10 WWE Superstars Who Turned Heat Into Magic

3. John Cena

Like many of sports’ best competitors, the more you boo him, the better Cena performs. He has known the heights of love and hate, and has maintained a spot as one of the WWE’s most treasured stars amongst younger viewers, but for some sections of the crowd, nothing is more enjoyable than hating on Big John.

This is exemplified by two matches: vs Rob Van Dam in 2006, and vs CM Punk in 2011. On both occasions, especially the former, the rabid crowd were just as invested in seeing Cena lose as they were seeing their guy win. The partisan ECW crowd at One Night Stand simply make the match, shouting and swearing at the-then champ, not even allowing him the dignity of giving his shirt to a crowd member. The Money In The Bank match with Punk is even better, with Punk playing the hometown crowd like a fiddle, Cena resolved to fulfil the role of the goody two shoes dork.

In spite of what some crowds chant, Cena really can wrestle, and he demonstrates this in both of these matches (he and Punk have acknowledged that, while their characters are disparate, the two gel together excellently). For all Cena’s in-ring nous, though, these matches are made classics through the sheer scale of his heat.