John Cena and the WrestleMania Moment

[AnvilForever]

The idea for this thread came from the "Love or Hate It" thread for Cena, where EricRuthGames said that one of his problems with Cena is that he hasn't had a career-defining match, citing matches like the HBK Ladder match and Hogan-Andre as matches at Mania that defined the careers of the wrestlers in it. While I think that Cena has had career defining matches, I do have to agree that he hasn't had one at WrestleMania. He has had some solid matches, but none of them really stand out and shine. At every Mania he has headlined, his match has been upstaged by a much stronger match on the undercard. At WM21 there was HBK-Angle, 22 had Edge-Foley, 23 had Batista-Taker, 24 had HBK-Flair (though that match has lost its luster), 25 and 26 had HBK-Taker. He has never really had a Wrestlemania that defines him. When forming a montage for WM, you could just take any Cena entrance or victory celebration and stick it in there, because they are all interchangeable.

What makes this especially painful is that it may be too late for Cena to have that big moment. This will be his SEVENTH STRAIGHT WM main event, and I don't need to tell you how so many fans are tired of him. At this point, his last chance for a Mania moment is probably a match with the Rock, and that will take some serious long-term planning.

So here's my question: What will it take for John Cena to have a moment at Wrestlemania that will define his career? Is it too late? Or, if you disagree with me and think Cena HAS had his moment, which Mania is it and why?

 

[Mac Attack]

I don't think he has had a defining moment at Mania but I also don't think it is too late for Cena. He is a relatively a young superstar in the WWE and still has the ability to have his moment. I think this year he could have his moment. I think even if he wins or loses it all is in what he does after it. If he attempts to attack the Rock or attempts to even turn heel at Mania then that will be his moment. I think it will be very memorable and I think if this comes into fruition then he has his moment. I think it is never too late for a Superstar has their moment.

 

[ITALIAN NYC]

John Cena turning Heel would be a WrestleMania moment that would be talked about for years. To be thats the only way i see him having his moment , simply because he doesnt have the best wrestling skills in the world , or high flying to make an amazing OMG moment. Something tells me either this year , or if he faced Taker next year, hed deff have his moment. I dont think its too late at all. Hes going to be around for probably another 10 years.

 

[Nate DaMac]

You know, I'm surprised to say it, but this actually does have some merit. He has been upstaged at virtually every Wrestlemania he's been at, but I don't think having the best match on the card is necessarily the key to having a "Wrestlemania Moment."

When Hogan came back to save Eugene from Muhammad Hassan, was that not a Wrestlemania Moment? How about when Stone Cold drove his Four Wheeler around the ring and had his old fashioned beer bash, or when Ricky Steamboat showed everyone that he can still go at Wrestlemania 25, where those not Wrestlemania moments?

I do believe John Cena has a couple of classic moments at Wrestlemania. From his first title victory, to his overcoming the environment to beat HHH, and finally being able to slay Batista after never having been able to do so before, he has had several career defining moments at Wrestlemania.

 

[ITALIAN NYC]

You know, I'm surprised to say it, but this actually does have some merit. He has been upstaged at virtually every Wrestlemania he's been at, but I don't think having the best match on the card is necessarily the key to having a "Wrestlemania Moment."

When Hogan came back to save Eugene from Muhammad Hassan, was that not a Wrestlemania Moment? How about when Stone Cold drove his Four Wheeler around the ring and had his old fashioned beer bash, or when Ricky Steamboat showed everyone that he can still go at Wrestlemania 25, where those not Wrestlemania moments?

I do believe John Cena has a couple of classic moments at Wrestlemania. From his first title victory, to his overcoming the environment to beat HHH, and finally being able to slay Batista after never having been able to do so before, he has had several career defining moments at Wrestlemania.

I think it more so has to do with what people consider a " Wrestle Mania Moment ". I dont consider any of those one myself. To me, A wrestlemania moment is something that you remember when you hear the word WrestleMania.

Rock vs Hogan

The first ever iron man match.

Austin winning his first championship

Seeing the blood from austins face against bret

Austin Heel Turn at 17

TLC at 17

Savage vs Steamboat

Hogan slamming the Giant

Hbk coming off the top of the ladder at 10.

Benoit and Eddie at the end of 20.

Those to me equal moments in my opinion yano. Something extremely extremly special and quite possibly could change the business in a different direction. I dont think Cena has hit that peek and done something extremely memorible yet. Thats why i think the heel turn at a main event at mania is so important. It could change the business landscape and give something to the people that they never thought they would see. The change of the tide if you would.

 

[X]

This seems like a relevant thread topic considering I just watched Cena's title match against Shawn Michaels from Wrestlemania 23 a few hours ago, a match that I remember initially liking when I bought the PPV at the time, but when I watched it again today it blew me away from what I remembered it as. His match against Shawn is incredible, it's almost like an extension of the old-school vs. new-school mentality of the HHH/Cena match the year before at Wrestlemania 22, but unlike that slow match this one was fantastic. Cena outwrestled Shawn, or atleast that's how the submission finish that was booked made Cena look, and it was awesome. The fans were hot for Shawn at the time as well so he was a believable threat to Cena's staggering title reign at the time, which was something like 20 out 23 months he had held the WWE title. The match itself was one of Cena's best singles encounters ever up to that point, and with the way he cleanly defeated Mr. Wrestlemania in the middle of the ring the year after beating The Game, that was clearly his "Wrestlemania moment". Hell of a match, and to top it off they had a rematch in London in a few weeks that was just as good, both easily ****+ territory.

I always considered Wrestlemania 23 to be his big coming out party as the established star of the new generation, even more than his victory over Hunter. But who knows, maybe against The Miz he'll truly have his moment. Funny, I was cheering for Shawn four years ago against Cena, but this year I'll be rooting for Cena over Miz. I'm pretty confident he'll defeat The Miz tomorrow night, but the confrontation with The Rock could be the stuff of legends. Imagine if Cena gives him the FU as the show goes off the air? Imagine if in honor of the mega heel turn ten years ago at Wrestlemania 17 of Steve Austin, they turn Cena heel ten years later? Not saying it will happen, but just the prospect of something like that happening is enough to garner a whole lot of PPV buys is my guess, and we may just see Cena's "Wrestlemania moment" this year indeed.

 

[AnvilForever]

You know, after reading these posts, I took another look at Cena's matches at 22 and 23, and they definitely came off a lot stronger now then they did then. The match vs. HHH is still far outshined by HBK-Vince and Edge-Foley, but it had everything you need in a Mania main event. Both participants came out to these great, larger-than-life entrances, they had a solid wrestling match, and it was a good finish. It did its job as the final match of the show.

23 on the other hand...well, xfear is right. That match is GLORIOUS. I've always put the hour match between these two as Cena's top moment, but this deserves to be alongside it. Both of these men put on a clinic in Detroit, and the best part? CENA DIDN'T NO-SELL!!! HE WON WITHOUT BEING SUPERMAN!!! There are so many stupid marks that hate the match because they hate Cena so much they can't buy him ever winning over HBK, but both of these men wrestled their hearts out. Combine that with an excellent build-up to the event, and you've got a hidden gem here.

When I created this thread, I was defining 'WrestleMania Moment' the way Italian NYC was. Cena hasn't had that kind of a moment yet, but in terms of having one of the top Wrestlemania main events from a technical standpoint, I would now consider Cena vs. Michaels to be in the upper echelons.

 

[The Showstopper]

Well to me, a wrestlemania moment is not an entire match, but an image that sticks with you as being epic, whatever the reason may be.
For Cena, i'll agree he has had entertaining matches at WM 22, 23 and 26, but those 'matches' dont really count as wrestlemania moments in my opinion...but if i had to pick one, i would pick him getting both Big Show and Edge up on his shoulders for the AA at the same time at WM 25..

 

[Long Island Iced WXYZ]

So here's my question: What will it take for John Cena to have a moment at Wrestlemania that will define his career? Is it too late? Or, if you disagree with me and think Cena HAS had his moment, which Mania is it and why?

Everytime I hear someone say that Cena has not had his WM moment I have to wonder if they ever saw WM 22.

Cena vs HHH.

John Cena makes HHH tap out in front of thousands of people.

And I bet that pisses him off, HHH.

This is the guy that holds people down, this is the guy that doesn't put anybody over, this is the guy who's married into the family and has an incredible amount of influence over the direction of the comapny.

So for a new guy, John Cena, to get over on him clean in front of the world, is huge.

HHH tapped to Benoit as a favour to him for all of his hard work but also he knew full well that Benoit was not going to get over on him, but Cena? He got over big time and surpassed HHH, that's what makes that victory so meaningful.

Just think about it.

 

[MizterColemine]

Well you guys have two different ideas of the topic going at the same time IMO.
The OP stated that Cena hasn't had a career defining match at Wrestlemania
It seems, however, that at least some of you are agreed that his match against HBK, would be sufficient to be called a career defining match.
So in essence you may have answered the OP question of whether there was a career defining match at WrestleMania, but now you're searching for a "WrestleMania moment" such as the Stone Cold heel turn, or the Rock/Hogan face off - one of those images that are etched in our minds right next to our notion of the feeling that watching a WrestleMania should be known for...
Does that sound right or am I just looking for rep points?

 

[AnvilForever]

No, you've got it about right. It's a hard line to draw between Wrestlemania moment and Career-Defining match. Is it possible to have one but but not the other? How does Cena's time as a WM main eventer fit into the full history of Mania? I think those are the questions we're trying to answer.

 

[MizterColemine]

That's hard for me to answer when at least 2 out of the past 5 to 7 years I wasn't following wrestling and might not have seen WrestleMania. I would definitely suggest that being the most prominently consistent figure in WrestleMania over those years makes him worthy of mention, if you highlight his match with Shawn Michaels you've got something to talk about when elaborating on WrestleMania's legacy.
Cena is really the only case that would stick out in my mind about one who had the match but not necessarily THE moment. But maybe that match was his moment... It's definitely memorable, but how significant does it become as time goes by? And would the HBK match be more on the list of the guys HBK made to look great as he stole the show at Wrestlemania, despite whether or not Cena kept up? (and he did IMO)

 

[AnvilForever]

I agree there. Cena, like in many other respects, is a very unique case. A man that has had the big match but not the big moment. I think his rivalry vs. Michaels should go down as his best feud, but you'll never know it since most marks are so hung up on the fact that HBK lost at Mania.

I made the same points xfear made about WM23 on a YT video of the match and asked people to give me a reason why it shouldn't be seen as a top notch match. Their answer? "Because Cena is in it."

I swear, 90% of wrestling fans are brainless tossers, and that 90% can be found on YouTube.

 

[Nadeem Ahmad]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the Triple Threat Match at Wrestlemania Twenty-five. Does anyone not remember when about two years ago, he lifted both Big Show AND Edge on the shoulders for a moment? He just came back from surgery to repair what could have been a career-ending spinal damage. He really risked putting about seven hundred pounds on top of him. How can that not be a "Wrestlemania moment"?

 

[Dagger Dias]

John Cena already has a Wrestlemania moment that defined his career. When he defeated JBL at Wrestlemania 21 defined his career in my opinion because he has remained THE top guy in the WWE ever since. It can be traced to that victory, thus that is his initial Wrestlemania moment. The years that followed (Wrestlemanias 22 through 27) have seen him make impressive entrances and involvement in the world title matches every single year from 2005 to 2011. A match against the Rock (fingers are crossed for next year that it works out) would easily be another Wrestlemania moment for Cena.

 

[Sir_Michael_Cole]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the Triple Threat Match at Wrestlemania Twenty-five. Does anyone not remember when about two years ago, he lifted both Big Show AND Edge on the shoulders for a moment? He just came back from surgery to repair what could have been a career-ending spinal damage. He really risked putting about seven hundred pounds on top of him. How can that not be a "Wrestlemania moment"?

Cena AAing Show for the US title was a bigger Wrestlemania moment than that. It was the first time he did it IIRC and his first Wrestlemania. The time you mentioned wasn't a Wrestlemania moment because people didn't really care about that match, since Edge and Cena had fought dozens of times already, and Big Show sucks and can't do much because of his size.

Cena pinning the Rock will be his new big Wrestlemania moment, but at this point I think it's Wrestlemania 22 against Triple H. The crowd was epic and Cena made up for the crappy match he had against JBL the previous year, by putting on a fantastic match with Triple H. Cena's "Wrestlemania moment" was making Triple H tap out, but more specifically was him showing wrestling fans that he does have the wrestling talent to be in the spot he's in.

Cena vs Michaels at Wrestlemania is the best match that I've seen in person. It was better than Cena vs HHH, but I still have Wrestlemania 22 as Cena's Wrestlemania moment for the reasons already stated.