{"id":147811,"date":"2025-12-05T08:00:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T13:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=147811"},"modified":"2025-12-05T05:59:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T10:59:26","slug":"5-times-john-cena-main-evented-a-wwe-ple-he-shouldnt-have","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/12\/05\/5-times-john-cena-main-evented-a-wwe-ple-he-shouldnt-have\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Times John Cena Main Evented A WWE PLE He Shouldn&#8217;t Have"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>John Cena earned the moniker Big Match John from his rival John &#8220;Bradshaw&#8221; Layfield, and it&#8217;s the perfect nickname for Cena. Cena proved that he&#8217;s a main event player and rose to the occasion when he appeared in WWE PLE main events. The 17-time WWE world champion has been the face of the company for two decades, and he will be riding into the sunset on the December 13, 2025, edition of Saturday Night&#8217;s Main Event.<\/p>\n<p>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/12\/04\/5-times-john-cena-shouldnt-have-won-a-wwe-ple-main-event\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">5 Times John Cena Shouldn&#8217;t Have Won A WWE PLE Main Event<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Unsurprisingly, the Never Seen 17 has generally featured in the business end of matches on WWE PLEs. He&#8217;s competed in 178 PLEs, losing his last outing to Dominik Mysterio in an Intercontinental Championship title defense at Survivor Series 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, Cena is one of the all-time greats, but several times, he shouldn&#8217;t have closed out a WWE PLE. Some of the matches that he closed out at a WWE PLE were underwhelming. For sure, better matches were better candidates to go on last, but because of Cena&#8217;s star power, he often got the nod to close out PLEs.<\/p>\n<h2>5. John Cena Vs. The Miz &#8211; WrestleMania 27<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FULL MATCH \u2014 The Miz vs. John Cena \u2014 WWE Title Match: WrestleMania XXVII\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZbPtmST3_qg?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<p>Traditionally, the WWE Championship match closes out WrestleMania. This was no different at WrestleMania 27 when John Cena won a number one contender Elimination Chamber match, earning the right to face The Miz for the WWE Championship. This was Cena&#8217;s seventh consecutive world championship match at WrestleMania, which is a phenomenal achievement. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/12\/03\/john-cena-every-wwe-theme-song-ranked-my-time-is-now-word-life\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Cena was 2-0 in WrestleMania main events<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, Miz sustained a concussion when he was tackled to the ground by Cena, and his head smashed the concrete floor. This had an impact on the match, and their WWE Championship match wasn&#8217;t good. The Rock was the host of WrestleMania, and he aided Miz in retaining the WWE Championship. Triple H and The Undertaker&#8217;s No Holds Barred colossal showdown stole the show and was a better option to go on last.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2>4. John Cena Vs. Wade Barrett &#8211; TLC 2010<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"DVD Preview: WWE TLC 2010 - John Cena vs. Wade Barrett -\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ctp0u85dPVU?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<p>The Nexus&#8217; rivalry with John Cena should&#8217;ve seen The Nexus come out on top. However, Team WWE, led by John Cena, went over The Nexus in a seven-on-seven elimination match, killing the Nexus&#8217; momentum at SummerSlam 2010.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, Cena joined The Nexus after he lost to their leader, Wade Barrett, at Hell in a Cell 2010. Moreover, Cena was free from The Nexus at Survivor Series 2010, but still he faced the Nexus&#8217; leader in a chairs match at TLC 2010.<\/p>\n<p>Barrett had to figure out a way to beat Cena on his own as Cena removed The Nexus from the equation before the match. Their match was decent, but it wasn&#8217;t main event worthy.<\/p>\n<p>Inevitably, the leader of the Cenation brought an end to his feud with the Nexus by beating Barrett. Furthermore, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/12\/04\/john-cena-underrated-wwe-matches\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Cena&#8217;s old rival, Edge<\/span><\/a>, prevailed in a fatal-4-way TLC match for the World Heavyweight Championship, and that was a no-brainer to go on last, but it failed to materialize.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2>3. John Cena Vs. Kane &#8211; Elimination Chamber 2012<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FULL MATCH - John Cena vs. Kane \u2013 Ambulance Match: WWE Elimination Chamber 2012\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4jlPO9rDjp0?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<p>John Cena and The Rock&#8217;s upcoming WrestleMania 28 showdown had been penciled in for a year. However, since the 2011 Slammy Awards, when Kane returned with a mask, Cena entered a feud with the Devil&#8217;s Favorite Demon. The rivalry between the two former world champions was extremely boring.<\/p>\n<p>Their match at the 2012 Royal Rumble didn&#8217;t end cleanly, which inevitably meant that they were facing each other again at Elimination Chamber 2012 in an Ambulance match.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_147893\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-147893\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-147893 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/12\/22-2-1024x532.jpg\" alt=\"A WWE PLE graphic featuring John Cena.\" width=\"640\" height=\"333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/12\/22-2-1024x532.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/12\/22-2-300x156.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/12\/22-2-768x399.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/12\/22-2.jpg 1179w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-147893\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Credit: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Somehow, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/11\/16\/the-greatest-rivals-of-john-cena-in-wwe-based-on-total-matches\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Cena and Kane&#8217;s rematch got the nod<\/span><\/a> to go on last when two world title Elimination Chamber matches were better suited to headline the show. Kane defeated Shane McMahon in an Ambulance match at Survivor Series 2003, so he was looking to draw upon that experience in his Ambulance match with Cena.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, there was no chance that Cena was going to lose his match with Kane, and he prevailed in one of the most underwhelming main events in the 2010s. Cena could fully shift his attention toward his date with destiny in Miami, Florida.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2>2. John Cena Vs. Big Show &#8211; No Way Out 2012<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FULL MATCH - John Cena vs. Big Show - Steel Cage Match: WWE No Way Out 2012\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YRnYEhUvoRA?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<p>John Cena and Big Show were no strangers to each other as they feuded over the WWE United States Championship in 2004. Cena defeated the World&#8217;s Largest Athlete for his first championship at WrestleMania 20.<\/p>\n<p>They crossed paths again in 2009 over the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 25, and the months after. Nevertheless, Cena and Show collided in a steel cage match in the main event of No Way Out 2012, with John Laurinaitis&#8217; job as the General Manager of Raw and SmackDown at stake.<\/p>\n<p>The fans were not bothered one single iota about Cena and Show&#8217;s match. They&#8217;ve witnessed it plenty of times over the years, and once again, the reigning WWE Champion CM Punk took a backseat to John Cena in PLE matches in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>Cena won with the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations, who headed Raw and SmackDown, who was no longer in this position after Cena&#8217;s victory. CM Punk&#8217;s triple threat match for the WWE Championship against Daniel Bryan and Kane had a better story, and the match was miles better, which was the better option to main event the show.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2>1. John Cena Vs. John Laurinaitis &#8211; Over The Limit 2012<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/11\/18\/john-cenas-17-wwe-world-title-reigns-ranked\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Despite not holding a world championship in 2012<\/span><\/a>, John Cena headlined a whopping nine out of 12 PLE main events on offer. CM Punk was the reigning WWE Champion for the entirety of the year, and he only closed out PLEs three times, which is shocking for the WWE Champion. Arguably, half of the PLEs that Cena closed out in 2012, he shouldn&#8217;t have. The pick of the bunch was his match with John Laurinaitis at Over the Limit 2012.<\/p>\n<p>Had anyone under contract interfered, they would&#8217;ve been fired. Cena and Laurinaitis had no right to go on last, considering CM Punk and Daniel Bryan&#8217;s WWE Championship match tore the house down. Undoubtedly, Cena was always going to be on top, and outside interference was the only way that Laurinaitis could dream of stealing a victory over Cena.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, Laurinaitis fired Big Show previously, but the World&#8217;s Largest Athlete returned and turned heel by knocking out Cena with the WMD. Laurinaitis picked up the upset victory to preserve his roles as Raw and SmackDown&#8217;s General Manager.<\/p>\n<p><strong>More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><i>Header photo \u2013 WWE \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>John Cena earned the moniker Big Match John from his rival John &#8220;Bradshaw&#8221; Layfield, and it&#8217;s the perfect nickname for Cena. Cena proved that he&#8217;s a main event player and rose to the occasion when he appeared in WWE PLE main events. The 17-time WWE world champion has been the face of the company for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5695,"featured_media":147894,"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":[2,7205,4,3],"tags":[165],"class_list":["post-147811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-history","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-john-cena"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147811","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\/5695"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147811"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147895,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147811\/revisions\/147895"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}