John Cena’s career resume inWWEis second to none. He already holds the record for most reigns as WWE Champion (13), he is currently tied with Ric Flair for most recognized world championship reigns in company history at 16, he’s ranked fifth in the all-time WWE premium live event matches list (167) and is about to compete inhis sixth WrestleMania main event atWrestleMania 41.
Over the decades, Cena has become synonymous with WWE’s “Showcase of the Immortals.“In fact, if you count his pre-show appearance atWrestleMania XIX,Cena has appeared in 21 of the 41 WrestleMania events. The only men with more career WrestleMania appearances are The Undertaker and Triple H - both of whom are already retired.
John Cena Aims To ‘Ruin’ Wrestling At WrestleMania 41
Cena Has An Ultimate Goal With His Final WrestleMania Match
With such an impressive record, and at the age of 47, one may be excused for thinking that Cena’s time under the spotlight is over, but that isn’t the case at all. AtWrestleMania41, Cena will main event Night 2 against Cody Rhodes in an attempt to win his 17th world championship, which would truly put an end to the debate about the “greatest of all time”. Not just that, but Cena also turned the pro wrestling world upside down when he made history again earlier this year.
After his shocking heel turn atElimination Chamber 2025, Cena revealed in a series of promos that he was fed up with the “abusive relationship” he had been stuck in with the WWE fans for so long.He claimed his ultimate form of revengewould be to win the WWE Championship from Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania, break Flair’s streak, and then retire as champion in order to break the title’s lineage. Whoever WWE would then crown as champion would merely be carrying around a “toy,“leaving Cena as the last real world’s champion.
In reality, the WWE Championship has been vacated due to injuries or storylines numerous times over the years (with several occasions directly involving Cena). But Cena’s sinister plot hasupped the ante for theWrestleMania 41main event, and could wind up being the biggest story in all of WWE for the rest of 2025.
John Cena Could Seriously Be Considered the Greatest of All Time in Pro Wrestling
The Numbers Don’t Lie
It’s hard to find another pro wrestler who had such a dominant run and for such a long time as Cena did. Hulk Hogan’s first WWE Champion run lasted for 1474 days, a little more than four years, and it helped popularize and define pro wrestling as the spectacle and business it is today. However, Cena was overall more consistent, spending more time with the company without ever jumping ship, like Hogan famously did in 1994. As a comparison, Hogan appeared “only” in 12 WrestleMania editions, almost half as Cena’s. And this is without mentioning that Cena’s legacy has not been tarnished by scandals and controversies like Hogan’s. In terms of Cena’s contemporaries, the only ones who get close to his numbers are Randy Orton and Triple H, but neither of them catches up to him.
It’s safe to say that a lot of eyes will be onWrestleMania 41’s main event, which will showcase a classic “passing of the torch” battle. On the penultimateSmackDownbefore ‘Mania, surrounded by the various incarnations of the WWE Championship, Rhodes emphasized that he’ll be fighting Cena for the WWE Universe’s right to have a world championship it can be proud of. During his speech, Rhodes also revealed Cena will appear on the final episode ofWWE SmackDownbeforeWrestleMania 41on April 18. Since Cena’s last three appearances all coincided with WWE’s latest European Tour,this will mark the first time he has been in front of a U.S. crowd since turning heel.
No matter how long John Cena’s time as a heel will last, this final year before his retirement will prove to be the best cherry on top of a fantastic career, which will give him the chance to prove once and for all that he’s the greatest of all time, not just in the WWE, but perhaps in the entire history of pro wrestling.
