10 Wrestlers John Cena Couldn't Get Over
And to think, "embrace the hate" was such a catchy line.
Love him or hate him, it’s hard to argue with John Cena’s status as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. Despite what the detractors may have you believe, you don’t stay on top for as long as Cena has stayed on top if you suck at what you do.
As the unrelenting babyface who lives by his “never give up” catchphrase, Cena has proven to be an inspiration for so many young wrestling fans – and even some of the grumpier older fans can these days admit that John Felix Anthony Cena Jr. had some pretty special matches over the years.
As the poster boy of WWE, Cena was often the person WWE turned to as it looked to legitimize a new star or cement a familiar face into a main event position. Given the fan base that Cena had, just being in the ring with the former Doctor of Thuganomics was enough to have audiences believing in the credentials of whomever was across the ring from him.
While Cena’s star power has often helped others get over, there are those times when not even his rub could make an opponent truly connect with an audience in the way WWE intended. That's who we're going to look at here.
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.