John Cena is one of the most polarizing figures to come out of WWE. He was the face of the company for years, but his support was more than often split. The cheers of Let’s Go Cena/Cena sucks rang throughout the rafters of every arena he walked into.
The split led to many wild stories coming out from the back, the biggest being that Cena loves to bury everyone.
Throughout his career, Cena has gone over situations that many thought he shouldn’t. He also has used his power to get his way when he shouldn’t have. But those instances are few and far between when we look at all he has done to elevate his opponents.
John Cena has been responsible for making stars and establishing talent more than he has buried them. Below we will look at the examples of this.
Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan was one of the best stories in years. He had spent years developing a huge following on the independents. When he came to WWE the support, from the fans, was there but his pushes didn’t reflect his talent.
He was made to look a fool on many occasions, with his 18-second WrestleMania match being the biggest culprit. It was starting to look like Bryan would never reach the heights he was capable of. Then John Cena decided to step in.
On-screen Cena handpicked Bryan to take him on for the WWE Championship. It was a bold move but one that couldn’t have happened had Cena not supported Bryan backstage. Cena saw the potential of Bryan and went to bat for him. That main event wouldn’t have taken place without Cena’s backing.
Cena also supported Bryan going over cleanly. It was not something that we saw often, and it immediately pushed Bryan into the main event. A push that had Cena’s hands all over it.
Solo Sikoa
Solo Sikoa was great in NXT. He had the lineage and talent to be successful but when he was called up, he served as the heavy to Roman Reigns and not much else. He was not given much of an opportunity to grow and stayed mainly in the background as Roman embarked on his reign of terror.
It was only when Cena returned to the company that Solo was given his big chance. Cena was past his best years, but he was still able to go in the ring. That’s why he was the perfect opponent to get Solo over. Cena’s name still carried a lot of weight with it and Solo going over him was a big deal.
What was an even bigger deal was how Solo went over. Sikoa decimated John Cena to finish the match. There was no big comeback, Super Cena ran into his kryptonite. John looked human at the end of the match. This type of rub is not something one pulls off if they are concerned with only themselves.
Kevin Owens
“The Prize Fighter” was well-known across the world before entering WWE. He had a great run with Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Guerilla, and Combat Zone Wrestling. His entrance into NXT was also great and positioned him for the main roster. It was his talent that got him there, but it was John Cena who made him a star.
Taking on John Cena right out of the gate was a big deal for Owens. Cena was the measuring stick for everyone in the company. John could have easily buried the brash new indie darling, but he didn’t. He worked his butt off to get him over, even staring up at the lights for Owens in his first WWE match. Owens was a made man after besting John Cena.
AJ Styles
‘The Phenomenal One’ was already an established star before he hit the WWE roster. He had made a name for himself in TNA Wrestling and became the flag bearer of the company.
When the time came to leave, he made a fantastic debut at the Royal Rumble, but things fizzled from there. He had main-event matches, but it never felt as if the company was going to take him seriously. That is until John Cena stepped up.
Cena was a great rivalry for Styles and one that made him feel like a main player. Their in-segments were fantastic and helped to get more eyes on Styles. It also helped that both men were able to turn in five-star classics every time they stepped into the ring. The most important of which was their first one.
Styles going over Cena clean was yet another example of the unselfish nature of Cena. He could have very well squashed a star from another company, but he didn’t. Instead, Cena put Styles over in a big way and the fans loved him for it.
Austin Theory
Austin Theory was the golden child of Vince McMahon. He was featured on every part of programming the boss could fit him on. He had his Wrestlemania moment and was put in the main event now and then, but no one felt like he was a major player. Then John Cena was tasked with getting the young star over.
John Cena was still a big name and putting him opposite Austin Theory was going to be the best way to get him over. It was not something that didn’t work very well but that wasn’t for lack of trying on Cena’s part.
Cena did everything he could to get the young star over. He worked on various promos with him, even letting Theory get the best of him in some of them. He then let the brash star go over him at WrestleMania, not an easy feat. His work with Theory was as unselfish as a wrestler could get.
The United States Open Challenge
People weren’t very happy when Cena wrestled away the United States Championship from Rusev. It was a discontent that faded quickly though when John Cena introduced his U.S. Open Challenge.
The Open Challenge quickly became one of the best parts of WWE Monday Night Raw. Each week Cena would issue an open challenge and the likes of Cesaro, to Sami Zayn to Bad News Barrett answered the call. It was always exciting when Cena matched to the ring as we truly didn’t know who was going to come out to challenge him.
This was John Cena at his unselfish best. There was no ego-driven behind these segments, only his want to get more exposure for whoever on the roster wanted it. It produced some of the best matches on Raw and gave extra shine to all wrestlers who competed.
Brock Lesnar
Yes, ‘The Beast’ was already an established star before he locked horns with Cena, at SummerSlam 2014, but that didn’t make Cena’s impact any less.
The World Championship match was a big deal. It featured to of the best do ever do it stepping in the ring with the strap on the line. They had met various times in the past but nothing that had the stakes that were associated with this one. It was a big-time match featuring big-time players, and not a person in the arena could have predicted the outcome.
Lesnar winning wasn’t a huge shock, but the method was. It was essentially a 16-minute squash match. Outside of some fleeting offense, from Cena, this match was all Lesnar. Cena could have made this match more even, but by doing business correctly he created an almost God-like Lesnar.
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