When John Cena was 'stabbed' in a nightclub by former WWE Superstar

John Cena was starting to get a babyface push by the time 2004 arrived. The Cenation leader was booked to work with an up-and-comer in Carlito. The two had a bitter feud that saw Cena get ‘stabbed’ at a nightclub by the Caribbean Cool’s bodyguard, Jesus.

The angle played out just a week after Carlito had defeated John Cena for the United States Championship in his debut match. Teddy Long noted that Cena would be out of action for an undisclosed amount of time.

The injury angle was used to keep Cena out of in-ring competition for a month so he could complete the filming of his debut movie, The Marine. WWE used Cena’s absence to build Carlito’s United States title reign against Rob Van Dam, Eddie Guerrero, and Rey Mysterio.

It was later revealed that Jesus had carried out the attack on John Cena at his employer’s behest. Cena would eventually return after six weeks of storyline absence. Oddly enough, he would go straight for the United States Championship and its holder instead of taking the matter straight to police. This pretty much explains how logic works in the larger than life world of pro wrestling.

Unfortunately, Carlito’s United States Championship reign was cut short due to a legitimate injury and he would drop the title back to Cena. The Dr. of Thuganomics would also even scores with Jesus with a Street Fight win over him at the 2004 Armageddon pay-per-view event.

How many times did John Cena win the United States Championship?

The United States Championship was Cena’s first singles title in WWE. The wrestling icon won his first US Title against The Big Show at WrestleMania XX. He was stripped of the title by then-SmackDown General Manager Kurt Angle on the July 8, 2004, episode of the blue brand.

John Cena would regain the title in a best-of-five series against Booker T that culminated at No Mercy. He then lost the title to Carlito in his debut match only to regain it months later due to a legitimate injury to the Puerto Rican.

Cena dropped the title to Orlando Jordan early in his feud with JBL for the WWE Championship. The 46-year-old didn’t compete for the United States Championship until 2015 when he defeated Rusev for the title at WrestleMania 31.

He would lose the title to Seth Rollins in a Winner Takes All match that had both Cena’s US Title and Rollins’ WWE World Heavyweight Championship on the line at SummerSlam 2015. He regained the United States Title at Night of Champions, making that his fifth and final win for the championship.

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