Ranking Who Was Really The Man In Wrestling Every Year 1990-2020

12. 2009 - John Cena

Austin Jericho
WWE.com

Yet another year in which John Cena was wrestling's unanimous and objective top drawing card, the superb in-ring work of Chris Jericho and Hiroshi Tanahashi was not - yet - recognised at the box office.

Quite appropriately, for what was a deadening decade of repetition in the U.S. mainstream, the worst in its modern history, it was a year of diminished returns. Cena had worked all of his major rivals to far more artistic success in years previous.

A Royal Rumble match with John Bradshaw Layfield was entirely forgettable fare drastically removed from the gripping, shortcut-laden bloodbath they had worked years ago. A reprise of his excellent feud with Edge followed similar beats, but wasn't similarly electric in the ring. The blow-off was tremendous, but hardly inspiring.

His programme with the Big Show was worthless. A mini-feud with the Miz, somehow, was exponentially worse. The shortcuts had to come out, for his never-ending series with Randy Orton, to make it halfway interesting.

Stale but moderately successful: think WWE now, only without that last bit.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!