Ranking John Cena’s Greatest WrestleMania Matches

WM XXVIII: John Cena vs. The Rock (2012)

You had to be there. The phrase “big fight feel” didn’t do the palpable excitement from the crowd and in my living room justice. With the match announced a year in advance, the tension built throughout 2011 and 2012 reached a fever pitch in Miami for WrestleMania XXVIII. The promotion’s biggest star of the last decade (Cena) squared off against the biggest star that wrestling has ever produced (Rock) in a match that only happens… once-in-a-lifetime (not really).

The match itself wasn’t exceptional in a technical sense, but it more than sufficed by creating several memorable moments. The Rock actually tore his hamstring in the middle of the match, slowing the tempo as a result. Still, Rock was impressive in only his second match after seven years away from WWE. It also included one of my favorite finishes ever.

Cena sealed his own demise by showing an uncharacteristic amount of hubris by attempting The Rock’s signature maneuver, the People’s Elbow, only to be defeated seconds after by a resurgent Rock, who dropped him with a Rock Bottom after kipping up seconds before Cena could hit Rock’s secondary finishing move. It was a shocking ending that laid the foundation for Cena’s year-long road to redemption and a rematch with The Rock at ‘Mania 29.

WMXXIV: John Cena vs. Triple H vs. Randy Orton for the WWE Championship (2008)

This one’s a lot of fun and it’s over before you know it. The most exciting triple threat matches employ a strategy that enables continuous action with little to no stoppage; this match is a good example of that. In under 15 minutes, all three wrestlers “got their stuff in” and worked at a pace faster than they were accustomed to.

This was Cena’s first match at the biggest show of the year where he was no longer depicted as needing a statement victory against a veteran; that designation belonged to Orton this time. Orton slithered back into the ring to punt Triple H in the head — who was on the verge of victory after hitting Cena with the Pedigree — break the count, and pin Cena for his first win at WrestleMania as his own man (he won with Evolution in 2004).

Revisiting or watching this match for the first time is totally worth it for Cena’s entrance, featuring the Orlando area’s own Jones High School marching band playing an instrumental rendition of his entrance music. I still consider this entrance his best ever.