10 Wrestlers John Cena Couldn't Get Over

6. Baron Corbin

Tensai John Cena
WWE.com

The heel act of Baron Corbin is one that walks a fine, fine line between genuine heat and go-away heat. There’s no disputing that the former United States Champion gets booed out of any and all arenas he performs in, but the question is whether people are booing because they want to see him get his ass kicked or more because they’d rather he wasn’t even on the WWE roster.

Since leaving NXT in 2016, Corbin has been positioned against plentiful babyfaces as a way for fans to take to him as a main event-level heel. Currently, Seth Rollins has been the babyface star tasked with working with Corbin, and previously the likes of Dolph Ziggler, Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, and AJ Styles are just some of the babyfaces who did their best to get the Kansas native over. Then, there was John Cena.

For the multiple-time WWE Champion, it was a strange position to be in at that time as Corbin was in the midst of being buried. After WWE took umbrage with some of Baron's backstage comments about Dr Joseph Maroon, the three-time Golden Gloves winner was made to look like an idiot on WWE programming - a prime example being his bungled Money in the Bank contract cash-in.

Cena and Corbin embarked on a feud that culminated in a dire SummerSlam 2017 match between the pair. Even with a swarm of fan interest and support behind him, Cena couldn’t make anybody care about Baron Corbin. But then, it was an almost impossible task for The Leader of the Cenation given the way that Corbin was being booked at that time.

And here we are now, two years after that match, and still people don’t care in the slightest about Baron Corbin.

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.