10 Wrestlers John Cena Couldn't Get Over

7. Roman Reigns

Tensai John Cena
WWE.com

For years, WWE did every possible trick to get fans behind Roman Reigns. So many wrestlers were sacrificed as Vince McMahon bulldozed ahead with his plans to make Roman look strong at all costs, and one such person who Vinny Mac turned to was John Cena.

Now, you could be forgiven for thinking that this was a match-up that would be saved for WrestleMania. Yet WWE instead went ahead and gave away this battle of the behemoths at 2017's No Way Out.

With the split opinion on Cena having by this point switched to a respectful cheer from the masses, the fading WWE poster child was tasked with passing the torch to the upcoming WWE poster child. Cena would lose the match before then doing the age-old wrestling tradition of raising his opponent’s hand as a seal of approval and a mark of respect. So, if Super Cena says that Roman is the next ‘guy’, surely that means the fans will start to see the Big Dog as the next ‘guy’? ‘Fraid not.

Even now, WWE often struggles to get the majority of audiences to cheer for Reigns – and some of the company’s recent booking of Roman has begun to have crowds turn on the former Shield member after his return from battling leukaemia.

Senior Writer
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, Jamie Hayer, 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.