The Magnificent Seven: John Cena’s Top 7 Nights As A Part-Timer

The past three years have seen John Cena slide progressively further into part-timer status. He was the face of the company for over a decade, putting him alongside the likes of Bruno Sammartino and Hulk Hogan for longevity on top, while working a media schedule like no one before him, and never having a fall out with the company. However, as he’s both gotten older and seen additional opportunities open to him, he’s inched toward a career in Hollywood. While, in interviews like his stop by Chris Hardwick’s Id10t podcast, he suggests that his acting and PR work is all in the work of furthering WWE’s brand, he nonetheless looks as though he may well emerge as second only to The Rock when it comes to being a full-on celebrity, known first, but not exclusively for his wrestling.

But Cena has come back when WWE needs him—a regular presence when WrestleMania rolls around, and for other big shows, working with full-time talent as well as other part-timers for short-term programs, as a transitional champion, and for one-off appearances. While the catalog of Cena’s moments as a part-timer is only going to grow as the years march on, there are enough at present to count down the best of them. Nailing down Cena’s time as a part-timer is tricky and a bit arbitrary, so I’m calling it from fall 2016 (post-No Mercy) to the present.

This week’s column comes down mosty to personal opinion about Cena’s nights as a part-timer that entertained in their own right, or succeeded in contributing to the bigger picture of WWE storytelling.

#7. Raw 25

Raw 25 had a lot of potential, with a truly star-studded roster of former and current stars lined up to appear from across two venues. It was sensible enough for Cena to show up, not only to mark the occasion and commemorate his lengthy history with the show, but also as WWE entered WrestleMania season, and Cena was lined up to participate in the men’s Royal Rumble match.

That Cena would interact with Elias made sense enough, too, given that the latter was an up and coming heel, but precedent suggested Cena might dominate the exchange at the younger star’s expense for a feel-good moment that nonetheless felt predictable and didn’t do Elias any favors.

One of Cena’s best qualities, particularly over the latter half of his career to date, has been his selfness in willingly putting over other guys. This was a fine example, because, on a night The Kliq beat up on The Revival and Chris Jericho got the better of Elias in a backstage verbal exchange, it was Cena who let Elias get one up on him in the ring. Elias low-blowed him and smashed a guitar over The Champ to give him the rub opposite a legend, and give himself some momentum as a Royal Rumble dark horse. Cena is bullet proof enough to weather a moment like this just fine, and seeing him come up short in this exchange was a welcome, legitimate surprise.

#6. WrestleMania 33

WrestleManias 21 through 27 saw John Cena in world title matches, and he main evented WrestleManias 28 and 29 opposite The Rock. He took a step backward then, working with newer stars Bray Wyatt and Rusev for WrestleManias 30 and 31, and while the quality of these matches was debatable, they were nonetheless still serious, featured bouts.

WrestleMania 33 was different as Cena was cast in a mixed tag team match with Nikki Bella against The Miz and Maryse. While the year to follow would see a mixed tag set the stage for the celebrated in-ring debut of Ronda Rousey, the ‘Mania 33 clash still felt much more like a match in service of WWE’s reality TV relationship with E!, if not a comedic outing, and in either case a big step down for Cena.

I won’t claim that the match was a classic, but Cena still showed up gamely and the match was as good as anyone could have hoped for under the circumstances. Better yet, Cena’s proposal to Bella in the aftermath was a legitimate WrestleMania moment in its own right—not exactly Randy Savage reuniting with Miss Elizabeth, but nonetheless an emotionally rewarding piece of business for it ostensibly being a real moment, and thus adding a genuinely different dimension to Cena’s WrestleMania legacy.

#5. The Raw After Fastlane 2018

For early 2018, WWE pushed a storyline of John Cena desperately trying to figure out his road to WrestleMania. It started with a failed bid in the Royal Rumble match, and followed through with him seeking to play spoiler for first the Raw Elimination Chamber Match for a Universal Championship shot at ‘Mania, then the SmackDown Six-Pack Challenge for the WWE Championship. While Cena didn’t really figure in as a realistic winner for the Chamber, there did seem to be some danger of WWE either subbing Cena in over AJ Styles, or adding him to a Triple Threat for the blue brand at ‘Mania. The storyline worked in mixing kayfabe drama with real-life intrigue about how WWE might use Cena, and was complicated by Cena explicitly saying that he wouldn’t be allowed to wrestle The Undertaker at the Showcase of the Immortals early in the build.

Rumors abounded that Cena was supposed to feud with Samoa Joe, but he got hurt, and that Cena had requested Rey Mysterio, who suffered a bicep injury and still hadn’t officially re-signed with WWE. While there certainly was a contingent of fans that called the work from the beginning—that WWE was pulling a long con and would ultimately bring back The Dead Man—the ruse was mostly successful.

But then Cena explicitly challgenged The Phenom, the night after Fast Lane.

Cena’s promo work had been good up to that point in his search for a ‘Mania match, but really picked up when it became clear he’d be carrying the load in The Undertaker’s absence leading up to the biggest show of the year. He had the crowd with him on this promo, and while the dynamic arguably got a little tiresome as the weeks went on, his build to WrestleMania peaked on this night, as the Cena-Undertaker dream match began to take shape as a reality.

#4. No Mercy 2017

No Mercy 2017 featured two dream matches that many fans were surprised WWE hadn’t saved for a future WrestleMania, or at least a SummerSlam. It seemed the company wanted to establish that ever PPV is a big deal, not count on injuries not fouling up long term plans, and do right by the Staples Center that had been good to the company for so long with a blockbuster show. So, No Mercy got Braun Strowman’s first one-on-one collision with Brock Lesnar. And No Mercy got Roman Reigns vs. John Cena.

As a bit of a spoiler, we’ll talk more about the build to this match later in this countdown. As for the match itself, it was the face of the company that fans loved to hate from yesteryear, facing off with his spiritual successor, at a point when both men were arguably around their primes—Cena a bit past his physical peak but still able to go, and a smart worker; Reigns perhaps still coming into himself but at a point when he was capable of pulling off a four-star-ish match with the right dance partner and circumstances.

Reigns-Cena was not that four, much less five star match fans might have hoped for. While it didn’t generate the electricity of a Hogan-Warrior or Rock-Austin war between tip-top faces, it nonetheless felt like a big deal going in and delivered at a respectable level. Moreover, Cena put over Reigns cleanly—no shenanigans, and no Cena picking up the first win with the promise of a receipt down the road. This was Cena doing business and further putting over the next generation, exactly the way a fading part-time talent ought to in the twilight of his prime.

#3. WrestleMania 34

John Cena’s WrestleMania 34 was one of the must unique spectacles of a night any WWE Superstar has ever had. As referenced earlier in the column, Cena had his epic world title scenarios and main event matches for the better part of a decade at WrestleMania, and even as he transitioned to the upper mid-card he was still working top up and coming acts. WrestleMania 33 was a step down, and recognition of his part-timer status that he’d be used for a pop culture, celebrity-feeling match rather than a proper in-ring war.

WrestleMania 34, however, saw Cena start the night in the crowd, ostensibly a fan. To address the critics, I’ll concede, the constant cutaways to him, especially during matches, distracted from other wrestlers’ work and grew annoying. However, I’ll also suggest that it really was a fun spectacle to see Cena drinking beer among the fans, and though his sprint backstage distracted from the aftermath of Charlotte Flair-Asuka, it did also offer the show some intrigue.

Then there was Cena getting in the ring. His fakeout confrontation with Elias worked perfectly to play off their mini-feud from WrestleMania season and get Elias on the show, while teasing that that’s really all fans were going to get out of Cena for the night. Then, at the perfect moment, The Dead Man arrived.

Sure, Undertaker-Cena was a farce of a match, more like The Rock vs. Erick Rowan than either Rock-Cena ‘Mania match. But it was a fun enough payoff to the the angle between these legends, not to mention that Cena constantly calling out The Phenom and poking fun at him made The Dead Man’s squash victory revenge feel completely justified.

So, we had Cena at his most selfless here, working a unique, borderline comedic spot and manufacturing a moment to further someone else’s legacy at the biggest show of the year.

#2. Royal Rumble 2017

Several of the entries on this countdown focus on John Cena using his part-time status to put over talents who benefit the rub of Cena losing to them, or at least taking the worst of a non-match exchange. The Royal Rumble 2017 tells a different story, though, as Cena won his record-tying seventeenth, and most recent world title.

Cena had wrapped up what I’m (admittedly a bit problematically) calling his full-time tenure by putting over AJ Styles in matches at Money in the Bank, SummerSlam, and No Mercy 2016. While Styles needed no one to carry him to great matches, the rub of besting someone with Cena’s credibility, and particularly beating him cleanly in the very best of their matches at that SummerSlam established Styles as a bona fide main event guy in WWE.

One could interpret Cena beating Styles at the Royal Rumble 2017—particularly when it kept Styles from carrying the WWE Championship into WrestleMania—as a part-timer burying a full-time guy, and, sure, I’d have rather seen Styles win that match. In picking up the big win, though, Cena accomplished two things. First, he reaffirmed his credibility in a way that preserved it feeling like a big deal for anyone who beat him in the years to follow. Second, it was a great match that proved Cena could still more than hold his own in an epic, MOTYC. Part-time legends who get back in the ring are at their best when they put on special performances, the likes of which few current full-timers can, and that’s exactly what Cena delivered in this appearance.

#1. Shredding Roman Reigns

The actual match between John Cena and Roman Reigns from No Mercy 2017 was addressed earlier in this countdown, but I’d argue that the build to this encounter was a fair bit more compelling than the match itself. While Reigns’s subsequent worked shoot promos opposite Brock Lesnar have felt forced, in part because they so obviously didn’t jibe with reality (Reigns accusing Lesnar of being Vince McMahon’s golden boy was ironically funny, but didn’t seem to have any humorous intent packed in). However, Reigns and Cena trading barbs regarding each other as face of the company and mixed reactions from the crowd—that felt real.

All the more so, Cena felt on point, particularly in their first exchange, in demonstrating just how good he is—dare I say, how much better he still is/was than Reigns, at least on the mic—as he called out The Big Dog for not being able to step up, with the meta-critique that he couldn’t walk away from WWE until Reigns was ready to fill his spot.

Which nights you add to the list? Let us know what you think in the comments.