Wrestling fans are one year out from John Cena’s final WrestleMania match in which a heel version of the legend bested Cody Rhodes for the WWE Championship. We’re twenty years, out, though, from what may well have been the most important night in Cena’s career.
Cena’s list of accomplishments is among the most impressive in pro wrestling history. He’s the only recognized seventeen-time world champion, a Grand Slam Champion, a six-time WrestleMania main eventer, and one of the longest standing faces of WWE ever.
By WrestleMania 22, Cena was a main eventer and that show marked what was, in fact, his first ‘Mania main event. Had things turned out differently that evening, though, his legacy might look quite different.
WrestleMania 22 Marked John Cena’s First WrestleMania Main Event Victory
At WrestleMania 20, John Cena pinned The Big Show to win the United States Championship, a young Doctor of Thuganomics’ first gold on the WWE main roster. At WrestleMania 21, he won his first world title, besting JBL for the WWE Championship.
In hindsight, the writing was on the wall in 2004 that Cena was going to be one of the top guys in WWE for years to come. In 2005, he made good on that potential, but it’s also telling that WWE ran with Batista’s World Heavyweight Championship coronation over Cena’s moment in the main event spot. While a variety factors may have been in play, including concerns about match quality and the story the company was paying off, one take away is that WWE saw at least as much and maybe more potential in Batista as the new face of the company.
Fast forward a year, and Batista was injured. Rey Mysterio had a huge feel-good story going as he won the Royal RUmble en route to his first world title win over Kurt Angle and Randy Orton. It was Cena, however, who closed out the show with Triple H. He also won—a main event triumph at the biggest show of the year, but also joining the ranks of Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Triple H as the only performers up to that point to walk out of consecutive WrestleManias as world champion.
As a side note, the next year he’d join Hogan as the only two men to do it three straight years (Roman Reigns would eventually join them), and the year after that Cena would become the first person to walk out of the biggest show of the year a world champ four years in a row; that rarely acknowledged, still unmatched streak ultimately ran to six years when he beat Batista at WrestleMania 26. Cena never would have unlocked any of these milestones were it not for an unlikely victory over The Game.
Though The Fans Turned On John Cena, WWE Stayed The Course
Though John Cena was incredibly popular for the first half of 2005, by summer, the tide had started to turn. While he continued to appeal to kids, a vocal portion of the audience started booing him out of the arena with increasing intensity in the build up to WrestleMania 22.
Going into WrestleMania 22, a number of fan theories made the rounds. A lot of fans foresaw Triple H beating John Cena as WWE hit the reset button on the younger star. Just as The Game had powered down Randy Orton’s first world title reign and WWE had rebuilt a young Viper until he was legitimately over as a main eventer, it seemed likely Cena would undergo a similar process.
Other, wild theories saw the Money in the Bank winner cashing in by the end of the night, with Ric Flair a dark horse favorite to claim one last world title reign of his own.
In perhaps the least likely scenario of all, though, Cena won. And he won cleanly. And he won by submission over arguably the most credible character WWE had shy of The Undertaker. Though Mr. Money in the Bank Rob Van Dam would successfully cash in on him in the months to follow, Cena emerged from ‘Mania unscathed.
While Cena going over was polarizing in the moment, it was a watershed moment in WWE history. Keeping the belt on Cena cemented him as the face of WWE, setting him up for the better part of a decade on top. While he’d face losses to come, staying so well protected at this stage of his career went a long way toward making him bullet proof as the company’s franchise player.
Edge Shored Up His Spot As John Cena’s Arch-Rival
One of the biggest challenges John Cena was up against in his prime as a full-fledged main eventer was the large segment of the crowd that rejected him, favoring more technically skilled performers who’d come up through the indies and veteran talents. Opposite heels like Kurt Angle, Triple H, and even Randy Orton, Cena got booed. The reactions were even stronger when babyfaces like Rob Van Dam, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, and, of course, The Rock, went up against him.
One of the few performers who struck the right cord against Cena was Edge. While the two had good chemistry in the ring and on the mic, the real magic to their rivalry was The Rated R Superstar’s ability to play such a through-and-through heel and opposite to Cena that really allowed Cena the stretches he needed to get over as a white meat babyface world champion.
Yes, Edge had already cashed in on Money in the Bank on Cena prior to WrestleMania 22, then dropped the title back to him. It’s in The Rated R Superstar feuding with Mick Foley, though, and getting the best of a simply wild Hardcore Match against The Hardcore Legend that Edge underwent a more or less literal baptism by fire, cementing his place as a credible main eventer in his own right and positioning himself to become quite arguably Cena’s best and most important rival.
WrestleMania 41 saw John Cena win his seventeenth world title and WrestleMania 42 will see him play host. It was the ‘Mania two decades earlier that saw all the pieces fall into place, though, for him to become the defining star of a generation.
