Ranking John Cena's WWE SummerSlam Matches From Worst To Best

Somewhat of a booking disaster, this match suffers firstly from a slow and dull first 15 minutes, then even more so due to a ridiculously overbooked and downright stupid final five. Cena and Orton were beyond diminishing returns by this point, and the end result is a match that’s supposed to feel like an epic clash of industry champions but instead feels reheated and stale.

You can pretty much imagine the opening stretches of this match. The two feel each other out, Cena goes for some power moves, Orton does his methodical thing, and the crowd (pro-Orton at first, pro-this match ending later) gradually loses interest.

Then, Orton gets himself DQed in a bit of a confusing sequence, made worse by Lilian Garcia having a shocker on the mic, and the match is restarted by order of Vince. Orton tries to invoke champion’s advantage again by getting himself counted out. Again, the match is restarted. Then, this happens a third time after a rope assisted pin.

By the time a planted fan (the one actually innovative moment) breaks up a Cena submission, the crowd is beyond caring about this match. Thankfully there’s a CM Punk/Jeff Hardy classic to send them home happy.