10 WWE Matches John Cena Absolutely MUST Have In 2025

9. An Olympic Rival

John Cena Roman Reigns
WWE.com

One of John Cena’s earliest rivalries on SmackDown was Kurt Angle, with his battles with the Olympic gold medalist putting him on the map. For his farewell tour, another Olympian could serve as a perfect opponent to bring out the best in Cena.

Chad Gable is a wizard in the ring, and if you’re looking at a rusty Cena trying to get back into form in singles action, WWE couldn’t do much better than pitting Gable against Cena. If WWE books Cena teaming up with Rey Mysterio to start out, the LWO’s rivalry with American Made could easily be brought forward, with Cena folded into that.

A Cena/Gable match would have the benefit of being all things at once: a grappling display with submissions, counters and high-impact offense, a fair amount of heel heat (possibly due to the Creed Brothers interfering), and a dash of comedy, with Gable mixing in a bit of his court jester routine into things.

Gable would be the gold standard of mid-card wrestlers who can have a productive, purposeful match with a retiring Cena, plus it’s something fans have never seen before. Book it.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.