWE's Main Roster, but beat him clean as a whistle in his first match, then work and even better one in defeat a month later. This did just as much to solidify Owens as a Main Roster pillar for the next decade as the Elimination Chamber match did, and the MITB crowd in Columbus, Ohio, was far more present and engaged for this encounter, which helped out a ton.

Cena pulling out the "getting angry at the ref" card after some close kickouts did a lot to legitimize Owens here, and the visual of the botched then saved Code Red unintentionally added a great element of struggle, in a match that was high stakes as is with Cena needing to avenge his prior loss. In a perfect world, they either end this feud here or put a stip on the Battlegrounds match, but this is, without a doubt, the feather in the cap of one of the best feuds of Cena's career.

No. 8) John Cena vs. AJ Styles (WWE Royal Rumble 2017 for the WWE Championship)

[WON: ★★★★ 3/4, Cagematch: 9.20/10, Dropkickd: 4.8/5, The Gaffney Rating: ★★★★ 1/2]

I'm not as high on the only Styles vs. Cena singles match with gold on the line, it would appear, but this is still some truly superb work by a couple of all-time greats in a stadium atmosphere. While the avalanche AA should've been the finish (Super finishers should end matches. Crucify me if you must, but I'm on the right side of history), and this one was just a tad finisher-heavy, you can give these two some grace for this being their third high-profile singles in about a half-year period. Regardless, it doesn't take away enough to keep it out of our list, and there are a lot of elements in this match that appear in another Cena-Styles clash that'll appear later on, and giving Cena his record-tying 16th World Title against one of his best dance partners in front of over 50,000 people in the Alamodome was a great piece of business for all involved.

No. 7) John Cena vs. CM Punk (WWE Monday Night Raw, February 25th, 2013)

[WON: ★★★★ 1/2, Cagematch: 9.36/10, Dropkickd: 4.8/5, The Gaffney Rating: ★★★★ 1/2]

Fitting that John Cena and CM Punk have their hat in the ring for matches in a line of some of the best in linear WWE television history, and with the WrestleMania Main Event that Cena earned by winning the Royal Rumble hanging in the balance no less. Obviously, Cena and Punk had been in-ring soul mates for quite some time now, and they do a great job in the ring of making this one feel like a desperate struggle on the side of Punk (both in and out of kayfabe) to be in the Mania Main Event. A spectacular outing that gave Cena his first televised singles win over Punk since late 2009. Bonus points for Cena breaking out a hurricanrana, and for Punk breaking out a piledriver on WWE programming.

No. 6) John Cena vs. Umaga (WWE Royal Rumble 2007 for the WWE Championship, Last Man Standing Match)

[WON: ★★★★, Cagematch: 9.04/10, Dropkickd: 4.6/5, The Gaffney Rating: ★★★★ 1/2]

We'll call this "Dudes Rock: The Last Man Standing Match." Up through this point, WWE had done a great job with Umaga, FKA Rosy, who for the last several years had been with All Japan in a run where he won the '04 World Tag League, and picked up wins over Japanese icons Keiji Muto, Satoshi Kojima, and Toshiaki Kawada across the '04 and '05 Champion Carnivals. His first loss as the repackaged "Samoan Bulldozer" was more survival than victory for Cena at New Year's Revolution, naturally setting the stage for some plunder magic at the Royal Rumble.

Working around a kayfabe rib injury from a table spot on a prior Raw, this is one of several very well executed "Super Cena" outings, but for as much as the story here is Cena overcoming this 300+ pound superhuman, these two simply throw bombs at each other (and giant metal steps) for the better part of 23 minutes, and I simply think that's incredible. Pace is indeed slow, and I think there was a bit too much reliance on the steel steps as a weapon, but even then, this is rightfully regarded as an all timer in both Cena's and the Royal Rumble's catalog, and the visuals of both Cena, crimson mask and all, braining Umaga with the tv monitor, and the choking out him out with the cut off top turnbuclkle are top notch.

No. 5) John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels (WWE Monday Night Raw, April 23rd, 2007)

[WON: ★★★★ 1/4, Cagematch: 8.98/10, Dropkickd: 4.7/5, The Gaffney Rating: ★★★★ 3/4]

Cena and the Heartbreak Kid walking the Kings Road, or as Kings Road-sy a late 2000s WWE match can get, for 55 minutes on free TV, is, shockingly, as good as it sounds. Hardly three weeks after main-eventing WrestleMania 23 in an objectively great match, they run it back across the pond in what feels like a natural continuation of that match. Really liked the role reversal in this one, where Cena is the one in control out of the gates, and they work around Michaels, getting a bit rattled after nearly getting caught in a couple of STF attempts by Cena.

Just like the Mania match, however, they play into Cena getting frustrated in the latter stages because he can't put Michaels away. Here they come out of the final commercial break to Cena throttling Michaels on the announce table and getting into a screaming match with referee Mike Chioda before going into an STF rope break spot back in the ring. Loved the branch off of the Mania finish where Michaels gets a second, decisive superkick off after escaping an AA instead of getting caught in an STF. There's simply an art within the art form to making matches of this length work, and while I can understand this run time not being everyone's cup of tea, this was undeniably an instant classic, and I could think of a million worse ways to end a Raw.

No. 4) John Cena vs. Bryan Danielson (WWE Summer Slam 2013 for the WWE Championship, Triple H as Referee)

[WON: ★★★★ 1/2, Cagematch: 9.30/10, Dropkickd: 4.6/5, The Gaffney Rating: ★★★★ 3/4]

The handpicked Champion of the New York Territory vs. "Just another Indy guy" was more or less the route this relatively brief but vitally important feud in the summer of 2013, and in what was the third and final ever televised singles match between John Cena and Bryan Danielson (yes, we're calling him that here), on a night where the "you can't wrestle chants" started right off the bat, Cena proceeded to go hold for hold and move for move with arguably the best in ring worker the United States has ever produced in a 27 minute thriller.

Cena definitely works a bit heel-ish (or as heel-ish as 2013 Cena could be) in this one, which adds a lot for my liking, but more than that, this is some of the best selling Cena has ever done, and especially on what was the debut of Bryan's now-famed Busaiku Knee, his head practically bounces off the canvas and he sits motionless for a good minute afterwards. Real graps, as the kids would say, and things of that nature. It's in the clip above, but shoutout to the drop down spot off the second turnbuckle with Bryan hanging that Cena turns into an STF. Might be my favorite sequence in this one.

No. 3) John Cena vs. AJ Styles (WWE Summer Slam 2016)

[WON: ★★★★ 1/2, Cagematch: 8.95/10, Dropkickd: 4.7/5, The Gaffney Rating: ★★★★ 3/4]

I subscribe to the theory that the second-ever John Cena-AJ Styles encounter is the best that the duo produced over their more critically acclaimed Royal Rumble bout several months later. More so than anything, the level of pace and urgency was palpable in the opening third. From some awesome Irish whip bumps and then a back body drop by AJ, to an apron DDT that Cena took, some relatively smaller stuff popped huge in the opening minutes. You can definitely notice some similarities between this and the Rumble match. Still, it's nothing that would hurt my enjoyment, and ultimately, I'd go as far as saying this is a better version of the Rumble match.

Didn't love the usage of the Avalanche AA here either, but at least here, it made Styles look great, and the crowd going dead silent to popping huge for the kickout was ultimately worth it. AJ had just done some career-defining things over in New Japan, but getting a clean win over Cena on a WWE big four PPV, less than six months into his run, was as big as anything he'd done up to that point, and the best was yet to come for him, as he'd win the WWE Title shortly after this at that year's Backlash—a tremendous piece of business. I don't know if I agree with WWE calling this the second-best outright SummerSlam match in the show's history, but there aren't 10 better matches in the history of the event than this, not a chance.

No. 2) John Cena vs. JBL (WWE Judgement Day 2005 for the WWE Championship, I Quit Match)

[WON: ★★★★ 1/4, Cagematch: 9.10/10, Dropkickd: 4.6/5, The Gaffney Rating: ★★★★ 3/4]

This was one of the matches I wanted to rewatch in full as a refresher, and my god folks: If this happens a month or so earlier at WrestleMania 21 and gets the Mania tax, this is universally considered one of the greatest plunder patches ever. Notably more than it is right now anyway. The blade job that Cena pulls off is rightfully regarded as one of the sickest ever, and the World Wrestling Federation are gutless cowards for not allowing that these days, but this match goes above and beyond the call of duty in cementing Cena as bonfide "guy" at the top of the pecking order, in which JBL deserves a ton of credit for in what was his second Judgement Day epic in as many years.

In physical, bloody form, this was spiritually where the "Never Give Up" stuff began, as Cena endured everything from unprotected chair shots to being choked by separate foreign objects, even taking a swinging neckbreaker on the hood of a limo on the way to retaining the World Title in his first-ever defense. The visuals of Cena also firing up for the five moves of doom in the last in-ring sequence, and then him ripping off the limo door and truck smoke stack, all while his face is solid red, is tough to beat. For as highly touted as this match rightfully is, it's even better in my book. Plunder match wrestling in the World Wrestling Federation was great once, if you can believe that...not anymore. For my money, three to five more minutes, and this is a slam-dunk five-star match; still an all-time classic, nevertheless.

No. 1) John Cena vs. CM Punk (WWE Money in the Bank 2011 for the WWE Championship)

[WON: ★★★★★, Cagematch: 9.64/10, Dropkickd: 4.9/5, The Gaffney Rating: ★★★★★]

In simple terms, you will never get this in a WWE setting ever again. The legitimate CM Punk contract situation that took center stage going into Money in the Bank, as he's going for the linear WWE belt, a B-Show PPV Main Event that overshadowed everything else in a given year, WrestleMania included, in terms of raw stakes and emotion, the fact that this was in front of CM Punk's people of Chicago, everything. If there ever was one, this is Professional Wrestling's Perfect Storm.

For a long while, this was my best match ever. Everything from the pacing to the buildup of Punk getting to his only clean GTS hit after a few failed attempts, the iconic double submission finish spot that goes straight into a flash-AA, the "Montreal Screwjob" fakeout plays right into the finish, and especially the crowd. Calling every single detail of this anything other than a masterpiece would be a grave misservice.

Needless to say, this is one of only a select number of matches in the history of pro wrestling that I'd flat-out call perfect. While Punk is the clear story of this match, Cena put in one of his best nights at the office in his career, meeting the situation and moment as well as he ever has and helped turn the once backbone of Ring of Honor and IWA-Mid South into a texbook definition household name, and more importantly, solidified the Second City Saint as his best dance partner.

I get a sneaky suspicion this will end up being the second match ever to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, and it'd be absolutely justified.

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