On paper this rivalry should be on par with Stone Cold vs. The Rock, Triple H vs. The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho. John Cena and Randy Orton between them hold three Royal Rumble wins, two Money in the Bank contracts and 27 World Championships. Cenas career even parallels Ortons, they were both rising stars in the Ruthless Aggression era, the top stars in the PG era and now in the Reality era theyre seasoned veterans who any young up-and-comer would love to face. This rivalry should be huge and have fans desperately wanting more after each moment they spend time together in the ring, but the truth is this Vince McMahon wet dream has never set the world on fire nor has it ever excited the average fan. The chemistry was just never there, the two superstars did put on some decent matches and moments (Randy Orton slapping the referee to disqualify himself so he retained the title against Cena was a clever move), but never close to being a match of the year candidate. It wasnt until November last year when the disappointments behind this rivalry became ever clear. Randy Orton and John Cena renewed their rivalry over the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships, WWE hoped the fans would eat up every second of it up instead, fans rejected it (something Cena is quite used to) and made their voices heard during their bouts with chants of boring and you cant wrestle aimed at the two. One of the biggest examples of this was the 9th December 2013 episode of Raw, Triple H was plugging the unification of WWEs two World Championships and the two huge stars that were Randy Orton and John Cena, instead fans completely halted Triple Hs attempts at a promo and drowned him out with Daniel Bryan chants he was the man they wanted to see not the two biggest stars in the company. Both superstars will no doubt look back at this rivalry and wonder what they could have done to elevate it to the iconic status of Rock and Austin.
An aspiring filmmaker, writer, traveller, and avid comic book fan, with an undying passion for calligraphy and chopping boards shaped like fruit. Genuinely enjoys receiving your hate mail.
