At WWE Elimination Chamber 2025, John Cena did the unthinkable: he received a match. His first one in over 1,000+ days to be actual.
Oh, and I suppose he additionally shattered the hearts of hundreds of thousands by turning heel for the primary time in twenty-one years, offered his soul to sworn enemy The Rock, left WWE Undisputed Champion Cody Rhodes a bloody heap at this ft, and made wrestling a trending subject in mainstream media for one thing taking place purely inside storyline and the world of kayfabe.
Certainly, the principle occasion of Wrestlemania 41 is about; we could have Cody Rhodes taking up John Cena in a match the place theoretically John Cena may lastly break Ric Aptitude’s vaunted report of 16 world championships by successful his seventeenth. That’s doubtless the prevailing logic behind this evil flip of the character to start with, as a glory-obsessed Cena has offered out the beliefs he’s been parroting round for twenty years only for yet another shot on the prime.
It’s troublesome to clarify simply how monumental an occasion that is on this planet of wrestling, and maybe even tougher to clarify the way it exploded out of the sphere of the area of interest. It doubtless begins and ends with John Cena having been the consultant of not simply WWE, however your complete wrestling medium within the eyes of the world for the higher a part of the final twenty-one years.
He did it as a squeaky-clean good man with colourful shirts, a shiny smile, report setting Make-A-Want fulfillments, an unbreakable never-say-die angle, memetic music and actions, and a signature transfer that’s a euphemism for masturbation. In kayfabe (or in-story or canon), he simply turned his again on each excellent he’s ever had. It’s like if Mickey Mouse mentioned “I hate creativeness” and lit the Magical Kingdom on hearth all whereas stomping Pixar within the nuts.
Twenty-one years is a hell of a very long time to be taking part in the very same character; possibly solely Kelsey Grammar can commiserate with Cena on this. Humorous sufficient, the unique run of the Frasier Crane character would finish in early 2004, which is strictly the final time John Cena performed a foul man in a wrestling ring.
Twenty-one years is a legit lifetime, particularly in present enterprise, so I put collectively an inventory of issues which have occurred within the insane world of wrestling (and a few outdoors of it) since John Cena final hated youngsters.
CM Punk’s Whole Mainstream Wrestling Profession
Crunchy and straight from WWE archives
CM Punk, then a mainstay for the younger Ring of Honor promotion, famously received the ROH World Championship for the primary time in the summertime of 2005. By that time, it had turn out to be well-known that he was on his means out the door and about to move off to WWE’s developmental territory, OVW. From there, Punk would make the principle WWE roster the following summer season and be a everlasting fixture within the firm till he unceremoniously and infamously left in early 2014.
He’d keep away from returning to any kind of lively wrestling capability till 2021 when he would return to All Elite Wrestling that August. Following an eventful and tumultuous run within the firm, Punk can be fired with trigger in 2023, solely to show again up in WWE that November after a ten-year absence and continues to compete as of this writing.
Punk’s mainstream wrestling profession will now outpace Cena’s former alignment with this flip, however the whole lot earlier than this yr may match inside it.
All of Adam “Edge/Cope” Copeland’s World Title Victories AND Retirement
Whereas a mainstay on WWE programming for a number of years (because it was nonetheless WWF, at that), Adam “Edge” Copeland nonetheless hadn’t received a world title within the firm. He did win the Cash within the Financial institution briefcase at Wrestlemania 21 and held onto it for 10 months earlier than cashing in on Cena himself for his first world title.
Over the following 5 years, Edge would win an astonishing ten extra world titles for an excellent eleven earlier than being pressured to retire for almost a decade. He was inducted into the WWE Corridor of Fame in 2012 and made a miraculous return in 2020. He would win many of those titles on the expense of Cena, cementing himself as among the finest heels of the 2000s.
The Evolution of Cash within the Financial institution
Talking of the Cash within the Financial institution Briefcase, your complete Cash within the Financial institution idea debuted at Wrestlemania 21 in 2005 and has advanced to turn out to be one of the crucial memetic makes use of of “Chekov’s gun” in media. The match turns twenty this yr and has advanced from a once-a-year idea to being its personal occasion occasion to turning into a number of briefcases to turning into one of many 5 largest reveals of the yr on the WWE calendar.
The Rise to (Tremendous)Stardom of Dave Batista
Whereas we’re with regards to Wrestlemania 21, that was the present through which each Cena and fellow megastar Dave Batista would win their first world titles. Not solely did Batista’s time on the prime parallel with Cena’s, however Batista’s retirement, two returns, and his ascension to mainstream superstardom because of his function as Drax the Destroyer within the MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Not unhealthy for the “lesser” of the highest two faces of the 2000s.
The Rise, Fall, Exile, and Restoration of Muhammad Hassan
The one photograph I may discover on the official WWE web site exhibiting Hassan’s face
This one is lower than a span of time factor, however extra of one other acknowledgement of simply how a lot time has handed. Muhammad Hassan was a twist on the “overseas heel” trope in wrestling that debuted in December 2004. The twist was that Hassan was born and raised American and was drawing ire by merely being Arab-American following the wave of xenophobic sentiments in opposition to these of Center Jap descent throughout the early 2000s.
The Hassan character hit it off nearly too properly, as he had a meteoric rise to turning into one of many prime heels within the firm in just some months and was presumably being deliberate to seize the World Heavyweight Championship from Batista in the summertime of 2005. Sadly, in the summertime of 2005, Hassan went full Othello and performed into some terrorist-esque actions on-screen the identical week as a serious terrorist assault (the present was pre-taped and aired just some hours after mentioned assault). He was faraway from tv and has not been seen or spoken about on WWE tv since.
Your entire factor left a reasonably traumatic scar on the person who performed Hassan, Mark Copani, who had not been open to speak concerning the state of affairs in any respect in interviews till the final couple of years.
Extra Time Handed With out WCW Than It Existed
World Championship Wrestling was the most important competitor to the then-WWF and the 2 had competing programming within the well-known Monday Night time Wars of the 90s. The legacy of WCW is one in all nice magnitude, however ultimately, WCW itself solely existed from 1982 to 2001 for a span of just below twenty years…which suggests Cena has been a face longer than your complete existence of the best rival WWE has needed to date.
The Motorola RAZR Had Us In a Chokehold
Return to me, mi armor
Trying again on what life was like in 2004 when Cena was nonetheless taking part in baddie, you’ll be able to’t point out it with out mentioning the expertise touchstone that was the Motorola RAZR line of telephones. These glossy as hell, blade-thin cell telephones have been already on their third era in 2004 and on the prime of anybody’s record who wanted a telephone (and even in case you actually didn’t, like many center schoolers).
Whereas brainstorming, this entry was “what iPhone was out when Cena was final heel,” however the iPhone wouldn’t come about for one more few years, that means face Cena additionally properly eclipses the existence of the smartphone.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and the Unique God of Battle Had been Sport(s) of the Yr
Killing gods: Respect +50,000,000
One other interval wanting again on what life was like 20ish years in the past.
Presently, The Sport Awards exist because the online game awards with probably the most promotional energy behind it. And promotional it appears to be, as the published has turn out to be relatively bloated with extra adverts and trailers than real appreciation for the online game trade. Earlier than The Sport Awards have been its personal factor, nevertheless, they have been referred to as the Spike Video Sport Awards, sponsored and offered by Spike TV.
Within the final yr that John Cena performed a dastardly rule-breaker, the sport that received the coveted Sport of the Yr Award was the all-time traditional Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the ultimate of Rockstar’s vaulted “Trilogy” alongside GTA 3 and GTA: Vice Metropolis. As a particular bonus, the title that received GOTY the following yr was the unique God of Battle for the PS2, which additionally means Cena as an-all time good man outdated iconic online game franchises which have since been rebooted (with sequels)!
The Affect of Sara Amano AKA The Ladies’s Revolution
Courtesy of Triple H’s Insta the evening of NXT: Brooklyn in 2015
Again within the late 2000s, there wasn’t a greater girls’s wrestler in North America than Sara Del Rey. She by no means reached mainstream standing, nevertheless, as WWE (particularly the bastard John Laurinaitis) on the time was largely solely within the model-esque seems of their feminine wrestlers over any kind of skill. By the point mainstream girls’s wrestling began shifting to one thing with extra depth, Del Rey’s perceived prime had handed.
…however she was, in reality, a part of the engine for that change. Signing as Head Ladies’s Coach for WWE’s developmental territory NXT on the WWE Efficiency Heart in 2012 and going underneath her actual title, Sara Amano was the lady chargeable for whipping the “4 Horsewomen” – Charlotte Aptitude, Sasha Banks/Mercedes Mone, Bayley, and Becky Lynch – into the primetime form they’d be recognized for. Her affect was an unheralded engine behind WWE’s “Ladies’s Revolution” that also continues to at the present time, the place she’s now co-head coach of the Efficiency Heart.
(Why sure this subject deserves a complete article by itself, however I believe I’m operating out of phrases…)
Just about The Whole Histories of TNA/Impression Wrestling and Ring of Honor
With the collapse of each WCW and ECW in 2001, WWE had no opponents left on its degree (if ECW was ever actually on their degree financially). However from energy vacuums kind new identities, and 2002 noticed the start of TNA Wrestling and Ring of Honor, two promotions with a few of the highest highs and lowest lows wrestling firms may go. Nonetheless operating to at the present time, all however the first couple years of their respective existences may match inside Huge Match John’s prime face run.
25 Completely different First-Time WWE Champions, Together with Cena Himself
The record of males who’ve first received the best prize in twenty-one years within the firm span from Eddie Guererro in 2004 to Cody Rhodes in 2024 with a bevy of HOF and future HOF names in-between. There’s the aforementioned CM Punk, Edge, and Batista, however there’s additionally the likes of Rob Van Dam, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, AJ Kinds, and John “Bradshaw” Layfield. As well as, a complete new era of grapplers would win the massive one together with The Miz, Bryan Danielson, Seth Rollins, Sheamus, Drew McIntyre, and others.
Random tidbit of trivia: Cena was concerned in a stretch of the WWE Championship altering arms nearly solely to first-time winners from 2004 to 2007. Guerrero would win his first, which was ended by JBL’s first reign. JBL misplaced it to Cena for his first time, who was then cashed-in on by Edge for his first. Cena then received it again, however would lose it to RVD that summer season as his first huge one. The title would swap again between Edge and Cena earlier than staying on Cena for over a yr, who needed to vacate the title…and it was promptly awarded to Randy Orton for his first reign.
19 Completely different Huge Present Face/Heel Turns
Each Villain Is Lemons
The Huge Present is notorious on this planet of professional wrestling for simply what number of instances he’s modified alignments at any random second. This isn’t simply unique to WWE, but additionally consists of his time in WCW as properly. For a lot of performers, a change in alignments marks a big change of their profession or at the least a shift in how they’re as a performer. Huge Present, nevertheless, would flip as generally as most individuals sneak eat cheese out of their fridge at evening. For instance of this, in the identical time it took John Cena to show alignments as soon as, Huge Present modified nineteen instances in line with my depend.
That is additionally me being beneficiant at some factors, as a result of there’s even instances you can depend Huge Present turning heel whereas he was already heel, corresponding to when he turned heel by leaping to ECW in 2006 when the model was revived after which massacuring RVD to steal the ECW Championship from him. It additionally consists of at the least a pair instances he turned a number of instances in the identical month, corresponding to his returns in 2008 and 2020. You possibly can additionally argue Present was altering roles weekly throughout early 2013.
The irony right here is that Huge Present is traditionally one in all Cena’s extra constant rivals in his profession, that means the 2 would meet dozens of instances irrespective of the alignment of the confused big.
The Undertaker’s Streak Turns into “The Streak” And Is Damaged
The Undertaker’s famed Wrestlemania successful streak is one thing of a sacred and holy merchandise amongst wrestling followers, nevertheless the idea of this streak turning into “The Streak” solely turns twenty this yr, which appears relatively younger in relation to Taker’s illustrious profession.
There have been nods to the Wrestlemania undefeated streak by ‘Taker himself and on commentary by Jim Ross, however it wasn’t elevated to his kind of legendary thought till the construct to Wrestlemania 21. Jake “The Snake” Roberts challenged a younger Randy Orton, nonetheless in his “Legend Killer” persona, to kill the unkillable and do what nobody has ever executed and defeat The Undertaker at Wrestlemania. From this level ahead, it turned “The Steak” with its personal construct as a predominant occasion match yearly.
…that’s till Wrestlemania XXX, when Brock Lesnar inexplicably broke “The Streak”. Cena, alongside Orton and Rey Mysterio, are the one lively roster members to nonetheless be on WWE’s predominant roster in 2025 that have been there for The Streak elevation in 2005 (although Punk and The Miz come dangerously shut).
3 (Virtually 4) Completely different Brock Lesnar/Undertaker Feuds, Many years Aside
(This one is dishonest a bit of bit, however I nonetheless discover it spectacular, so I’m throwing it in)
Talking of Undertaker and Lesnar, these two titans crossed paths many instances in one another’s careers and Cena was there for just about all of them as an excellent man on the roster. Cena was in his authentic face run from his debut in 2002 when the 2 finally confronted off in a Hell in a Cell. He was in his heel ascension when the 2 met once more in 2003.
Quick ahead over a decade later to in the midst of Cena’s run as the highest man and Lesnar broke The Streak with one other feud in 2014. They then locked horns as soon as once more in the summertime of 2015.
An Precise Competitor to WWE Emerges
From WCW and ECW’s deaths in 2001, WWE ran uncontested within the public eye as the one mainstream wrestling firm within the US for almost twenty years. That’s till the official formation and founding of All Elite Wrestling (AEW) in 2019, a brand new wrestling league that may turn out to be the primary actual various to WWE in years, which is one thing many thought would by no means occur.
The Debut, Dissolution, and Decade of Dominance of The Protect
In 2012, the faction referred to as The Protect debuted to nice fanfare. The trio of Rollins, Roman Reigns, and Dean Ambrose/Jon Moxley would turn out to be a prime act within the firm earlier than infamously splitting up in 2014. Within the decade that has adopted, all three members of The Protect are multi-time world champions and the pillars on which the present wrestling panorama stands.
It’s exhausting to think about their meteoric rise being potential, nevertheless, with out the earlier pillar that was an ironclad firm face John Cena being as fixed as he was. For comparability, Roman Reigns, the act as soon as pegged because the man to interchange Cena, has modified alignments as many instances since 2012 as Cena has his complete profession.
The First Ever Yu-Gi-Oh Forbidden Checklist
And this immaculate monstrosity would nonetheless in all probability faucet out to 2010 John Cena
This one’s for my area of interest homies within the again. Or in case you’re simply an absolute nerd, which in case you’re studying off of this web site, you already are. So welcome.
The Yu-Gi-Oh anime and collectable buying and selling card sport hit stateside in 2002 and was in all probability the one IP to duplicate any kind of the magic Pokemon did just some years prior, at the least when it got here to the “Mon” style. Fairly famously, the buying and selling card sport and its guidelines have been put collectively relatively haphazardly, as sequence creator Kazuki Takahashi (RIP, hero) meant for the sequence to deal with a wide range of tabletop video games earlier than the cardboard sport chapter took off exponentially.
One of many penalties of getting such a sport slapped collectively is when playing cards began getting printed, those that broke the sport broke the sport over their knee. It took a pair years of play, however late 2004 noticed the primary ever Forbidden Checklist get launched for official tournaments. The playing cards that have been restricted turned referred to as the “Forbidden 13”, and the record would shift and develop from there.
Sure, Huge Good Man John Cena predates Delinquent Duo, Sleek Charity, and (pictured above) Chaos Emperor Dragon being punished for warping a TCG round them. Wager that’s a dorky ass sentence you by no means thought you’d learn.
Triple H Rehabilitates His Whole Wrestling Picture
The final time Cena was a heel, Triple H was dominating programming and doing so in probably the most unfun means potential. An period referred to as the “Reign of Terror,” this period cemented the status of Triple H amongst web wrestling followers as inserting his ego above the wants of different expertise, the corporate, and the enterprise at massive. This was amplified by it seeming fairly undeserved, as nepotism and backstage politics have been heavy at play. As time would go on, nevertheless, Journeys would show himself an ample inheritor to the WWE itself.
Cena had been a face for thus lengthy, Triple H grew to be reviled, detested, dunked on in shoot interviews, publicly ridiculed by CM Punk, semi-retired, totally retired, and his picture roughly redeemed because of his administration and manufacturing of the NXT system and his ascension to the highest mind of your complete WWE – all by the point John Boy turned heel once more. Maybe even being the mind behind the heel flip within the first place.
Wrestlemania Outgrows Madison Sq. Backyard
Wrestlemania 20 befell in Madison Sq. Backyard in entrance of a crowd of 20,000+. That may be the final time the Wrestlemania attendance can be wherever close to that small, as each present afterwards trended in the direction of larger and greater arenas till now the Grandest Stage of Them All often sells out 85,000+ soccer stadiums.
Similar Age As The Beat
The very web site you’re studying this on was established in the identical yr John Cena was final heel!
Outlasting Vince McMahon As CEO Of WWE
Fuck Vince.
