Coming out of WWE Backlash 2025, the writing on the wall was clear: John Cena is on a collision course with R-Truth. It’s possible that this feud will just be a speed bump, like Gunther’s mini-feud with Alpha Academy when he was really building toward his match with Jey Uso this past WrestleMania season—an entertaining time-filler that allows the heel to get more heat.
However, a lot of speculation also places Truth as Cena’s next WWE Championship challenger, be it for the upcoming Saturday Night’s Main Event, or a proper PLE this summer.
Not everyone is excited for this rivalry, but there are some real reasons for optimism. One might go so far as to R-Truth is the perfect challenger for a heel Cena as champion at this moment.
R-Truth Can Keep The Fans Against John Cena
John Cena turning heel was a shock and has freshened up his character for the first time in quite a while. There’s a real challenge to keeping fans against Cena, though. After all, the passage of time has seen the seventeen-time champion transition from wildly polarizing to near-universally respected as a hardworking veteran. More to the point, now there’s an oddball combination of fans attached to Cena for nostalgia purposes and fans all too eager to cheer him not in spite of, but because of his heel turn.
WWE reckoned with this challenge at WrestleMania 41 where, despite all kayfabe indicators that fans should get behind Cody Rhodes, The American Nightmare—at absolute best—had the crowd 60-40 behind him. From there, even with a fellow nostaltic face and hometown hero Randy Orton against him at Backlash, fans couldn’t help themselves from applauding Cena, especially after their main event match.
R-Truth isn’t going to erase the problem of Cena’s organic popularity during his retirement tour. However, Truth is a veteran himself, widely respected as an all-time great comedic wrestler. No one is booing Truth, even if they don’t feel he belongs in the main event picture. As such, he’s one of the few bullet-proof babyfaces fans aren’t going to turn on in this scenario.
R-Truth Is The Embodiment Of Fans Betrayed By Their Childhood Hero
One of the greatest points of comedic fodder for R-Truth in recent years is his persistence in claiming John Cena was his childhood hero. Never mind that Truth is five years older than Cena, started in pro wrestling two years earlier, and made his WWE main roster debut a year and a half before Cena’s. The patent absurdity of his claims is the charm and has made even callous, humor-averse wrestling fans crack a smile.
More than comedy, though, in Truth selling his Cena fanhood for years before The Champ’s heel turn, WWE has established a framework for Truth to embody every fan who felt betrayed at Elimination Chamber 2025. Though Truth is far from a child, the child-like wonder of his character allows him to represent kids as well as fans who adhere more strictly to kayfabe when they choose whom to cheer or boo. As such there are few better choices to go toe-to-toe with Cena at this moment.
R-Truth And John Cena Have A Long History
There’s a school of thought that John Cena should be working younger, fresher opponents along his farewell tour to put them over and ready the next generation of top names. That thinking has merit, and Cena likely will add some other up-and-coming opponents to his slate of final-year dance partners. However, there’s also something really satisfying about seeing him revisit his “greatest hits,” like he did in facing Randy Orton at Backlash.
Long before R-Truth started feigning he was a childhood Cena fan in recent years, Truth was a key rival for Cena in 2011. He twice challenged Cena for the WWE Championship in PLE main events, before teaming with The Miz against Cena and The Rock to headline Survivor Series. Truth and Cena don’t necessarily have any truly great matches to their names as opponents, and it was hard for fans to buy into Truth actually taking the title of Cena in his prime. Nonetheless, the feud was entertaining, highlighted by Truth’s heel turn and arriving at what was probably his highest rank in the pecking order as a world title contender in WWE.
A Great Match Probably Isn’t In The Cards For John Cena Anyway
One of the main reasons some fans have pushed back on the idea of R-Truth vs. John Cena as a WWE Championship feud and when Cena only has a half-year left as an in-ring performer is that this combination is unlikely to produce a great match.
Cena’s career includes all-time classics with the likes of Shawn Michaels, Edge, CM Punk, and Daniel Bryan. There are, understandably, fans who want to see him add to that catalog, whether it’s in fresh matchups against the likes of Gunther or Drew McIntyre or by returning to Punk, Roman Reigns, or Seth Rollins.
However, one of the uncomfortable truths that Cena vs. Cody Rhodes laid bare at WrestleMania 41 was that Cena just might not have anymore great one-on-one matches left in him, at least in any traditional sense. Indeed, the Orton match at Backlash was better, but still not great, and had considerable assistance from ref bumps that are going to wear thin the more they recur in his matches.
Truth vs. Cena wasn’t exactly great in 2011, and four years later, with Truth north of 50 and Cena not that far behind him, there’s very little reason to think the in-ring action will be better now. Just the same, the capacity for entertainment is there, and if Cena isn’t going to have a great match anyway, isn’t it better to have an engaging and funny feud with bonus points for nostalgia?
No one will advocate for R-Truth and John Cena to stage a multi-match, PLE-headlining feud in 2025. As a change of pace and surefire source of entertainment, though, Truth is just the right guy to keep Cena’s heel run on top vital a little longer.