WWE: Should John Cena Challenge Shinsuke Nakamura at Fastlane?

After losing at Elimination Chamber, John Cena is now without an opponent at WWE WrestleMania.

So far this year, the Face That Runs the Place has been driven on finding someone to go up against on the Grandest Stage of Them All. But at both the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber, Cena fell short.

This is a big deal to Cena, as he is getting much older, sitting at 40 years old. Having been in the WWE for almost 16 years now, as well as him becoming much more of a want in Hollywood, Cena’s wrestling days are numbered. So how would Cena most likely want to leave WWE on his terms? By making history one last time.

As of right now, Cena is tied with the Hall of Famer Ric Flair for the most world championship reigns in WWE. Both of them currently sit at 16 championships. So Cena naturally would want to try to break that record before he leaves. And there is no better place to do that than the biggest event of the year, WrestleMania.

But with Cena losing at Elimination Chamber, it means he can’t challenge Brock Lesnar for his Universal Championship. However, Cena doesn’t seem discouraged quite yet, tweeting this out.

Not only that, but on Raw, Cena announced that he is going to head over to Smackdown Live to find his Road to WrestleMania. This makes sense, because there he can stake a claim one more time for the WWE Championship.

The problem with that is the WWE Championship already has a #1 contender. Because he won the Royal Rumble, Shinsuke Nakamura will have the opportunity to go on and face the WWE Champion, currently AJ Styles, at WrestleMania.

However, that doesn’t mean that Cena is out of luck yet. While Styles is currently set to defend his title in a Fatal Five Way at Fastlane, Nakamura is not currently booked for the event. What Cena could do is take advantage of this and call out Nakamura.

He could challenge Nakamura to a match at Fastlane, and if he wins, Cena gets to take Nakamura’s place at WrestleMania. Nakamura accepts, and the match is made.

So why should this match happen?

First of all, Cena and Nakamura, not counting the Rumble, have only faced off once. Leading up to SummerSlam, the two took place in a rather short match on SmackDown Live. The winner would go on and face Jinder Mahal for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam. Nakamura ended up winning, and even accidentally botched a move almost injuring Cena.

The match itself was alright, but it was also a dream match. Many fans were expecting more out of it. There was very little story to it, other than the spot of #1 contender. By doing this though, there are more things to make it better.

For one, it tells a great story. Cena is taking advantage of the fact that he’s a free agent to hop between brands. To Cena, Fastlane is going to be his last resort to get to WrestleMania. If he doesn’t win this match, then there’s not much left for him.

It also gives Nakamura a chance to have a strong match before going into WrestleMania himself. That way he and Styles have plenty of momentum going in.

As long as Cena and Nakamura are given the time to produce an amazing match and tell an amazing story, this bout will be twenty times better than their last.

Who Would Win?

Nakamura, obviously.

As great as the feud was between Cena and Styles, WWE has moved past that. WWE understands just how important a match like Styles and Nakamura is, and won’t likely change it.

But not only that, it tells another story from the side of Cena. Now having lost three different chances to go to WrestleMania, he will be without any other real option.

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One thing that Cena did mention on Raw was that he was told that it would be impossible to make the match with the Undertaker happen. If Cena were to lose at Fastlane, the match with the Undertaker would be the absolute last resort.

In his eyes, this is his last chance to make a WrestleMania moment. If he doesn’t, then everything will be all for nothing. But that doesn’t mean that Cena won’t have a Road to WrestleMania. In fact, he’s been on it since the Royal Rumble. It’s just that the Rumble, Elimination Chamber and Fastlane are basically roadblocks. But there’s no doubt we’ll see him at the Showcase of the Immortals.