10 Wrestlers John Cena Couldn't Get Over

10. The Great Khali

Upon debuting, The Great Khali had wrestling fans in a state of shock and surprise due to his truly ginormous figure. And then, well, then the collective wrestling conscious groaned once Khali’s in-ring work was spotlighted. Khali’s legit 7’2” frame may have dwarfed The Undertaker, but the Mumbai native’s wrestling talent was Giant González-level bad.

A year after his WWE debut, Khali found himself feuding with WWE Champion John Cena. At this point, Cena was cemented as the company’s poster boy and Super Cena needed an unstoppable monster to slay. As such, Cena faced The Great Khali at 2007’s Judgment Day and One Night Stand PPVs.

Cena would win both matches – first giving Khali his first submission loss, then giving him his first pinfall loss – but not one fan gave a solitary sh*t about the Indian giant during either encounter or this feud as a whole. Despite the insane popularity of Cena at that point in time, even he couldn’t help to get Khali over.

For The Great Khali, it was all downhill once the cat was out of the bag in terms of his wrestling ability and all-round awkwardness – and his tangles with a white-hot Cena only further proved this.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

First Posted On: 16th Jul 2019

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