If plans hadn’t changed on short notice, John Cena could have become a 17-time World Champion at SummerSlam 2021, and would have brought a major title reign to an end in the process.
The biggest story from the pandemic era of WWE was the Roman Reigns heel turn and his transformation from The Big Dog to The Tribal Chief. At Money in the Bank 2021, the first show where fans were fully allowed to be back in attendance, Cena made his return to a thunderous ovation to interrupt Reigns’ celebration, setting up a match between the 2 at SummerSlam that year. While Reigns won the match, there was an alternate timeline where Cena would have been the one to stand tall.
While speaking with TJ Jefferson and O’Shea Jackson Jr. on the No Contest Wrestling podcast, Cena recalled plans changing as Brock Lesnar made his return to TV at SummerSlam. Had WWE not secured Lesnar, Cena was set to win the 17th WWE Championship:
“In the last moment, we had a surprise guest booked. He came out after the match was over. Brock. They didn’t secure Brock until 5 pm that day. I was going to win 17. We were going to have someone come out and restart the match, Roman was going to take it back. This is the creative. The way we were going to put together the match, we were going to give them a hell of a match. Then, we secure Brock. They come and say, ‘I need to see you. We’re switching the finish.’ ‘To what?’ ‘Roman over. Clean.’ ‘Okay. Let me talk to Roman and Paul.’ We go in, ‘You got the news? What do we do?’ I said, ‘One spear. That’s it. Whatever match you want to have, that’s fine. You beat me with your finish once … An hour before. It happens to everyone. I didn’t flip out. It happens all the time. I was supposed to win 17 that night.”
Reigns went on to hold the championship for 1,316 days before losing the title to Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 40. The reign was one of the longest in pro wrestling history.
John Cena Saw Record-Breaking Reign End & History Repeat Itself At SummerSlam 2026
While Cena didn’t win the 17th title at SummerSlam 2021, he did break the record at WrestleMania 41 by defeating Cody Rhodes after turning heel the month before. Cena held onto the championship until SummerSlam 2026, where he dropped the title back to Rhodes. Much like 2021, Cena was attacked by a returning Brock Lesnar after the match, setting up their match at Wrestlepalooza.
Featured image: WWE
