{"id":147699,"date":"2025-12-04T07:00:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T12:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=147699"},"modified":"2025-12-03T23:39:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T04:39:55","slug":"john-cena-underrated-wwe-matches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/12\/04\/john-cena-underrated-wwe-matches\/","title":{"rendered":"5 John Cena WWE Matches That Don&#8217;t Get Enough Love"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There&#8217;s no doubt John Cena will go down as one of WWE&#8217;s greatest legends. The Champ has competed in some of the best matches in company history throughout his career. While he was never known for his flawless in-ring work, Cena could put on great matches against any opponent.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/12\/03\/john-cena-every-wwe-theme-song-ranked-my-time-is-now-word-life\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">John Cena&#8217;s WWE Entrance Theme Songs, Ranked Worst To Best<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Unforgettable all-timers against the likes of CM Punk, AJ Styles, Edge, and others are often praised by fans and critics. However, over the years, Cena has been involved in some bangers that should be talked about more often. Here are five John Cena matches that deserve more attention from WWE fans. Enjoy!<\/p>\n<h2>John Cena vs. Kurt Angle (No Mercy 2003)<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kurt Angle vs. John Cena: No Mercy 2003\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zVzS6sFYU04?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Date: October 19, 2003<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Stipulation: Singles Match<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Length: 18:28<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Winner: Kurt Angle<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Cagematch Rating: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cagematch.net\/?id=111&amp;nr=388\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">7.87<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Dave Meltzer&#8217;s Rating: <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.profightdb.com\/cards\/wwe\/no-mercy-3903-156.html#:~:text=18%3A25-,****%C2%BC,-7\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>4.25 Stars<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When someone talks about John Cena and Kurt Angle, most people think about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pjl0wKdGbS8\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">John Cena&#8217;s iconic WWE SmackDown debut in June 2002<\/a>. No matter how many times the two met on pay-per-view &#8211; and it happened a few times between 2002 and 2006 &#8211; there&#8217;s no way they would ever top that first interaction. If you&#8217;re looking for a fantastic in-ring matchup between Cena and Angle, you should give No Mercy 2003 a watch.<\/p>\n<p>Not only was the match amazing, but the ending might also catch some casual fans by surprise. They would have another great PPV match over a year later, at No Way Out 2005, where Cena saw off The Olympic Gold Medalist to become the number one contender for the WWE Championship.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2>John Cena vs. Chris Jericho vs. Christian (Vengeance 2005)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Date: June 26, 2005<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Stipulation: Triple Threat Match For The WWE Championship<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Length: 15:18<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Winner: John Cena<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Cagematch Rating: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cagematch.net\/?id=111&amp;nr=496\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">7.86<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Dave Meltzer&#8217;s Rating: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.profightdb.com\/cards\/wwe\/vengeance-3905-180.html#:~:text=WWE%20Championship-,***%C2%BE,-6\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">3.75 Stars<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Cena won his first WWE Championship from JBL at WrestleMania 21. A few months later, the former Doctor of Thuganomics was drafted to Raw, taking the spinner belt with him to the red brand. John Cena&#8217;s first PPV title defense as a Raw star happened at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wwe.com\/videos\/john-cena-vs-chris-jericho-vs-christian-vengeance-2005-triple-threat-wwe-champio\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vengeance<\/a>, where Cena defended in a Triple Threat Match.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Jericho and Christian were the challengers, and the three men had an exciting 15-minute match. Despite being one of the best matches of Cena&#8217;s first WWE Championship reign, it is rarely talked about today. You should definitely give this one a try if you have some free time.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2>John Cena vs. Edge vs. Triple H (Backlash 2006)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Date: April 30, 2006<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Stipulation: Triple Threat Match For The WWE Championship<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Length: 17:33<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Winner: John Cena<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Cagematch Rating: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cagematch.net\/?id=111&amp;nr=550\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">8.23<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Dave Meltzer&#8217;s Rating: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.profightdb.com\/cards\/wwe\/backlash-3906-192.html#:~:text=WWE%20Championship-,****%C2%BC,-see%20all%20cards\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">4.25 Stars<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>John Cena lost the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wwe.com\/videos\/john-cena-vs-triple-h-vs-edge-backlash-2006-wwe-championship-triple-threat-match\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WWE Championship to Edge<\/a>, who cashed in Money in the Bank at New Year&#8217;s Revolution 2006. Cena eventually regained the strap before defeating Triple H in the main event of WrestleMania 22. Meanwhile, Edge was back in the title picture after picking up a big win over the legendary Mick Foley in a Hardcore Match earlier in the evening.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, Cena put his title up for grabs in a Triple Threat Match at the next pay-per-view, Backlash. This was one of the greatest bouts of the year, with all three men laying it all on the line to walk out with the biggest prize in WWE. John Cena walked out of the grueling bout still the champion, and would go on to defend against Rob Van Dam one month later at ECW One Night Stand.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2>John Cena vs. Bobby Lashley (The Great American Bash 2007)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Date: July 22, 2007<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Stipulation: Singles Match For The WWE Championship<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Length: 14:52<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Winner: John Cena<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Cagematch Rating: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cagematch.net\/?id=111&amp;nr=627\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">7.49<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Dave Meltzer&#8217;s Rating: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.profightdb.com\/cards\/wwe\/the-great-american-bash-3907-979.html#:~:text=WWE%20Championship-,****,-see%20all%20cards\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">4 Stars<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If John Cena was WWE Champion and the undisputed face of the company in 2007, then Bobby Lashley was the next big thing. It was obvious management had big plans for the future leader of The Hurt Business, as even Vince McMahon himself put him over in a long feud. Lashley joined Raw in June 2007 and was immediately booked in a title match with John Cena on PPV.<\/p>\n<p>Expectations weren&#8217;t high heading into their meeting at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wwe.com\/videos\/john-cena-vs-bobby-lashley-wwe-championship-match-great-american-bash-2007\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Great American Bash<\/a>. After all, Cena was no technical expert and fans didn&#8217;t know if he could have a great match against the young prospect. They ended up exceeding everyone&#8217;s expectations, as Cena delivered yet another fun title defense during his third WWE Championship reign.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2>John Cena vs. Batista (SummerSlam 2008)<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FULL MATCH: John Cena vs. Batista: SummerSlam 2008\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1Wm4klW_LRY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Date: August 17, 2008<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Stipulation: Singles Match<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Length: 13:41<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Winner: Batista<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Cagematch Rating: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cagematch.net\/?id=111&amp;nr=3370\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">7.54<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Dave Meltzer&#8217;s Rating: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.profightdb.com\/cards\/wwe\/summerslam-3908-1091.html#:~:text=14%3A10-,***%C2%BE,-8\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">3.7<\/a><\/strong><strong>5 Stars<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>John Cena and Batista were the biggest stars of the second half of the Ruthless Aggression Era. For years, the two mega-stars were separated by the brand extension. While Cena ruled Monday Night Raw as the WWE Champion, The Animal was the face of Friday Night SmackDown and often held the World Heavyweight Championship around his waist.<\/p>\n<p>When Batista was drafted to Raw in 2008 their dream match finally became possible, and it happened at that year&#8217;s SummerSlam. It was a really good match that ended up being overshadowed by their longer program in early 2010. If you&#8217;ve never seen it, check it out &#8211; it&#8217;ll probably surprise you!<\/p>\n<p><strong>More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><i>Header photo \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:John_Cena_entrance_with_cameras.jpg#\/media\/File:John_Cena_entrance_with_cameras.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WikiMedia Creative Commons<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 Stay tuned to the\u00a0<\/i><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_self\"><em><u><i>Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a><em><i>\u00a0for more on John Cena and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><i>You can check out WWE programming on\u00a0<\/i><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.netflix.com\/title\/81788927\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><u><i>Netflix<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a><em><i>\u00a0(Raw),\u00a0<\/i><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usanetwork.com\/wwe-friday-night-smackdown\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><u><i>USA Network<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a><em><i>\u00a0(SmackDown),\u00a0<\/i><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cwtv.com\/shows\/wwe-nxt\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><u><i>The CW<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a><em><i>\u00a0(NXT),\u00a0<\/i><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/tubitv.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><u><i>Tubi<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a><em><i>\u00a0(WWE Evolve),\u00a0<\/i><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aetv.com\/wwe\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><u><i>A&amp;E<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a><em><i>\u00a0(WWE Superstar Sunday \u2013 Rivals, WWE LFG, and Greatest Moments), and\u00a0<\/i><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.peacocktv.com\/watch\/home\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><u><i>Peacock<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a><em><i>\u00a0(WWE Main Event, as well as archives and premium live event streaming). Follow WWE on social media to relive top moments and matches on\u00a0<\/i><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/wwe\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><u><i>YouTube<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a><em><i>, and catch fast-paced action on X (<\/i><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/i\/events\/1773457579022155776?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><u><i>WWE Speed<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a><em><i>).<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There&#8217;s no doubt John Cena will go down as one of WWE&#8217;s greatest legends. The Champ has competed in some of the best matches in company history throughout his career. While he was never known for his flawless in-ring work, Cena could put on great matches against any opponent. RELATED: John Cena&#8217;s WWE Entrance Theme [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5694,"featured_media":147769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7205,4,3],"tags":[165],"class_list":["post-147699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-john-cena"],"modified_by":"Laci Schlatz","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5694"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147699"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147770,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147699\/revisions\/147770"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}