Who is John Cena's biggest rival?

[BestSportsEntertainer]

http://www.wwe.com/section/john-cena-2016-return/article/john-cena-10-greatest-rivals

A recent article on WWE.com listed John Cena's Top 10 greatest rivals. A link is above, and below is the list.

10. Kurt Angle
9. Triple H
8. JBL
7. The fans
6. CM Punk
5. The Rock
4. Batista
3. Brock Lesnar
2. Edge
1. Randy Orton

I disagreed with the list (which is why I made the thread). I think CM Punk is Cena's biggest rival, mainly because of the Summer of Punk storyline and their match at MITB 2011. None of Cena's matches with Orton stand out, and the feud has been done to death. So who do you think is John Cena's biggest rival?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

While I agree that the Cena vs. Orton feud has been done to death, that's part of the reason why Orton was ranked as Cena's greatest rival. They've had lots of great matches, too many great matches really, and that's part of the issue people have with Cena vs. Orton due to massive overexposure to the feud.

When WWE centered the WWE and World Heavyweight Championship unification around them in late 2013, it was because they've been the most consistently pushed top stars in the company for the last decade; they've had a combined total of 27 World Championship reigns between them and were basically the "go to" guys for Vince for so long and Cena really still is when you get right down to it.

 

[Sean Valjean]

I say Edge. He was the first man to take a world title from Cena and consistently had his number. Edge even beat Cena in a Last Man Standing match, which, correct me if I'm wrong, makes him the only person to do so.

Aside from Punk, I think Cena's best in-ring chemistry was with Edge. Their TLC match was quite good and their Last Man Standing match is among the best in the stipulation's history. They also have the perk of not having their rivalry run into the ground with too many back-to-back matches. They would feud, move on to other things for a long while, then eventually come back to each other. Their rivalry felt natural, not forced down the fans throats ala Orton.

Edge and Cena also felt pretty evenly matched. Edge made a habit of getting one over on Cena, most notably his MITB cash-in, Summerslam 06, No Way Out 2009, Backlash 2009, eliminating Cena to win the 2010 Royal Rumble. If John is doing something, Edge was probably poised to screw things up for him.

Not to mention the promos. Both guys can go on the stick and their chemistry felt so natural. One of my favorite exchanges was during the build to Backlash 09 when Edge told Cena that, after everything they've been through, he's come to realize that he legitimately HATES Cena.

Orton may have had more matches and Punk bested Cena more regularly, but in terms of a good old fashioned back-and-forth rivalry that had a ton of history without wearing thin, no one tops Edge in my eyes.

Honorable mention goes to Lesnar purely because the DBZ fan in me always viewed his feud with Cena as WWE's Broly vs Goku. That alone puts Brock near the top of the list and I'm glad WWE appears to agree.

 

[Aquaman6686]

I'd go with Randy Orton myself. Both feuds were done very well, and even though a lot of fans seemed to complain a lot about Cena/Orton by the time 2012-2013 rolled around, they always worked very well together. I attended SummerSlam 2007 where they had their first one-on-one PPV match (the only other time they had fought was on the RAW portion of the Eddie Guerrero Tribute Show, which was barely a 5 minute match and ended on a DQ), and the hype for that match was MASSIVE. Everyone was so pumped to finally see John Cena vs. Randy Orton for the WWE Championship. I think a lot of people were more pumped for that than they were for Cena/HBK at WrestleMania 23 a few months prior.

 

[The Samoan Heritage]

While I agree that the Cena vs. Orton feud has been done to death, that's part of the reason why Orton was ranked as Cena's greatest rival. They've had lots of great matches, too many great matches really, and that's part of the issue people have with Cena vs. Orton due to massive overexposure to the feud.

I was going to defend why Orton arguably deserves to be at the top of this list, but Jack Hammer did a way better job than I would've.
There's only one guy who should be above Orton on the list of Cena's greatest rivals and that guy is....
EDGE
Edge was Cena's first true rival as "the face of wwe". They were complete opposites and yet played off of each other so well. They had countless of great matches on Raw over the wwe championship(my personal favorite would be the TLC match), and then they would go over to Smackdown and feud there over the world heavyweight championship. Edge help cement Cena as "the guy" and Cena help cement Edge as a main eventer.
In my opinion Cena has yet to have a feud as great as the one he had with Edge.

 

[Navi]

While Cena's had great feuds with most of the people on that list, I'm going out on a limb here saying his greatest rival has been himself and his ego.

He's been on top for so long now that I believe there was a point in time he feared he might lose his position. Does anyone remember the way he dominated Nexus, who at the time was the hottest thing on the roster. After Cena got through with them, they were never the same. He even admitted publicly he regretted his decision at the time.

While it's true he's gotten better in recent years, I'm afraid every conversation about John Cena doesn't centre around how good he is in the ring, or his work with charities or even how much he loves this sport and goes above and beyond to show it. Part of that conversation is how Cena hardly ever lost and in doing so became SuperCena, and that's the reason he is boo'd by at least 50% of the audience nightly. It doesn't matter what story you read about Cena and who he's going to feud with, fans figure the opponent will lose, move down the card and Cena will just go on to the next.

It's a shame because John Cena his a great wrestler and one of the best representative's the company has ever had. It's too bad that he is seen in such a negative light.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Easily Randy Orton. Nobody stayed at the top and battled John Cena as long as Randy did. Others may have come and gone, but the length of the rivalry between Orton and Cena trumps every other name on the list.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

Disappointingly organized list that's also missing Shawn Michaels. Kevin Owens hasn't had enough years vs Cena unlike the rest. That match at Elimination Chamber between the two last year is widely regarded as one of Cena's best. Daniel Bryan is also missing. The two had a short revialry, but it was more pivotal for Bryan. I guess it really comes down to what definition of revial they're going for.

Orton makes the most sense considering they have the parallel careers. Both skip the indies and debut in wwe as young pups in 2002 on Smackdown. Both turn heel after not connecting with fans. Both jump to Raw when they reach the top of the card. The only shame is they have so little chemistry inside of the ring.

That's the difference between Rock and Austin and Bret and Shawn. Those pairings burnt the house down each time, whereas most Orton and Cena matches have been good, none of them rank in Cena's top 5. Maybe top 10.

I'd put fourth Cena's greatest rival as CM Punk. No, I'm not a typical Punk mark, but you have to admit that these guys made perfect character foils. Cena the jacked up WWE prospect. Punk, the not shredded match wizard from the indies. Punk was Cena's opposite character outside the ring and the two drew incredible matches out of each other.

Punk and Cena could put on five star matches without them having to be spot monkey affairs. It's really too bad that these two didn't just feud continually through what was called the summer of Punk.

No one on that list had better matches with Cena. The only better matches I'd say are ones with people left out like KO, Bryan, and Michaels. Edge should always be considered one of Cena's biggest revial, but not the top.

Where was Big Show on this list? They're matches were usually crap, but I don't think anyone has turned on John Cena more than the Big Show.

History will always connect Orton and Cena but when you analyze things from a character and match chemistry perspective, it's gotta be Punk.

 

[OYDK]

Biggest rival throughout his career is probably either Randy Orton or Edge. These are the two that mostly stood toe to toe with John Cena at a time when very few others actually could. Fuck, Randy Orton has been chasing John Cena for the past 12 years now and despite what some may say, they have definitely had some great feuds. Same goes for Edge. I'd easily put Edge's 06 program with Cena among the best feuds of both guys' careers. If it weren't for one other person who did what Edge did just a bit better, he would have been my pick..

However, if we're talking about the one guy that just seemed to have John Cena's number, his greatest threat, the Venom to Peter Parker's Spiderman if you weel, that guy is C.M. Punk. Nobody had ever been as close to "dethroning" John Cena as CM Punk was, and nobody could get inside of big John's head like CM Punk could. I might be mistaken, but doesn't Punk have more pinfall victories over Cena than vice versa? I think that feud will ultimately define CM Punk and go down as Cena's greatest period of work in his career.

That feud will always be remembered in wrestling folklore, thus CM Punk and John Cena will always be connected to each other in some way, just like Hogan/Andre, Rock/Austin, Michaels/Taker, etc.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

Punk should be higher on the list(maybe 3rd) but list is fine. Orton and Edge had legendary rivalry with Cena that included personal stuff like punting Cena's dad or moments like this

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Oh and Batista should be definitly lower on list. They had 2 feuds, one at random at Summerslam and one Wrestlemania feud. Both where kinda forgetable.

 

[YatesA]

I only watched sporadically during CENAs beginning years so can't comment on most of those feuds but it was CM Punk who got me watching full time again and that feud was awesome and Punk truly was the perfect foil for Cena's boy scout act.

 

[The Yes Guy]

While it's pretty much fare that Orton & Edge are near the top, I believe JBL is not given the Credit he deserves.

Cena's feud with JBL worked as a springboard to superstardom. Cena won his first WWE Championship during this feud, JBL's brilliant heel work helped Cena get unanimously over as a face.

 

[whoopin' ass]

No one really. You can say Orton or Edge but really Cena has been allowed to run over most talent so there is no one you can really think of as his rival. You think Bret, you think Shawn. You think Austin, you think Rock. You think Cena, you think ..... Even with Orton and Edge, they were usually on separate shows so there was no real harm in the end - Orton or Edge could lose and go back to Smackdown and still be top and if they won and left, Cena could talk about them running away so his image in intact. Cena has been on top for over a decade now and really, there is no one you can think of as his top feud because they were all over so quickly and more often than not, Cena came out on top - for it to be a feud, both have to gain from it.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

How about the WWE Universe? He's legitimately a top 10 draw. Every match he's in (with the exception of a few), the chant has been "let's go cena, cena sucks". It's not "Let's go Cena, let's go other guy".

The WWE Universe's split, and sometimes partisan, reaction is what I'll always remember Cena for. To his credit, he worked that reaction for all it's worth. People who boo him, admit it, you ended up loving to boo him.

 

[LBGetBack]

In terms of longest running, on and again/off-again, basically have always been at odds and came into WWE around the same time.....it's clearly Orton from all those standpoints.

But while his rivalry with Orton has been good, his rivalry with Edge was his best one. They just had great chemistry. Really, that's where a lot of the "you can't wrestle!" people realized that he could put on great matches.

 

[ShinChan]

Longevity would suggest that John Cena's biggest rival is Randy Orton.

I agree somewhat with it too but sometimes this feud was overdone and looked boring and stale.

That's why I think that CM Punk would be a better choice for the biggest rival of John Cena.

They had a very good chemistry due to which their matches were good enough to make me invest in their feud.