John Cena’s Wrestlemania Opponent Still Uncertain
It may be hard to believe, but John Cena is struggling to find himself a match on the card for Wrestlemania 34.
Failing to win the Elimination Chamber this past Sunday made him ineligible for the opportunity to face Brock Lesnar for the Universal title. The following night on RAW, he laid out a challenge for The Undertaker despite being told that match is impossible. He followed that with an announcement that he was going to Smackdown the next night to find his opportunity there. Aside from that, there are other superstars without a spot that he could face (a rumored legend included) but nothing definite yet. With the roster more stacked than ever and so much talent to showcase, John Cena’s Road to Wrestlemania is still up in the air.
At one point a match with Undertaker at Wrestlemania sounded like a dream match.
But now there’s a divide amongst fans whether or not they still want that to happen. On one hand, Undertaker has nothing left to prove and some would argue he should stay retired. His streak was broken years ago, and another loss would only hurt his legendary Wrestlemania accolade.
On the contrary, Undertaker and his fans were not happy with his showing against Roman Reigns, so another appearance could allow him to redeem himself. Cena has wanted this match for years, and if anyone could give Taker a good showing, it’s “Big Match John.” Not to mention, when he announced that he was challenging the Dead Man, the crowd popped pretty hard. Perhaps it would bode well for both of them to give Taker a memorable final match?
Every time Cena is in the ring with AJ Styles, magic ensues.
That was no different on this week’s Smackdown. With Cena beating Styles, he landed himself a shot at his title at Fastlane, making it a Six-Pack Challenge. From where we stand now, it’s highly unlikely that AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura won’t go on as planned, but in the world of wrestling, “never say never” never rings truer.
If he were to win, Cena would then go into Wrestlemania as the world champion with the highest number of title reigns at an all-time high 17-time champ, topping Ric Flair’s 16 title reigns. If you ask me, Wrestlemania seems like the right occasion to flaunt such a record. And it’s not like he and Nakamura wouldn’t put on a classic main event caliber match on the grandest stage of them all.
Recently, Justin Barasso of Sports Illustrated kicked up some rumors of a returning Rey Mysterio being Cena’s opponent.
They had a lot of interactions with each other in the Royal Rumble. At one point, Cena had Mysterio in the corner but showed a sign of respect by leaving him there and laying in strikes to another in the ring. These two veterans have squared off plenty of times, and another bout can prove that they can still have an exceptional modern feud.
So, if none of the aforementioned superstars, then who? Well, Samoa Joe doesn’t have a match yet, and that’s a hot angle waiting to happen. He’s currently out injured, but according to Dave Meltzer, he should be back by mid-March. Joe targeted Cena before the Royal Rumble earlier this year, but with Joe getting hurt, nothing came of that. At least, not yet. Even if Joe were to come back early and all he could do is cut promos, that could build the feud alone. Joe is one of the best talkers in WWE right now, as we’ve seen in his promos with Paul Heyman leading up to his match with Brock Lesnar. With their history dating back to their early days of training, long before anyone in the WWE had heard of either of them, they have a lot to make up for lost time.
With that being said, I don’t think John Cena will be left off the card for the biggest wrestling event of the year. The roster is huge, and even with all the guys I mentioned, there are still plenty in the locker room that don’t have themselves a feud leading up to the show. Whether he wrestles another big name, or propels a newer superstar into megastar, “Big Match John” will almost certainly have himself a big match.
-Braden Jackson