8 most protected WWE Superstars currently

4. John Cena

John Cena has been protected for an incredibly long time and continues to be protected to this very day

There’s no denying that John Cena has been WWE’s golden boy for over a decade. The company has made a monstrous fortune by pushing Cena to the moon, and to protect that cash cow, they’ve protected him more than almost any star in WWE history.

For most of his run at the top, Cena was booked in incredibly one-sided segments and showed little weakness, if any, in the majority of his matches. What’s more, WWE has gone to great lengths to convince everyone that John Cena has never submitted (only two men have ever made him tap out, both cases were well over a decade ago and one of those men is persona non grata in WWE).

There appears to be a reason for this extra degree of protection: Cena’s mantra of ‘never give up’ is meant to act as a motto not just for Cena, but for all the sick children for whom he seeks to be the hero. So imagine what it would do to all those kids that look up to him if their hero gave up and tapped out.

While that in itself would make for an excellent wrestling storyline, the image of Cena that has been crafted so carefully over the years precludes him from ever being in such an unprotected situation.