{"id":148017,"date":"2025-12-07T06:28:40","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T11:28:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=148017"},"modified":"2025-12-07T06:28:40","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T11:28:40","slug":"4-wwe-stars-that-you-forgot-beat-john-cena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/12\/07\/4-wwe-stars-that-you-forgot-beat-john-cena\/","title":{"rendered":"4 WWE Stars That You Forgot Beat John Cena"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The most difficult week for The Cenation is here. The flag-bearer of WWE for nearly 25 years, John Cena, will wrestle his final match on Saturday Night&#8217;s Main Event against Gunther. The Ring General will battle Cena for the first time, but several active veterans have faced the Champ in the past and came out of the other side victorious.<\/p>\n<p>Over the years, Cena has gone to war with the likes of CM Punk, Randy Orton, AJ Styles, Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Sheamus, and The Miz. As such, these prolific names hold wins over The Champ. Recently, Cody Rhodes and Dominik Mysterio joined this impressive list as they defeated Cena during the Never Seen 17&#8217;s retirement tour.<\/p>\n<p>Cena&#8217;s rivalries with the likes of Orton, Punk, and Styles are well known. The Rhodes Cena saga is still fresh.\u00a0 Solo Sikoa also pinned The Champ at Crown Jewel 2023 in a statement win that propelled his career. However, there are still other members of the active roster who hold wins over the Leader of the Cenation. Unfortunately, those wins got lost in the shuffle and aren&#8217;t remembered that fondly.<\/p>\n<p>On that note, let&#8217;s look at 4 current stars you might have forgotten defeated John Cena.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>#4.\u00a0 Austin Theory &#8211; WrestleMania 39<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Unless you&#8217;re an Austin Theory fan or someone pushing for his return, chances are that you&#8217;ve forgotten about Austin Theory&#8217;s win over John Cena at WrestleMania 39. Theory successfully defended his United States Championship against Cena at Mania, but their rivalry has largely been forgotten.<\/p>\n<p>The highlight of their Mania program was Cena grilling Theory on the mic. Nonetheless, the win could and should have been Theory&#8217;s ticket to Superstardom. Instead, it was the pinnacle of his main roster run, at least until now. Fans grew tired of his US Title run, and he eventually dropped it to Rey Mysterio.<\/p>\n<p>Vince McMahon&#8217;s former protege then formed a tag team with Grayson Waller. While that partnership brought both men championship success, they soon were relegated to jobbers and fodder for more prominent stars. The only thing fans remember about Theory this year is his embarrassing loss to Jey Uso on RAW.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FULL MATCH \u2014 Austin Theory vs. John Cena \u2014 United States Title Match: WrestleMania 39 Saturday\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BCr8qKBRRTQ?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><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2><strong>#3.<\/strong> Finn Balor &#8211; WWE Raw, January 2019<\/h2>\n<p>Finn Balor&#8217;s case is different from the other entries on this list. Although Balor doesn&#8217;t own a singles win over John Cena, the Prince pinned Cena on the January 17, 2019, edition of RAW to book a date with Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at Royal Rumble 2019.<\/p>\n<p>It was a Fatal Four-Way match that also featured Drew McIntyre and Baron Corbin. Nonetheless, pinning Cena was a huge deal, and The Champ gave Balor a massive rub in the process. At the time, it felt as if the pin could have been the inaugural Universal Champion&#8217;s ticket back to the upper tier.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_142674\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-142674\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-142674 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/09\/Finn_Balor_2024-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"A graphic of The Judgment Day leader, WWE Superstar Finn Balor.\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/09\/Finn_Balor_2024-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/09\/Finn_Balor_2024-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/09\/Finn_Balor_2024-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/09\/Finn_Balor_2024-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/09\/Finn_Balor_2024-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/09\/Finn_Balor_2024-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/09\/Finn_Balor_2024-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-142674\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Credit: By <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=148318403\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carter Sterling<\/a> &#8211; https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/188354731@N05\/53689952946\/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=148318403<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>However, Balor lost to Lesnar at the Rumble. Six years later, the Prince finds himself on the Judgment Day as a veteran involved in a perpetual tussle with the younger Dominik Mysterio. The former NXT Champion has not been featured in a meaningful role for a long time, but things could have been different.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"John Cena believes in Finn B\u00e1lor: Raw, Jan. 17, 2019\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UEsnoNmSatc?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><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2><strong>#2. Rusev &#8211; Fastlane 2015<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>2015 was a memorable year for John Cena as The Champ elevated the United States Championship with the US Title open challenge. However, before the weekly tradition of open challenges began, Cena had taken a loss to the previous US Champion, Rusev.<\/p>\n<p>Fans often overlook Rusev&#8217;s victory for several reasons. It&#8217;s hard to blame them because Cena convincingly defeated the Bulgarian Brute several times after Fastlane 2015. Most notably, The Champ forced Rusev to say the words &#8220;I quit&#8221; at Payback 2015. Cena quickly moved on to a memorable feud with the upstart Kevin Owens, while Rusev lost momentum and got injured.<\/p>\n<p>Rusev was featured in &#8220;The Last Time is Now&#8221; tournament. Although he lost in the second round to Jey Uso, it would have been a cool sight to revisit his storyline with Cena during the farewell tour.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Rusev, Lana &amp; English rewatch The Bulgarian Brute&#039;s victory over Cena at Fastlane 2015: WWE Playback\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7D_oA7H-h2k?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<h2><strong>#1. Shinsuke Nakamura &#8211; WWE SmackDown, August 2017<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Shinsuke Nakamura will go down as one of the biggest missed opportunities in recent memory. The Japanese sensation had the world behind him in his initial few years in WWE. He brought a ton of momentum from NXT to the main roster, and WWE immediately launched him into the main event scene.<\/p>\n<p>In what may go down as the biggest win of his main roster career, Nakamura defeated John Cena on SmackDown in August 2017 to earn a WWE Championship shot against Jinder Mahal at SummerSlam. The King of Strong Style failed to win the belt, but quickly bounced back with a monumental Royal Rumble win.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, Nakamura never won the WWE Championship, and he randomly turned heel. Despite several teases and brief pushes, the Japanese star never reached the heights of his initial push. Today, he is used sparingly.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FULL MATCH - John Cena vs. Shinsuke Nakamura: SmackDown LIVE, August 1, 2017\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UK41Yhc8wPY?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><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> for 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 significant 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>The most difficult week for The Cenation is here. The flag-bearer of WWE for nearly 25 years, John Cena, will wrestle his final match on Saturday Night&#8217;s Main Event against Gunther. The Ring General will battle Cena for the first time, but several active veterans have faced the Champ in the past and came out [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5689,"featured_media":145319,"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-148017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","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\/148017","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\/5689"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148017"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148023,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148017\/revisions\/148023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}