The Best WWE TV Matches of John Cena

John Cena has spent 23 years dominating WWE, capturing his 17th WWE title this year to solidify his legacy. Cena has been part of multiple historic matches throughout his career, many of which took place on live television. While most of Cena’s best matches came at PLEs, some gems also happened on RAW and SmackDown.

Last week on SmackDown, Cena had his final blue-brand match, challenging Sami Zayn for the U.S. Championship. These gems were also main event matches that involved Cena stealing the show. Here are Cena’s top five WWE TV matches in his career. 

#5: John Cena vs. Undertaker (SmackDown: June 24, 2004)

John Cena faced a long-unseen version of The Undertaker in the main event of SmackDown. Cena finally went toe-to-toe with The Deadman, not the Biker Undertaker he was used to facing. Throughout the match, Cena was giving it his all in trying to defeat Undertaker. No matter what Cena pulled up his sleeve, it wasn’t enough to overcome The Phenom. Undertaker would instead take a shortcut by knocking Cena with a chain, leading to a tombstone piledriver for the victory. 

WWE challenged Cena in one of his most underrated matches, challenging him to go head-to-head with main event wrestlers. The match featured great storytelling between Cena and Undertaker, as Cena played the underdog battling someone likely to destroy him. 

#4: John Cena vs. Seth Rollins: WWE United States Championship (RAW: July 28, 2015) 

In 2015, John Cena was wrestling weekly, issuing open challenges for his United States Title. With his multiple memorable matches for that championship, one that comes to mind is when he fought Seth Rollins. Cena was already feuding with Rollins heading to that year’s SummerSlam, in which Rollins was the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. The match between Cena and Rollins built so much to their rivalry as Rollins legitimately kneed Cena in the face, thus breaking his nose.

With an all bloodied nose, Cena clearly had a difficult time breathing, but was still able to continue the match. In fact, the match went on for another five minutes or so after the accidental injury. Cena showed his resilience, picking up the victory by having Rollins submit to the STF. 

#3: John Cena vs. Cesaro: WWE United States Championship (RAW: July 6, 2015)

In 2015, as United States Champion, Cena competed against main event stars and rising talent hungry for an opportunity. One man who makes a prime example of making a name for themselves is Cesaro. Many fans and analysts consider Cesaro one of the most underrated wrestlers in professional wrestling. Seeing someone like Cesaro compete and challenge a guy at Cena’s level was something fans knew they were in for an intense matchup. 

Although Cesaro came up short, it was still a great match as he came this close to defeating Cena. No matter how many uppercuts and suplexes he hit on Cena, it unfortunately wasn’t enough to overcome “Big Match John”.