10 John Cena Matches You Should Watch Again
3. Vs Umaga - Royal Rumble 2007
Probably the most fondly-remembered clash on this list, the January 2007 bloodbath with the late Umaga gets little tribute paid to it in today's PG WWE, likely due to the high level of violence, bloodshed, and the untimely death of the 'Samoan Bulldozer' in 2009.
Following Cena's fortuitous ending of Umaga's undefeated streak the previous month via fluke roll-up, the Last Man Standing stipulation was added to the rematch to determine a winner between the man that would 'Never Give Up' and the (virtually) indestructible Samoan.
The end result was an astonishingly emotional brawl, which would propel Umaga right into Wrestlemania 23's Trump/McMahon conflict and shut up the long list of detractors Cena still had in his status as WWE's top star.
After an exhausting twenty-three minutes of the two battering each other with anything not nailed down, a bloody Cena would choke Umaga out with a dislodged ring-rope for the hugely gratifying win.
The lost classic was comfortably Umaga's greatest match in WWE, and a true turning point for Cena as a versatile and durable headliner right as the company was about to sail into its choppiest waters since the 90s steroid trials.