While many fans believe John Cena is in contention to be one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, the man himself has another name in mind for the accolade.
Cena spent over a decade at the top of WWE, amassing an incredible 16 World Championship reigns. He did all this while defeating a who’s who of other top stars including The Rock, Batista, and Randy Orton.
The star’s longest World Title reign began in September 2006 and lasted 380 days before he was forced to vacate the title due to suffering a torn pectoral muscle during a match against Mr Kennedy on Raw.
While the reign is considered lengthy by modern standards it is dwarfed by Roman Reigns’ current run at the top. The Tribal Chief has held the Universal Championship for over 925 days and the WWE Championship for over 340.
During this time, Reigns has defeated all-comers, including John Cena himself at SummerSlam in 2021. Perhaps this is why Cena has named him as the “greatest of all time”.
He made the claim during an interview with the Associated Press where he discussed his recent return to wrestling.
“When I’m there as a performer, it’s (WWE champion) Roman Reigns’ show. In my mind, he needs to be in the conversation, and in my mind, he’s the greatest of all time.”
John Cena will face Austin Theory at WrestleMania 39
On the March 7th edition of Raw, Austin Theory challenged Cena to face him at WrestleMania 39. After initially refusing because he thought Theory wasn’t ready, Cena accepted the bout which will be for the United States Championship.
The match will be Cena’s first on The Grandest Stage Of Them All since he lost to Bray Wyatt in the bizarre Fire Fly Funhouse cinematic bout at WrestleMania 36 in 2020. Before that, he fell to The Undertaker at the 34th edition of the event in 2018.