5 WrestleMania-caliber matches that WWE gave away on a 'B' PPV

#2 Roman Reigns vs. John Cena

John Cena and Roman Reigns battled to see who was the face of WWE... at No Mercy.

John Cena was the face of WWE for over a decade. He won sixteen world championships. He closed out five WrestleManias and was involved in world title matches. He popularised merchandise and served as an ambassador for the company on the talk show circuit.

Roman Reigns looked to succeed Cena as WWE’s top guy. He was largely featured in WWE programming including three consecutive WrestleMania main events (and counting), multiple world title reigns, and consistent placement at or around the top of the card.

There is no denying that WWE wants Reigns to be the next Cena (Daniel Bryan even suggested, on a recent visit to Edge and Christian’s podcast that Vince McMahon explicitly told him that was the plan at one point).

It seemed inevitable that Cena and Reigns would eventually collide, especially in a passing of the torch scenario that would put Reigns on top of the mountain. WrestleMania seemed like the fitting stage for this showdown, following in the tradition of The Ultimate Warrior beating Hulk Hogan, or Shawn Michaels beating Bret Hart.

However, this match took place at No Mercy 2017 in another move that seemed to serve the Los Angeles market and more immediate storylines. More importantly, this match may have been booked most plainly to give Reigns a career building win on the same night when Brock Lesnar turned back a challenge from Braun Strowman, thus further establishing their destiny to clash again at WrestleMania themselves.