5 Wrestlers Who Beat John Cena (And What Happened Next)

John Cena recently returned to WWE television after a short hiatus from the company. He previously hadn’t appeared on live WWE programming since SummerSlam, where he took off his ‘Never Give Up’ armband and laid it in the ring, symbolising that he perhaps actually had given up.

(Sidenote: That armband is actually a HEADBAND that John Cena wears on his BICEP. Those pythons are runnin’ wild, brotherdudejack).

The 39-year old's career seems to be winding down, and his absences through injury and outside ventures are a frequent occurrence after he loses clean to someone. Most recently it was his loss to AJ Styles, but he's also taken time off to recuperate after being defeated by several of the men on this list.

All that goes to show that beating John Cena clean is a really big deal. It’s not a luxury handed to anyone; Bray Wyatt had to settle for one victory in a steel cage with help from Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, and a kid with a pitch-modified microphone, while Rusev ended up resorting to a low blow to get a 'technical submission' over Cena. Even Seth Rollins needed Jon Stewart to help him out.

Clean wins seem to only be handed out to a select few, so let’s take a look at the five most recent cases and how their careers panned out afterwards.

Alberto, we hardly knew ye. Or we did, and we still didn’t care. Either way, John Cena’s two reigns with the United States Championship in 2015 brought consistently entertaining matches to WWE television, gave meaning back to a belt that hadn’t been relevant for a couple of years, and showed the world that John Cena is actually a brilliant wrestler. It gave people like Dean Ambrose, Neville, and Zack Ryder some valuable TV time, while opening the doors to both Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens (more on that to come). So when it came to Big Match John being scheduled for some time off and needing an opponent to lose his title to, WWE actually pulled a relatively nice surprise in bringing back Albertoooooooooooooooooooo Del Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiooooooooooooooo. So why, less than a year later, is the former AAA Champion out the door for the second time?

Well, there’s two reasons that have nothing to do with John Cena, but suspension and relationships aside, Del Rio’s latest run matched the final year of his first run in that it was boring, meaningless, and very stagnant. What’s perhaps worse is that the Pride of Mexico was first paired with WrestleTrump himself, Zeb Colter, for the awful MexAmerica gimmick which was a) nothing but a political hit to clear WWE’s conscience from his original firing and b) totally nonsensical given that ADR was a heel but was essentially asking for borders to be no issue and no hate to arise from one’s nationality – you know, like a nice person.

Jack Swagger soon swooped in to demand a better class of racism from his old mentor, but Del Rio went floundering on; playing hot potato with Kalisto did nothing for either (especially given that they were feuding purely because, you know, Mexico), joining the League of Nations to achieve literally nothing before getting beaten up by a bunch of pensioners, and the aforementioned suspension and relationship dramas.

The current Alberto El Pátron will probably want to forget that his second WWE run ever happened, even if it did bring him a big wad of cash and some romance.

He’s now seeking independent dates but not wanting to sign for one specific company, and will be all the better - and probably much happier - for it. A happy Del Rio tends to be a good one. His first post WWE appearance is on tonight's WCPW Loaded.

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