{"id":148024,"date":"2025-12-08T07:00:28","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T12:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=148024"},"modified":"2026-01-21T02:03:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T07:03:11","slug":"wwe-wrestlers-john-cena-couldnt-get-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/12\/08\/wwe-wrestlers-john-cena-couldnt-get-over\/","title":{"rendered":"5 WWE Wrestlers that John Cena Couldn&#8217;t Get &#8220;Over&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We are getting closer and closer to John Cena&#8217;s final match on December 13&#8217;s Saturday Night&#8217;s Main Event. After last Friday&#8217;s edition of SmackDown, we now know Cena&#8217;s opponent in Washington will be Gunther. A few days ago, we covered five WWE stars whom John Cena actually elevated over the years.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RELATED:<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"e4ZdmKFH2G\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/12\/06\/wwe-wrestlers-john-cena-elevated\/\" target=\"_self\">5 WWE Wrestlers That John Cena Elevated<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;5 WWE Wrestlers That John Cena Elevated&#8221; &#8212; Last Word on Pro Wrestling\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/12\/06\/wwe-wrestlers-john-cena-elevated\/embed\/#?secret=Q6ZCDfBAmx#?secret=e4ZdmKFH2G\" data-secret=\"e4ZdmKFH2G\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Today, we are doing the opposite. While not all on this list were necessarily\u00a0<em>buried<\/em> by Cena, they &#8211; for one reason or another &#8211; simply couldn&#8217;t reach that next level after feuding with the 17-time WWE World Champion. The following are five WWE wrestlers that John Cena couldn&#8217;t get over. Enjoy!<\/p>\n<h2>Wade Barrett<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FULL MATCH - John Cena vs. Wade Barrett: WWE Hell in a Cell 2010\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/M4vKG2NT6Ns?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>Number Of Singles Matches On PPV: 2<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>John Cena&#8217;s Wins: 1 (TLC 2010)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Wade Barrett&#8217;s Wins: 1 (Hell In A Cell 2010)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Wade Barrett&#8217;s WWE Accomplishments: 5x WWE Intercontinental Champion; 2015 King Of The Ring Winner<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We kick off the list with one of the most obvious names due to The Nexus&#8217; infamous and very questionable loss to John Cena in the main event of SummerSlam 2010. For the group&#8217;s leader, Wade Barrett, the sky seemed to be the limit when the promising storyline began. Unfortunately, things simply didn&#8217;t work out as expected.<\/p>\n<p>Wade Barrett has since revealed he didn&#8217;t exactly get along with The Champ:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h4><em>Everyone knows that I don&#8217;t like John Cena, and he doesn&#8217;t like me either&#8230; Personally I don&#8217;t like him and he doesn&#8217;t like me, we are not friends. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thesportster.com\/wwe-wade-barrett-hated-john-cena-not-friends\/#:~:text=%22Everyone%20knows%20that%20I%20don%27t%20like%20John%20Cena%2C%20and%20he%20doesn%27t%20like%20me%20either...%20Personally%20I%20don%27t%20like%20him%20and%20he%20doesn%27t%20like%20me%2C%20we%20are%20not%20friends.%22\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">h\/t TheSportster<\/a>)<\/em><\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This didn&#8217;t exactly do Wade Barrett&#8217;s WWE career any favors backstage. Personal issues aside, they kept working together until the end of the year. Cena saw off Barrett in a rather forgettable Chairs Match in the main event of TLC 2010 to end the feud.<\/p>\n<p>As the leader of Nexus, Wade Barrett main evented five WWE PPVs in 2010: SummerSlam, Night of Champions, Bragging Rights, Survivor Series, and TLC. After working with Cena, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cagematch.net\/?id=2&amp;nr=2849&amp;view=&amp;page=4&amp;gimmick=&amp;year=&amp;promotion=1&amp;region=&amp;location=&amp;arena=&amp;showtype=Pay+Per+View%7CPremium+Live+Event&amp;constellationType=&amp;worker=\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the only way Barrett headlined pay-per-views was by entering the Royal Rumble Match<\/a>. That stat alone tells the whole story.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2>Austin Theory<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Austin Theory vs. John Cena \u2013 United States Championship Match: WrestleMania 39 Highlights\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JNygVIWxB10?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>Number Of Singles Matches On PPV: 1<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>John Cena&#8217;s Wins: None<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Austin Theory&#8217;s Wins: 1 (WrestleMania 39)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Austin Theory&#8217;s WWE Accomplishments: 2x WWE United States Champion; 2022 Men&#8217;s Money In The Bank Winner; 1x WWE Tag Team Champion<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>John Cena defeated Triple H at The Greatest Royal Rumble 2018. The next time John Cena won a televised singles match was &#8211; believe it or not &#8211; against Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 41! During those\u00a0<em>seven<\/em> wins without a singles win, Cena ate some losses that didn&#8217;t work out as planned.<\/p>\n<p>Austin Theory&#8217;s successful US Title defense over John Cena at WrestleMania 39 is definitely one of them. Despite beating one of the best of all time at the biggest stage WWE has to offer, the win didn&#8217;t really launch Theory to the next level. In fact, it almost did the complete opposite.<\/p>\n<p>Many fans and critics usually point to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/shorts\/eGQH6guXhCg\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cena&#8217;s controversial promo on Raw leading up to WrestleMania<\/a>. However, John Cena taking a loss wasn&#8217;t a big deal anymore since it&#8217;d been happening way too often. Which brings us to&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2>Solo Sikoa<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FULL MATCH: John Cena vs. Solo Sikoa: Crown Jewel 2023\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1exOj_5mLsU?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>Number Of Singles Matches On PPV: 1<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>John Cena&#8217;s Wins: None<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Solo Sikoa&#8217;s Wins: 1 (Crown Jewel 2023)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Solo Sikoa&#8217;s WWE Accomplishments: 1x NXT North American Champion; 1x WWE United States Champion<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The same can be said about Solo Sikoa. The Usos&#8217; brother stood out as a member of The Bloodline due to his presence, and it was obvious management wanted to push him. Thus, Sikoa faced John Cena one-on-one at Crown Jewel 2023 in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n<p>John Cena lost yet another singles match when Solo Sikoa delivered five Samoan Spikes in a row. Unfortunately, it didn&#8217;t have the impact they wanted, and the win didn&#8217;t elevate Solo Sikoa to the next level.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2>Rene Dupree<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Number Of Singles Matches On PPV: 1<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>John Cena&#8217;s Wins: 1 (Judgment Day 2004)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Rene Dupree&#8217;s Wins: None<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Rene Dupree&#8217;s WWE Accomplishments: 1x World Tag Team Champion; 1x WWE Tag Team Champion<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This is easily the most controversial entry on this list, as John Cena himself was still relatively green when he feuded with Rene Dupree over the United States Championship. The former La Resistance member was drafted from Raw to SmackDown after WrestleMania 20. Dupree had already been World Tag Team Champion on the red brand and was the youngest titleholder in WWE history at that time.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_148076\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-148076\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-148076 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/12\/Rene_dupree.jpg\" alt=\"A photo of former John Cena WWE rival, Rene Dupree.\" width=\"540\" height=\"354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/12\/Rene_dupree.jpg 540w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/12\/Rene_dupree-300x197.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-148076\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Credit: By<a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Rene_dupree.jpg#\/media\/File:Rene_dupree.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Spc. Sherree Casper<\/a> &#8211; http:\/\/www.defendamerica.mil\/articles\/Dec2004\/a122104cm5.html, Public Domain, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=946537<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Meanwhile, Cena had just won the US Title from Big Show in the opener of &#8216;Mania 20. Their feud wasn&#8217;t necessarily bad, but it was largely forgettable. John Cena retained the belt against Rene at Judgment Day (as well as a few multi-person matches throughout the spring) before moving on to a much bigger program with Booker T.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Dupree briefly returned to the tag team division, teaming with Kenzo Suzuki, and slowly moved down the card.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2>Baron Corbin<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FULL MATCH: John Cena vs. Baron Corbin: SummerSlam 2017\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2nqex1uMj1w?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>Number Of Singles Matches On PPV: 1<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>John Cena&#8217;s Wins: 1 (SummerSlam 2017)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Baron Corbin&#8217;s Wins: None<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Baron Corbin&#8217;s WWE Accomplishments: 2016 Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal Winner; 2017 Men&#8217;s Money In The Bank Winner; 1x WWE United States Champion; 2019 King Of The Ring Winner; 2024 Men&#8217;s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Winner; 1x NXT Tag Team Champion<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Finally, we have someone who was just about to reach the top of the mountain&#8230; until they feuded with Cena! We&#8217;re obviously talking about Baron Corbin. The Lone Wolf held the Money in the Bank briefcase when his feud with Cena began.<\/p>\n<p>On the last episode of SmackDown Live before SummerSlam 2017 &#8211; where the two were scheduled to wrestle each other &#8211; Cena had a non-title match against WWE Champion Jinder Mahal. Cena dominated the then-champion and had the match won, but Corbin ran in for the disqualification finish.<\/p>\n<p>Corbin wanted to beat up his SummerSlam opponent, but the reigning WWE Champion was vulnerable and was right there! Corbin had a decision to make, and he chose to cash in his briefcase. As soon as the bell rang, though, Cena got up on the apron and distracted Corbin, allowing Jinder to roll up Corbin and retain the title.<\/p>\n<p>Baron Corbin looked like the biggest idiot on the planet. But it would get worse&#8230; Their SummerSlam match was one-sided and firmly sent Corbin back to the midcard.<\/p>\n<p><strong>More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Header photo \u2013 WWE \u2013<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<em>Stay tuned to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a> 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 major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>You can check out WWE programming on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.netflix.com\/title\/81788927\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Netflix<\/a>\u00a0(Raw),\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usanetwork.com\/wwe-friday-night-smackdown\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">USA Network<\/a>\u00a0(SmackDown),\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cwtv.com\/shows\/wwe-nxt\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The CW<\/a>\u00a0(NXT),\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tubitv.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tubi<\/a>\u00a0(WWE Evolve),\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aetv.com\/wwe\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A&amp;E<\/a>\u00a0(WWE Superstar Sunday \u2013 Rivals, WWE LFG, and Greatest Moments), and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.peacocktv.com\/watch\/home\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Peacock<\/a>\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<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/wwe\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">YouTube<\/a>, and catch fast-paced action on X (<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/i\/events\/1773457579022155776?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WWE Speed<\/a>).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We are getting closer and closer to John Cena&#8217;s final match on December 13&#8217;s Saturday Night&#8217;s Main Event. After last Friday&#8217;s edition of SmackDown, we now know Cena&#8217;s opponent in Washington will be Gunther. A few days ago, we covered five WWE stars whom John Cena actually elevated over the years. RELATED: 5 WWE Wrestlers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5694,"featured_media":148075,"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-148024","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\/148024","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=148024"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151217,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148024\/revisions\/151217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}