Welcome to Last Word on Mania month at Last Word on Sports! All month long we will be doing articles to build up for WrestleMania 31 on March 29, 2015. Be sure to read everything this month by clicking this link. Enjoy!
John Cena has so far competed in 11 different WrestleMania matches, so which of the final five Cena matches are a must watch, and which are a must skip? If you should load it up on the WWE Network it’s a Must Watch, otherwise just Skip!
This second part begins at Wrestlemania 26 where the leader of the CeNation went up against Batista.
WrestleMania 26 – Batista
John Cena actually looked like the underdog heading into his match with The Animal know as Batista. Cena was in the hunt for the WWE Championship and Batista was in his way. Both men involved in this match had similar in ring styles and even though from the outside this match looked like a technical affair, I think it delivered a lot better than most of Cena’s WrestleMania matches had previously.
The background to this showdown saw Batista defeat Cena at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view and take away his WWE Championship, Cena had already been in a physical match with Sheamus just before Vince McMahon decided that Cena should face The Animal with the title on the line. This stemmed from the fact that Cena sided with Bret Hart over the WWE Chairman and Vince decided this was the best form of revenge.
Cena asked for a rematch and defeated Batista later in the night by DQ in order to make it official.
WrestleMania – Must Watch
WrestleMania 27 – The Miz
This was John Cena’s first ever no-disqualification, no-count-out match at Wrestlemania and once again he was in the main event with the WWE Championship on the line.
The match began as a normal match, but after The Rock’s involvement in the build up to this match, he came out and announced that the match should be restarted after a double count-out. After that The Rock managed to involve himself in the match and in retaliation to the Attitude Adjustment that he received the week before on Raw, The Rock hit a Rock Bottom on Cena and allowed The Miz to cover him for the win.
After the match The Rock and The Miz had a staredown before The Rock disposed of him. This match falls under the must watch category just because of The Rock’s involvement and the added excitement that he brought.
Wrestlemania – Must Watch
WrestleMania 28 – The Rock
This match was billed as a “once in a lifetime” match between two different eras of WWE. The Rock also returned for a one-on-one match at WrestleMania for the first time in eight years.
This match was a year in the making as The Rock challenged Cena on the Raw after WrestleMania 27 and Cena then accepted weeks later and decided it should be for the WWE Championship.
Cena was defeated by CM Punk at Money in the Bank 2011 which meant that Cena walked into WrestleMania without the championship and the match was the one-on-one spectacle most of the WWE Universe were hoping for.
WrestleMania – Must Watch!
WrestleMania 29 – John Cena vs. The Rock II
Somehow “Once in a lifetime” became “Twice in a lifetime” when CM Punk was finally defeated at the 2013 Elimination Chamber event, after 434 days as Champion and The Rock was the one to finally do it.
Cena had previously won the Royal Rumble and had decided to challenge whoever the WWE Champion was at the time, and that turned out to be The Rock again.
Cena went down the path of blaming The Rock for everything that was happening in his life and saying that if he didn’t beat The Rock then he couldn’t get past it. The build up to the match was what fans are usually used to with Cena and the match itself lacked something. It wasn’t on the same par as the one the year before and it left most fans with a bad taste in their mouth.
WrestleMania – Skip!
WrestleMania 30 – Bray Wyatt
For the first time in a good few years, John Cena found himself in the mid-card of WrestleMania and up against the unpredictable Bray Wyatt.
The leader of The Wyatt family had cost Cena the WWE World Heavyweight Championship when he interfered in Cena’s Elimination Chamber match and ultimately saw him be eliminated.
This lead to Cena offering Wyatt a match at WrestleMania 30 as the “Face of Fear” decided it was up to him to end Cena’s “era of lies” and this went to a head on the Grandest Stage of Them All.
It was odd to see Cena so far down the card and the match itself wasn’t the best Cena has ever produced, but for Wyatt’s first bow at WrestleMania it delivered.
WrestleMania – Skip!
WrestleMania is just around a week away now and next Sunday Cena is up against perhaps his biggest test yet as he heads out against the undefeated Rusev.
This could be the defining of both men and it could see Cena raise his game and the title that he won at his first ever WrestleMania.
