Ranking John Cena's 10 best WrestleMania matches

John Cena may not be the most popular superstar in WWE history, but he’s certainly one of the most dedicated. Come hell or high water he has been able to produce the goods for WWE year in and year out, and he’s been doing so ever since he first debuted way back in 2002.

Of course, he didn’t actually have his in-ring debut at Mania until 2004, and since that year he’s only missed one edition of the showcase of the immortals back in 2016. He’s had good matches and he’s had some stinkers, but most of the time he’s always got people talking when the show rolls off the air.

A quick note – out of his 13 bouts, the three that didn’t make the cut were The Miz at WM27, Big Show & Edge at WM25, and The Miz & Maryse and WM33.

So with that being said, here's our updated list of John Cena’s 10 best WrestleMania matches.

#10 JBL - WrestleMania 21

JBL was the perfect foil for Cena to conquer

John Cena vs John Bradshaw Layfield at WrestleMania 21 was always going to be a match that wasn’t known for its technical greatness, but instead for it being a coming out party of sorts for The Doctor of Thuganomics. This was where Cena would announce himself to the world as the new face of the company, and for the most part, it went quite well.

The in-ring work was nothing special which is why we’ve placed it towards the lower end of the rankings, but Cena and JBL both had a job to do on that night and that executed it pretty well. John was still in the early stages of his career meanwhile JBL was a seasoned veteran, and the match proved to be a satisfying end to Bradshaw’s long WWE Championship reign.

#9 Big Show – WrestleMania 20

The original Cena vs Show feud was a lot of fun

If you fast forward twelve months prior, you arrive at WrestleMania 20 in New York City. It’s potentially the most underrated Mania in the history of the event, with this showdown between John Cena and Big Show being a particular highlight of ours. Again, it wasn’t about tactical prowess, but instead, it was about the story.

Cena was in the prime of his ‘gangster’ type gimmick, while Show was running rampant as the monster heel United States Champion. Everyone knew that the big spot of Cena lifting Show up for the Attitude Adjustment was coming, but that didn’t make it any less impressive.

Cena had a rocket ship strapped to his back from that day onwards, and the rest is history.

#8 Bray Wyatt – WrestleMania 30

Upon reflection, we’ve decided to lower the positioning of the Bray Wyatt match from WrestleMania 30 – because it really doesn’t hold up all too well. It’s a perfectly fine match when you consider the average standards of both men, but we all know that they’ve both been able to produce much better work in the years prior to and since New Orleans.

It’s almost as if they were focusing too hard on Cena’s ‘legacy’ storyline, as Bray tried to get John to turn to the dark side. The premise was fascinating but all it did was end up growing Cena’s character, meanwhile, Wyatt began a Mania losing streak which still hasn’t been broken to this day.

When it comes to halting someone’s momentum, Cena was guilty as sin in this match.

#7 Triple H – WrestleMania 22

Cena played The Game, and won — Cena played The Game and won

For some bizarre reason, John Cena vs Triple H at WrestleMania 22 actually seems to age quite well. It wasn’t a classic by any means and The Game was clearly just hungry for another Mania main event, but fans seem to forget just how good the atmosphere was in Chicago that night.

It was the first major example of Cena being booed out of a building, meanwhile, HHH somehow turned into the babyface favourite. It felt like the world was against Cena and there was a chance that The Cerebral Assassin would walk out with the belt, but alas, Big Match John managed to defy the odds like only he can.

There's an argument to be made that this is Triple H’s finest Mania main event, too.

#6 The Rock – WrestleMania 29

The crowd didn't respond particularly well to this

The sequel to Cena vs Rock was something that many fans didn’t want to see, mainly because we had been promised back in Miami that it’d be a Once in a Lifetime event. Oh, and the WWE Universe was also clamouring to see CM Punk take part in a well-deserved Mania main event, but WWE wants you to forget about that bit of the story.

The match at MetLife Stadium was perfectly fine and it was still better than the majority of Mania headliners, but it was missing that extra suspense. Given that The Great One had won the first encounter everyone was just waiting for Cena to pick up the win, and above all that, we didn’t even get the heel turn which had been rumoured for months prior.

#5 Randy Orton & Triple H – WrestleMania 24

Heading into WrestleMania 24, John Cena was 4-0 at the granddaddy of them all. It may not seem like an impressive record when stacked up against The Undertaker’s streak, but it’s actually quite staggering when you consider how many people lose a big match early on in their Mania career.

That statistic is one of the many reasons why it was so shocking when Randy Orton came out on top at the conclusion of this triple threat match, which was much better than it had any right to be. The contest really should’ve been a simple Orton vs Cena showdown, but even with the addition of Triple H it still wound up being an entertaining showdown.

Plus, the right man won, which always helps.

#4 Rusev – WrestleMania 31

The Bulgarian Brute was on an absolute tear in the 12 months prior to WrestleMania 31, as Rusev went through every notable mid-carder on the main roster before eventually capturing the United States Championship. He managed to bring prestige back to the title long before the US Open Challenge came along, and for that, we’ll be forever grateful.

In terms of this match, everything went pretty smoothly, from the production to the actual end result. Sure, Rusev winning would’ve been a nice twist, but we were actually okay with the idea of someone with John Cena’s stature holding a mid-card championship. In the end, it was a great move as Cena continued to make the US title feel like the most important belt in the entire company, so everyone came out a winner here.

Well, apart from RuRu.

#3 Batista – WrestleMania 26

Despite being on a collision course for the better part of five years, it took until WrestleMania 26 in Arizona for Batista and John Cena to square off at the biggest show of the year. These two men had led the way on Raw and SmackDown ever since their crowning moments at WM21, and their eventual match was as good as you’d expect it to be.

Batista played the role of entitled heel perfectly, meanwhile, Cena was able to rise to the occasion as only he can. The 16-time world champion was moving into that stage of his career where he was having good matches with literally everybody, with this effort against Batista being arguably one of the best of them all.

#2 Shawn Michaels – WrestleMania 23

HBK knows how to bring his opponents to the next level

It’s a tough one, but the Shawn Michaels match in Detroit falls just short of the number one spot. Of course, that doesn’t make it any less incredible, as The Showstopper was able to bring out a whole new side of Cena when they went head to head for the right to be called the WWE champion.

Both men hit each other with everything they had until eventually, Cena was able to wear Michaels down and pick up the win. Alas, it’s an odd match to look back on when you consider that they had an even better bout just a few weeks later in the UK, although this was an early form of proof that Cena could hang with the big boys.

#1 The Rock – WrestleMania 28

It was always going to be this.

There’s an argument to be made that these two men could’ve gone out and had an absolute stinker of a match, and none of us would’ve noticed. John Cena vs The Rock was a showdown that was quite literally a year in the making, and while some fans have mixed views on the build-up, the end product was everything we could’ve hoped for and more.

Just seeing The Rock back in the ring in a one-on-one match-up was bizarre enough, and then when you saw he was facing off against Cena it was even more unusual. The stage was perfect, the stare down was perfect, and the end result was probably the right way to go when you consider they were in Miami.

It was a moment in pro wrestling history that we’ll never forget, and that’s the highest form of praise we can award it.

Edited by Tanya Rudra