With 27 World Championships between them, among many other accolades, John Cena and Brock Lesnar have each carved out their own legacies as 2 of the most dominant and successful WWE performers of the 21st century.
Both a part of the famous OVW class of 2002 that also produced Shelton Benjamin and Randy Orton as future stars, Lesnar and Cena quickly made an impression on the main roster shortly after making their debuts. While Lesnar immediately dominated Raw shortly after WrestleMania 18, Cena made his start as the surprise opponent in a Kurt Angle open challenge on SmackDown later that year. Although Cena’s first showing was not as successful as Lesnar’s, his luck would begin to turn around over the next few months when he found himself as the Dr. of Thuganomics.
At Wrestlepalooza on September 20, John Cena and Brock Lesnar will clash for the final time in what will be one of the last matches on the John Cena retirement tour. With both men previously facing off against each other 6 times in televised singles matches, Lesnar currently has the advantage with a 4-2 record when looking back at their previous meetings. With their first match taking place more than 20 years ago and it being more than a decade since their last singles match, Cena and Lesnar are set to do battle one final time.
John Cena And Brock Lesnar – Shocks, Suplexes And Squashes
The first televised match between Lesnar and Cena took place back in September 2002. With Lesnar the WWE Champion at this point following his victory over The Rock back at SummerSlam the previous month, there was little doubt that Lesnar would be the loser here. Additionally, this was still Cena in his Prototype Era with generic trunks and no clear direction, an era which Cena himself has admitted was nearly the end of his career before it properly began, noting that around the end of 2002 he was expecting to be cut:
“The WWE used to make a series of cuts around late November called Christmas cuts. I was told I would be getting my release in Christmas cuts.”
The match was what many would expect at that time. Lesnar used his power to regularly dominate the rookie and cut off the brief hope spots. One F5 later and Lesnar stood tall over the future 17-time WWE Champion.
In February the following year, Cena Lesnar 2 took place on SmackDown with Lesnar no longer the champion and Cena showing the early signs of his new rap persona. Prior to the bell, Cena mocked Lesnar’s intelligence with his diss track, and was hit with the big moves once the match again. With Cena playing the heel in the match, Lesnar was hit with a steel chain by the future Hollywood star, but kicked out of the foreign object shot. Although Cena got in much more offence compared to their previous meeting, Lesnar once again delivered the F5 to Cena to pick up the win just a few weeks before his WrestleMania 19 match against Kurt Angle in the main event.
After Lesnar defeated Angle at Mania 19 to win the WWE Championship, and somehow managed to escape that shooting star press botch virtually unharmed, The Beast’s first title defence on PPV was against Cena at Backlash 2003. Although Cena delivered a low blow and attempted to use the chain again, he was unable to overcome the power of Lesnar once more as he suffered another loss.
Lesnar Returns, And Cena Finally Picks Up The Win
Following Lesnar’s infamous exit from WWE after the universally panned match with Goldberg at WrestleMania 20 in 2004, the former World Champion first looked to find success in the NFL before dominanting the UFC by winning the Heavyweight Championship. With Lesnar making his return to wrestling on the Raw after WrestleMania 28, attacking Cena in the process, the stage was set for their rematch at Extreme Rules, around 9 years after their previous encounter. Additionally, both men faced off in an Extreme Rules match, further heightening the physicality. With Lesnar continually booked strong and this being his first match in over 8 years, it seemed inevitable that he would defeat Cena in the return match. However, this was not the same Cena as before.
In Lesnar’s absence, John Cena had made his way to the top of the card and was very much positioned as the company’s top babyface star, whether the fans wanted it or not. Going full Super Cena, Big Match John overcame the odds and picked up the win over Lesnar for the first time in his career in a move that was criticised by fans. However, the same could not be said for their next meeting…
The penultimate match between the pair took place at SummerSlam 2014 with Cena defending the title against Cena. While many expected there to be another bad booking decision with Cena defeating Lesnar for a second time, no one predicted the end result. With Lesnar hitting 16 German suplexes and 2 F5s on the champ, Lesnar found Super Cena’s kryptonite and squashed the champ in one of the most shocking results in WWE history.
The last time both men met one-on-one was at Night of Champions later that year. While it looked like Cena may have been on course to win back the title, Seth Rollins caused the DQ finish by attacking Cena with the Money in the Bank briefcase, meaning that Cena won the match but Lesnar remained the champion.
While Night of Champions was Lesnar and Cena’s final one-on-one match, both men were also part of a triple threat match at Royal Rumble 2015 that also featured Rollins. In what is regarded as one of the best triple threat matches in WWE history, Brock Lesnar ultimately walked out the WWE Champion in his latest successful defence.
Featured image: WWE
