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WWE WrestleMania 34: John Cena vs. The Undertaker, Career vs. Career?

By Kevin Parvizi

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At Raw 25, the Undertaker didn’t make any definitive statements about his future, which is to say he didn’t confirm his retirement to a wide audience. The chances of John Cena vs. Taker happening at WWE WrestleMania 34 are very much alive, but could this match come with an added twist?

John Cena has been acting a little strange lately. It all started at No Mercy in Cena’s big match with Roman Reigns, which had been built up with some of the most savage promos we’ve seen in years. Cena called out Reigns for not being over with the crowd, for failing a drug test, and for not being able to cut a promo. Meanwhile, Reigns called out Cena for his hypocrisy as it relates to being a part-time wrestler with a Hollywood career, and he also brought up Cena’s rumored backstage burial of former WWE talent Alex Riley.

At No Mercy, Cena lost to Reigns in what seemed to be a “passing of the torch” match. Before the match, Cena pretended to leave because he didn’t think the crowd was into the match enough, and it made everything seem so bizarre. I wouldn’t go as far to say that Cena was acting like a heel, but it seemed like an out-of-place move from him.

During the actual match, Reigns kicked out of all of Cena’s big moves, and Cena just didn’t seem to have enough left in the tank to beat “The Big Dog”. Afterwards, Cena stood for a long time on the ramp, soaking in the moment, and he cut a heartfelt promo on Raw Talk in which he basically admitted that his days as the face of the company are coming to an end. It was emotional, to say the least.

Cena was one of the final four wrestlers in the 2018 Royal Rumble. He, Roman Reigns, Finn Balor, and eventual winner Shinsuke Nakamura were the last ones left. The following episode of Raw, Cena had a match against Balor in the main event…and won.

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But it took a lot out of him to win. Balor kicked out of an Attitude Adjustment, got out of the STF despite selling a knee issue, and needed to be pinned off of an Avalanche AA for Cena to scoop up the pinfall victory to qualify for the Elimination Chamber.

Reminder: The winner of the Elimination Chamber faces Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania.

Furthermore, Cena was also acting a bit…off….in this match against Balor. He was spending way too much time playing to the crowd, and he even apologized to the crowd after pinning Balor, pointing to the WrestleMania sign.

It all seems like Cena is desperate to win that 17th title. Think about it. He’s watching a new era of talent come in, and all of them are ready to take his spot. Reigns defeated him easily, and Cena clearly can’t hang with him. It took Cena all of his strength to defeat Balor, who was at a disadvantage after having been in the Rumble match for a significantly longer amount of time than Cena was.

He’ll do anything at a shot to break Ric Flair’s record, and that included pulling some strings backstage to become a “free agent”, allowing him to hedge his bets on both sides of the roster. But the thing is, he hasn’t faced a champion yet.

Now, Cena is going to make his claim for the Universal Title at the Elimination Chamber, gunning for the title that Lesnar has held for nearly a year.

He’s advertised to appear at Fastlane, too, which means he’ll try to go after the WWE Championship after presumably being unsuccessful in his bid for the Universal Championship.

And you know who will stand in his way at Fastlane? The Undertaker.

You see, “The Dead Man” didn’t actually retire when he lost to Roman Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania 33. Note that only Reigns talks about how he “retired” the Undertaker, whereas Michael Cole and the commentary team leave Taker’s status as ambiguous, refusing to outright proclaim that Reigns retired him.

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The Undertaker had the perfect opportunity to finally end all the speculation at Raw 25, but, instead, he said nothing concrete and confused the crowd.

You’d think that the Manhattan Center and the 25th anniversary of Raw would be the perfect venue for the Undertaker to put his retirement beyond all doubt, but that’s not what happened.

And it appears Goldberg will be the WWE Hall of Fame’s headliner in the 2018 class.

That means the Undertaker isn’t retired, and it likely means he wants to go out on a higher note than he did last year. His match with Reigns was admittedly mediocre, and what better way to make up for that than at WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans? The place where he lost the streak. And what better opponent than Cena, whom Taker has never faced at WrestleMania.

This has been a dream match for many fans, and it would certainly be a “draw”, regardless of what some of the hardcore fans feel about this match. Plus, since there likely isn’t a title on the line, it wouldn’t have a significantly negative affect on the young talent.

In this case, the problem is this: How do you make the fans take this match seriously if there’s no title and if everyone expects Cena to retire the Undertaker?

You put both careers on the line. It makes sense for the Undertaker to do it, because everyone knows he’s on his last legs. But Cena seems to be, too. From his heartfelt promo at Raw Talk after losing to the future face of this company to his strange behavior against Finn, Cena seems like a desperate man. He’s desperate to win his 17th title, and he’s desperate to prove that he’s still the top guy in WWE.

So maybe the Undertaker calls him out. Or maybe he calls the Undertaker out. Either way, after losing an opportunity at the Universal Title and the WWE Championship in successive weeks (Elimination Chamber is on Feb. 25 and Fastlane on Mar. 11), Cena is paranoid that he doesn’t belong. By putting his career on the line against the Undertaker he’s saying, if I’m too washed up to beat Taker, I don’t belong here anymore.

It’ll be hard to believe Cena will actually lose to the Undertaker and retire completely, but at least it gives WWE something to build this match on. And in storyline, they’ve given us clear reasons why Cena would put his career on the line. Can’t you tell by his hair? The man is suffering a mid-life crisis, and he isn’t sure he belongs in the ring anymore.

Next: WWE 5 Burning Questions

There’s power in this story, and, really, it’s the only way they can build to an Undertaker vs. Cena match at WrestleMania 34 without it feeling contrived, out-of-place, or devoid of emotion. Because when two names like this are involved at this stage of their respective careers, there needs to be a copious amount of sentiment and nostalgia.

And if you really want to dream big…imagine the American Bad Ass feuding with The Doctor of Thuganomics. Now how’s that for a ‘Mania send-off?