John Cena Reveals He Was Supposed To Win 17th World Title At WWE SummerSlam 2021

John Cena surpassed Ric Flair's 16 titles last year, but he could've achieved that historic moment a few years ago when he faced Roman Reigns, and Cena recently discussed and explained why it didn't happen.

While talking on the "No-Contest Wrestling" podcast, the now-retired star said how Brock Lesnar's return at SummerSlam 2021 squashed plans for him to defeat Reigns and become world champion.

"That night [SummerSlam] was supposed to go very different. In the last moment, we had a surprise guest booked and he came out after the match was over in Brock. They didn't secure Brock until 5:00 PM that day. And you want to talk about pivoting, right? A message to anybody out there listening thinking I'm talking from a high place or a glass house. I was going to win 17, we were going to have someone come out and restart the match and Roman was going to take it back," he revealed.

Cena detailed how the match with Reigns was originally supposed to have been a hard-fought battle where he would win the title, but then through underhand ways, the match was to be restarted and Reigns would've won back the title. But the story changed after the addition of Lesnar to the mix, and Cena suggested to Reigns and Heyman that Reigns should get the better of him after hitting just one spear. At SummerSlam 2021, Reigns got the win over Cena after landing a few Superman Punches and a spear, before being confronted by Lesnar, who returned to the promotion after being on the sidelines for over a year. Lesnar, for good measure, also landed a few F5s on Cena, his old rival, after his face-off with Reigns.

In the interview, Cena also praised Paul Heyman's wrestling mind, crediting him for coming up with the original plan before it was changed. The 17-time world champion used the anecdote to highlight how last-minute changes are inevitable in WWE, from the bottom of the card to the top.