WINC Watchlist: John Cena's Top 10 WWE Matches, Ranked

This weekend, John Cena's 25-year WWE career comes to an end at "Saturday Night's Main Event." Any wrestler's retirement generally brings about the question of their all-time best matches, and Cena's retirement begs the question even more than most, considering the sheer length of time he spent at the top of the wrestling industry. To answer that question, as always, Wrestling Inc. turned to our extraordinarily knowledgeable (and opinionated) staff, and the results now stand before you.

Here's how it worked. We polled the WINC crew about their favorite Cena matches, eventually cobbling together a list of 20. Then we asked the staff to vote for every match they believe belonged in a Cena top 10 list, with the matches getting the most total votes making the cut. Once we had our 10 matches, we had the staff participate in a ranked choice vote to determine the final order, and here it is: the definitive ranked list of John Cena's all-time greatest matches.

A career like John Cena's is bound to have a lot of great matches in it, and they simply cannot all be ranked among his very best. Please tell us all about how we slighted your favorite one in the comments! Here are the matches that were nominated as part of our process, but ultimately did not make the top 10:

• John Cena vs. JBL (Judgment Day 2005)
• John Cena vs. Umaga (Royal Rumble 2007)
• John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar (Extreme Rules 2012)
• John Cena vs. CM Punk (Night of Champions 2012)
• John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar (SummerSlam 2014)
• John Cena vs. Kevin Owens (Elimination Chamber 2015)
• John Cena vs. Kevin Owens (Money in the Bank (2015)
• John Cena vs. Cesaro (WWE Raw 7/6/2015)
• John Cena vs. AJ Styles (Royal Rumble 2017)
• John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes (SummerSlam 2025)

And now, the official top 10 greatest John Cena matches ever, according to Wrestling Inc.!

Not going to lie, this one had many of us tearing up upon first look. When re-watching, the case remains the same, and for good reasons.

What lacked in the build-up to AJ Styles vs. John Cena was made up through the excellent chemistry, exciting tributes, and emotional energy evident at WWE Crown Jewel 2025. The timing of Crown Jewel itself added another significant layer as well given that it marked the final encounter between Cena and Styles, with Cena on track to retire from in-ring competition just two months after it. Styles isn't too far behind, though, as he plans to hang up his own wrestling boots in 2026.

Recognizing that, Cena wrote a special introduction, to be voiced by Alicia Taylor, for Styles ahead of their last in-ring clash. Mentions of "total, nonstop action" and the Bullet Club then happily caught Styles and the WWE Universe by surprise.

Of course, those wouldn't be the only references seen in this performance. In fact, they were only the beginning of them.

Amidst the in-ring action, Cena and Styles paid tribute to several current and former colleagues of theirs. From Cena, fans saw the Accolade famously used by Rusev, Chris Jericho's Walls of Jericho, a Randy Orton-like Draping DDT and RKO, and a Skull Crushing Finale in the style of The Miz. The late Bray Wyatt was also honored with Cena's rendition of a Sister Abigail. On Styles' part, he notably used Samoa Joe's Coquina Clutch, Christopher Daniels' Angel's Wings, and the Scorpion Death Drop associated with Sting. Though they never physically worked together in the ring, Styles delivered a Sweet Chin Music to the tune of Shawn Michaels as well.

Overall, Styles and Cena showcased something that, while recent, we trust to stand the test of time for both men. And ironically, it's not even their best performance.

Written by Ella Jay

When John Cena returned to WWE in February 2020, few would have guessed the pay-off that was to come. Cena had not wrestled since January 2019, when he was one of three losers in a four-way to determine the number one contender to the Universal Championship, and appeared to have no direction heading to WrestleMania 36. Rather ironically, he was floating retirement around, and declared that he would not be competing at the event. But his direction soon made itself clear enough as he gave a farewell salute, "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt appearing behind him, pointing at the WrestleMania sign and signaling their match to come. 

At the very core of the character, "The Fiend" had been designed as a manifestation of Wyatt's failures in WWE, and thus set eyes on the figures of pain in his career. Perhaps aside from Orton, who was to come ultimately at the demise of the character, Cena could have been the foremost name when it came to those who hurt Wyatt; Cena defeated Wyatt in his first WrestleMania in 2014, with their feud appearing to derail his momentum irreparably. So it only made sense for the character to come knocking when Cena was at his most vulnerable in years, and soon enough the match was declared to be a "Firefly Fun House" match.

That match is now recognized as one of, if not the, greatest examples of the creative powerhouse that was Bray Wyatt. Taking advantage of the pandemic-era crowdless venue, it was a cinematic dismantling of the John Cena persona, hearkening back to Cena's "WWE SmackDown" debut, and spoofing the Hulk Hogan comparisons with a pseudo-Saturday Night's Main Event segment. Wyatt got to rationalize and eulogize the loss he felt at Cena's hands, successfully coercing Cena into hitting him with the steel chair – as he had refused to do at WrestleMania 30 – and reflecting the heel journey that would have spurred, Cena being introduced as the NWO's third man a la "Hollywood" Hogan. 

By the end of the cinematic experience, the glowing slight of the Cena character had been snuffed out, covered in a Mandible Claw by "The Fiend" as Bray Wyatt himself made the count. This wasn't a match. It was a journal entry in the wrestling life of Wyatt, and it told of a demon vanquished by an equally malignant trauma response, that just so happens to be one of the greatest matches in both men's careers. Wrestling is not a love story, it's a fairy tale for masochists. And the Firefly Funhouse was one for the ages.

Written by Max Everett

For everyone who was excited to see a heel run from John Cena in 2025 and were left disappointed, this match will scratch that itch for you.

By mid-2006, Cena was already starting to repel a lot of the hardcore WWE fans, regardless of whether he put on a good performance or not. He was being shoved down the throats of fans by the powers that be and rejected in the process because some people thought he was still too green, or not up to the standard of what a main event guy should look like. However, this is one of the earliest examples of why Cena has remained at the top of the industry for so long. His adaptability, his willingness to take risks, and above all, his ability to get the fans invested.

The crowds at ECW shows have become legendary, but One Night Stand 2006 was an entirely different beast and can be seen as influential in its own right. "If Cena Wins, We Riot" is a sign that has been replicated over and over, but here it felt like it was actually possible. Cena's shirt being repeatedly thrown back at him has also been copied, and the onslaught of explicit chants directed Cena's way are all commonplace in today's wrestling world. With that said, it's Cena's work against the crowd that adds to this being one of his greatest performances ever.

As a match, it's extremely memorable for a lot of reasons, but as time has passed it's actually Cena's work in this that has aged the best. Rob Van Dam is there to be "Mr. ECW" and he does that very well, but while RVD doesn't really do anything other than playing the hits for the fans that are desperate to see him win, Cena morphs into someone who revels in the "Me vs. The World" environment that is set up for him here. Brawling in the crowd, complete with washing RVD's face with a sign that reads "F*** You Cena." Using the Extreme Rules to bend the will of the match in his favor in the least ECW ways possible like using the ropes for leverage on pin attempts and not breaking the STFU when RVD gets to the bottom rope.

Cena is against 2,501 people in this match, and he genuinely gets the better of 2,500 of them by sucking the air out of the room by just being better than RVD on this night. However, it's Edge who runs in and costs Cena the WWE Championship in the end. RVD might have left New York City with the gold, but Cena left with a performance that has outshone everything on the show.

Written by Sam Palmer

On a night best remembered for fans booing Roman Reigns, The Rock, and WWE out of the building, John Cena vs. Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar for Lesnar's WWE Championship was the lone bright spot of the 2015 Royal Rumble, a match so great it almost seems like it came from another promotion. It was so great that many fans forget that the lead up to the match had been marred by a main roster creative direction that at times seemed clueless at best, and in outer space at worst.

This was ironic given the issues between Cena and Lesnar had started off so promising, when Lesnar not just beat Cena to win the WWE Championship at SummerSlam, but demolished him in a way never before seen in a WWE main event. So it was only logical after a rematch between the two settled nothing that a third match, featuring Cena seeking redemption, would be hotly anticipated. And that was before the addition of Rollins, who by early 2015 had solidified himself as a top heel with the Money in the Bank briefcase in tow. And yet, by the time the match hit the ring, it had been bogged down the insertion of the heel stable The Authority into the storyline, Cena's allies like Ryback and Dolph Ziggler getting "fired," and a slew of other twists and turns that left Cena, Rollins, and Lesnar with only themselves to rely on to get this match to the next level.

Fortunately, that's exactly what they did, telling the story of Lesnar as an unstoppable machine that Cena and Rollins eventually realized they couldn't beat on their own, forcing the enemies to work together to briefly take him out. Of course, it didn't work; Lesnar rose like a phoenix and eventually emerged victorious to set himself on a collision course with Reigns that Rollins would ultimately derail at WrestleMania 31. At the time,many felt it was among the greatest triple threat matches in history, a showcase for Lesnar to continue his rampage while showing more vulnerability than he had for some time, and a break out performance for Rollins.

And then there was Cena. In truth, the Royal Rumble triple threat is probably no better or worse than the countless other classic Cena performances in history. But he was reliably outstanding as always, once again making the most of an iffy situation going in and setting the tone for a year that saw him earn critical acclaim for his US Championship open challenge run. There's a strong argument to make that 2015 was the best year of Cena's career, and this was the match that started it all.

Written by Eric Mutter

There are some wrestling stories John Cena is just really good at telling, and first among those is the story where Cena represents home-grown WWE talent, aka "sports entertainment," vs. someone who came up through the independent scene, aka "pro wrestling. There's perhaps never been a purer distillation of this storyline than when Cena faced Daniel Bryan, known before and after his WWE tenure as Bryan Danielson, at WWE SummerSlam 2013. By necessity, the narrative is extremely meta in a way that might not be to everyone's taste, from the opening chapter that sees Cena select Bryan as his SummerSlam opponent (simply because he's getting popular) to the ending, in which Triple H and Randy Orton crush Bryan's dreams moments after his first WWE Championship win, the sports entertainment "Authority" keeping the pro wrestler out of the top spot as fans had accused them of doing in real life for years. In between, though, there's a really, really great wrestling match.

I remember so vividly watching this match for the first time, because I was a Ring of Honor guy, and this — finally, finally, at long last — was "The American Dragon" in WWE. This man left the independent scene after suggesting to his last ROH crowd that he should "punch John Cena in the ear," so the levels of meta ran deep, but what stands out even more is the way he's wrestling ... and the way Cena hangs with him every step of the way. I was very much a part of the "smark" audience at the time that despised Cena and his "five moves of doom," preferring Bryan's more technical style; we were part of the storyline, chanting "You can't wrestle" at Cena and making Bryan an overnight sensation with his "Yes!" catchphrase. We were the ones supporting Bryan over Cena, the fans Bryan was channeling in the build when he told Cena "I think you are a parody of wrestling." Bryan also told Cena of the Japanese tradition where wrestlers fire one another up by slapping each other in the face as hard as they can. Bryan said he wished he could that to Cena, but he can't, "because you're not a wrestler, and you don't deserve it."

There are a lot of really fun sequences in this match, but my favorite is the one late in the match where Cena slaps Bryan, and Bryan finally slaps him back, leading to exactly the kind of exchange he'd described. This was two years before Cena's well-remembered US title run, but it was the moment he proved himself to Daniel Bryan and the fans who loved him. Bryan winning was special, and of course his immediate loss (inadvertently) led to "YestleMania," but what I remember most is how my opinion of Cena changed after this match. Cena is a wrestler; he's a great wrestler, and this was the match where he got to shove that inescapable fact in the faces of doubters like me.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

It can be difficult to choose between which one of John Cena's matches with AJ Styles was the best during their trilogy in the mid-2010s, but their second encounter at SummerSlam 2016 was slightly the favorite for the staff at Wrestling Inc. Although their clash at Money In The Bank set the tone, and their battle at the Royal Rumble is memorable for Cena becoming a 16-time World Champion, SummerSlam featured the perfect blend of emotion and unpredictability, making it one of the best matches of Cena's career.

Heading into "The Biggest Party Of The Summer," Styles was confident after defeating Cena at Money In The Bank, but the victory came with an asterisks due to "The Phenomenal One" using The Club to help him pickup the win. Therefore, their battle at SummerSlam was promised to have no interference. The build-up to their match was also the best out of their trilogy, with Styles popularizing the catchphrase "Beat Up John Cena," and both competitors cutting intense promos that are still remembered today.

Like most of his matches throughout the 2010s, Cena was met with boos entering his match with Styles at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, but it didn't stop him from proving that he could keep up with the former TNA star. Cena delivered suplexes and dropkicks throughout the contest, while Styles seemingly had an answer for all of Cena's signature moves. However, the match reaches another level halfway through, as both men start to perform their greatest hits — but the true magic on display was the dramatic near-falls that followed.

Both Cena and Styles survived multiple finishers and submission holds that left the audience in disbelief, but nothing was more shocking than watching the two-time WWE Champion kick out of an Avalanche Attitude Adjustment, and then quickly deliver the Styles Clash and a Phenomenal Forearm to score the victory. Throughout most of his career, Cena was often criticized for being a decent wrestler who would be carried by his opponent to produce good matches, but his first two battles against Styles, especially the bout at SummerSlam, proved he could hang with one of the best in-ring stars in the world.

Written by Julien D'Alessandro

Nowadays, John Cena and Shawn Michaels are widely considered to be two of the greatest performers to ever step into a professional wrestling ring. Back in 2007, however, they were miles apart, with Michaels having the clear advantage in terms of status, experience, and perception. Still, a non-title match between the two on "WWE Raw" managed to make them appear on the same level across the board, so much so that we doubt you'll be chanting "Cena sucks" after watching it.

Just three weeks before this in-ring meeting, Cena defeated Michaels via submission to retain the WWE Championship in the main event at WWE WrestleMania 23. Cena set up that scene again with an early STFU (today, known as the STF) attempt in their non-title rematch on "Raw," though Michaels evaded it. This occurrence repeated shortly after when Cena positioned Michaels on his shoulders for an FU (aka Attitude Adjustment), which "The Heartbreak Kid" also escaped. Cena then reminded Michaels that he was "this close" to landing them and beating him once more.

In the words of former WWE commentator Jim Ross, the remainder of this near 56-minute affair was an absolute slobberknocker, complemented by false finishes, technical wrestling, and the magnificent selling of Michaels (even referee Mike Chioda acknowledges it).

Much of this match's story revolved around Michaels selling damage to his back, which Cena exploited with an FU, a ram into the steel ring post, and some moves rarely seen by the Cenation leader — notably, a bear hug and a leg drop off the top rope. All of those were no match for Michaels' resiliency.

Despite absorbing a heavy amount of punishment, Michaels eventually got himself back in the game with a powerbomb off the top rope, then a rather fierce launching of Cena into the announce desk. What followed were mutual displays of perseverance, with both competitors utilizing the bottom rope to break out of predicaments that surely would have ended the match on any other night. That night in London belonged to Michaels, though, as another FU attempt turned into a successfully hit Sweet Chin Music.

In defeat, John Cena still looked strong. And perhaps more importantly, he proved that he could actually hang with the respected legend that is Shawn Michaels.

Written by Ella Jay

If one were to poll WWE fans, asking them to name John Cena's greatest rival, there's a very good chance Edge (aka AEW's Adam Copeland) would be among the top wrestlers mentioned. From 2003 through 2010, the two wrestled each other at least 101 times across TV, PPVs, and live events, and that's only counting singles matches. Without a doubt, the most lauded entry into the Cena-Edge canon is their Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match at WWE Unforgiven 2006.

Earlier in the year, Edge cashed in the first-ever Money in the Bank contract on Cena at WWE New Year's Revolution to win his first world title. That was technically the first of their many PPV bouts (not counting Royal Rumble appearances), and the feud would continue from there, with Cena winning the title back at the Royal Rumble before Edge would eventually regain it.

Fast forward to the night of Unforgiven, and fans were heavily aligned against Cena. WWE wasn't yet immersed in the "Cena Sucks" era, but a sizable portion of the audience was beginning to revolt against Vince McMahon's chosen babyface. The negative reaction was even stronger here, as the match was taking place in Edge's hometown of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Edge came into the match as WWE Champion, and he was nearly overcome with emotion as the crowd erupted when Lillian Garcia announced him in the ring.

From bell to bell, this is one of Cena's finest performances. The crowd was already electric, and that reaction was only bolstered by the chemistry Cena and Edge had developed by this point. The match features plenty of TLC action, serving as the conclusion to this chapter of their rivalry. If the bout has a flaw, it's that the pace is just a little too slow at times, but the wrestlers make up for it with some of the most exciting stunt-spots of Cena's career.

Without turning into a full-blown heel, Cena fills the role of a villain for the night, hitting Lita with his finisher before dropping Edge from the top of a ladder through two tables at the match's end. While this type of match might not have been Cena's specialty, he certainly delivered on this night, giving fans one of his most memorable performances.

Written by Nick Miller

The reason so many people were excited to see John Cena and CM Punk lock horns in Cena's 2025 retirement tour was because they always managed to make magic together. Up until Night of Champions 2025, this was the final match between the two men, and it's easy to see why everyone wanted one more round of this feud, because this match just rocks.

By the time Cena and Punk met on the February 25, 2013 episode of "Raw," they knew each other inside and out. They could counter each other's counters to the point where each man would have to take drastic measures in order to get the job done, and that is the real story of this match. Cena only having his "five moves of doom" was always used as a way to diminish his in-ring abilities, but Punk took those five moves and made it the core of this absolute masterpiece. 

Whenever Cena went for the five moves, Punk had an answer for them to keep the control. Cena might hit one Flying Shoulder Block, but Punk would duck the second. Once Cena got to that second stage, Punk was able to roll through the Spinning Side Slam into an Anaconda Vice that Cena sells like his life is on the line. Cena would eventually get to part three, but Punk scouted the Five Knuckle Shuffle by kicking Cena in the head, and once Cena looked to hit the Attitude Adjustment, Punk has wriggled out of that move so many times he could do it in his sleep. 

All of this creates an incredible sense of urgency from both men as Cena rushes into his signature sequence to stay one step ahead of a man who is two steps ahead of him. However, it's when they dig deep into their respective bag of tricks where the match is won and lost. Punk hits the first televised Piledriver in several years, making everyone gasp not just at the move itself because it was banned at the time, but the fact that it looked to have won the match. When Cena kicked out, Punk strayed from the plan and got emotional, allowing Cena to hit a Hurricanrana of all things, and finally the AA for that all important win to send him to the main event of WrestleMania 29.

Two masters at work in front of a red hot crowd that were living and dying on every near fall. Easily one of the best matches of both men's careers, possibly the greatest match in the history of "WWE Raw" from an in-ring perspective — and still somehow not the best Cena vs. Punk match...

Written by Sam Palmer

Cena's match against CM Punk for the WWE Championship at Money in the Bank 2011 is perhaps one of the most important and memorable matches in modern WWE history, and that's why it takes the top spot on our list of Cena's best matches. It's also a well-wrestled, well-paced match, with Punk at his prime, right ahead of his 434-day WWE Championship reign, against a perfect dance partner in Cena.

The match works so well, in part, because of Punk's "pipe bomb" promo on an episode of "WWE Raw" right before Money in the Bank. Punk was on the warpath and even though most of his anger was directed toward Vince McMahon, he was set to take down the company's golden boy and make an example of Cena, who he said was only better than him at "kissing Vince McMahon's a**." Punk threatened to walk out with the title when he took it off Cena, as his contract was expiring, and McMahon then threatened to fire Cena if that happened, so fans were watching the entire match on the edge of their seats, both in the arena and at home, to see how the match would conclude.

The over-33 minute Money in the Bank match was also helped by the fact it took place in front of a white-hot crowd in Punk's hometown of Chicago, which only benefitted Cena, as he had to work harder to combat the "you can't wrestle" chants. The in-ring action starts out a bit slow, leaving plenty of room for business to pickup throughout the lengthy match, though if you were only listening to the raucous crowd, you'd have no idea Cena and Punk were trading rest holds. Things pick up when the competitors start to trade finisher attempts, but the other man counters.

Toward the end of the battle, McMahon and John Laurinitis come down to ringside, and it looks as though the chairman is about to pull yet another Montreal Screwjob as Cena has Punk locked in the STF, but Cena breaks the hold to drop Laurinaitis, refusing the tainted victory despite the consequences for his own career. With Cena distracted, Punk catches him, hits a GTS and secures the massive victory. As icing on the cake, Punk also counters McMahon's effort to have Alberto Del Rio cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase, leading to the iconic image of Punk blowing McMahon a goodbye kiss and leaving through the Chicago crowd.

Cena goes the distance in this one and doesn't let the crowd throw him off at any point, and the bout is a masterclass in storytelling, making it the best Cena match in history.

Written by Daisy Ruth