John Cena has put on some great matches in his pro-wrestling career. Are you looking to re-watch some of his classic battles? Here is a list of the John Cena matches that have received the most stars from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. This is only his opinion, so some matches might be rated higher for you. This is a list of the best John Cena matches, meaning they have received 4.25 stars and above.
List Of The Best John Cena Matches
Honorable Mentions (Matches That Received 4.00 Stars).
- John Cena vs Umaga in Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Championship – Royal Rumble (2007).
- John Cena vs Shawn Michaels for the WWE Championship – WrestleMania 23 (2007).
- Bobby Lashley vs John Cena for the WWE Championship – The Great American Bash (2007).
- John Cena vs Randy Orton for the WWE Championship – SummerSlam (2007).
- CM Punk vs John Cena vs John Morrison vs R-Truth vs Randy Orton vs Sheamus in an Elimination Chamber match – Elimination Chamber (2011).
- John Cena vs John Morrison vs The Miz in a steel cage match for the WWE Championship – Extreme Rules (2011).
- Alberto Del Rio vs John Cena in a Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Championship – Vengeance (2011).
- Dolph Ziggler vs John Cena in a Ladder match for the Money in the Bank contract – TLC (2012).
- Alberto Del Rio vs Bray Wyatt vs Cesaro vs John Cena vs Kane vs Randy Orton vs Roman Reigns vs Sheamus in a Ladder match for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship – Money In The Bank 2014.
- John Cena vs Seth Rollins in a steel cage match for the WWE United States Championship – WWE Live From MSG (2015).
- Finn Bálor, John Cena, and Seth Rollins vs Bobby Lashley, Dean Ambrose, and Drew McIntyre in a 6-man tag team match – RAW (January 7th, 2019).
John Cena vs Kurt Angle
Event: WWE No Mercy (2003) | Rating: 4.25 Stars Out Of 5
John Cena and Kurt Angle faced off at the 2003 No Mercy PPV. This was just over a year after Cena’s debut with WWE.
Angle went on to win the match via submission after about 18 minutes.
John Cena vs JBL
Event: WWE Judgment Day (2005) | Rating: 4.25 Stars Out Of 5
John Cena and JBL faced off at the Judgement Day PPV 2005. This was an “I Quit” match for the WWE Championship.
Cena would go on to win after an extremely bloody match. As a result, Cena retained the Title.
John Cena vs Triple H vs Edge
Event: WWE Backlash (2006) | Rating: 4.25 Stars Out Of 5
John Cena faced Triple H and Edge at Backlash 2006. This was a Triple threat match for the WWE Championship.
Cena would go on to retain the Title after about 17 minutes.
John Cena vs Edge
Event: WWE Unforgiven (2006) | Rating: 4.25 Stars Out Of 5
John Cena and Edge faced off in the main event of Unforgiven 2006. This was a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match for the WWE Championship. If Cena lost, he would have been forced to leave Raw for SmackDown.
Cena won the match and the Title.
John Cena vs Shawn Michaels
Event: WWE RAW (April 23rd, 2007) | Rating: 4.25 Stars Out Of 5
John Cena and Shawn Michaels faced off on the April 23rd, 2007 episode of RAW. This match ended up going 55 minutes. Shawn Michaels ended up winning in an excellent match.
Cena vs Michaels won the Match of the Year award for 2007 from Pro Wrestling Illustrated.
John Cena vs Edge vs Chris Jericho vs Kane vs Mike Knox vs Rey Mysterio
Event: WWE No Way Out (2009) | Rating: 4.25 Stars Out Of 5
John Cena put his World Heavyweight Championship on the line in an Elimination Chamber match at No Way Out 2009.
Edge went on to win the Title after almost 30 minutes.
John Cena vs Randy Orton
Event: WWE Breaking Point (2009) | Rating: 4.25 Stars Out Of 5
John Cena and Randy Orton faced off at Breaking Point 2009. This was an “I Quit” match for the WWE Championship.
Cena made Orton quit, winning the Title in the process.
John Cena vs Batista
Event: WWE Extreme Rules (2010) | Rating: 4.25 Stars Out Of 5
John Cena and Batista faced off in the main event of Extreme Rules 2010. This was a Last Man Standing match for the WWE Championship.
After about 24 minutes, Cena was able to pick up the win.
John Cena vs CM Punk
Event: WWE Night Of Champions (2012) | Rating: 4.25 Stars Out Of 5
John Cena and CM Punk faced off in the main event of the Night of Champions PPV in 2012. This was for the WWE Championship.
The match ended in a draw due to there being a double-pin. This was not the best match between these two, as you will see later on this list.
John Cena vs Cesaro
Event: WWE RAW (February, 17th 2014) | Rating: 4.25 Stars Out Of 5
John Cena and Cesaro faced off on the February 17th, 2014 edition of RAW. Cena ended up winning via pinfall.
This was a really good RAW match.
John Cena vs Brock Lesnar
Event: WWE SummerSlam (2014) | Rating: 4.25 Stars Out Of 5
John Cena and Brock Lesnar faced off in the main event of Summerslam 2014. This was for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Brock would dominate for most of the match and ended up winning the Title.
John Cena vs Cesaro
Event: WWE RAW (June 29th, 2015) | Rating: 4.25 Stars Out Of 5
Cesaro ended up accepting Cena’s open challenge for the United States Championship on the June 29th, 2015 edition of RAW.
The match ended in disqualification after Kevin Owens interfered.
John Cena vs Cesaro
Event: WWE RAW (July 6th, 2015) | Rating: 4.25 Stars Out Of 5
Cena and Cesaro faced off again for the United States Championship on the July 6th, 2015 edition of Monday Night RAW.
Cena ended up winning via pinfall. This was another great match between these two.
John Cena vs Kevin Owens
Event: WWE Battleground (2015) | Rating: 4.25 Stars Out Of 5
Kevin Owens and John Cena faced off at Battleground 2015. This was for Cena’s WWE United States Championship.
Cena would win via submission after about 22 minutes.
John Cena vs Seth Rollins
Event: WWE RAW (July 27th, 2015) | Rating: 4.25 Stars Out Of 5
John Cena and Seth Rollins faced off on the July 27th, 2015 episode of RAW. This was for Cena’s WWE United States Championship.
Cena would eventually outlast Rollins to retain the Title.
John Cena vs AJ Styles
Event: WWE Money In The Bank (2016) | Rating: 4.25 Stars Out Of 5
John Cena and AJ Styles faced off at the Money in the Bank PPV event in 2016. This was the first PPV match that Styles and Cena had against one another.
Styles picked up the victory after 24 minutes.
John Cena vs Roman Reigns
Event: WWE No Mercy (2017) | Rating: 4.25 Stars Out Of 5
John Cena and Roman Reigns faced off at the 2017 No Mercy PPV event.
Reigns hit the Superman Punch and a Spear on Cena to win the match.
John Cena vs AJ Styles vs Baron Corbin vs Dolph Ziggler vs Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn
Event: WWE Fastlane (2018) | Rating: 4.25 Stars Out Of 5
Cena was involved in the main event of Fastlane 2018. This was a Six-Pack Challenge for the WWE Championship.
Styles was able to retain his Title.
John Cena vs Roman Reigns
Event: WWE Summerslam (2021) | Rating: 4.25 Stars Out Of 5
John Cena challenged Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship at Summerslam in 2021.
You can also check out the best Roman Reigns matches according to Meltzer.
John Cena vs Edge vs Randy Orton vs Shawn Michaels
Event: WWE Backlash (2007) | Rating: 4.5 Stars Out Of 5
The main event of Backlash 2007 was a Fatal 4-Way match for the WWE Championship. Cena faced off against Randy Orton, Edge, and Shawn Michaels.
Cena ended up retaining the Title in a match that went about 20 minutes.
John Cena vs Edge
Event: WWE Backlash (2009) | Rating: 4.5 Stars Out Of 5
The main event of Backlash 2009 was between John Cena and Edge. This was a Last Man Standing match for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Edge won the Title after Cena was chokeslammed through a spotlight that exploded.
John Cena vs Brock Lesnar
Event: WWE Extreme Rules (2012) | Rating: 4.5 Stars Out Of 5
The main event of Extreme Rules 2012 was between John Cena and Brock Lesnar. This was an Extreme Rules match.
Cena went on to win here.
John Cena vs CM Punk
Event: WWE RAW (February 25th, 2013) | Rating: 4.5 Stars Out Of 5
John Cena and CM Punk faced off on the February 25th, 2013 edition of Monday Night RAW. The winner earned a WWE Championship match at Wrestlemania.
Cena picked up the win to earn the Title shot.
John Cena vs Daniel Bryan
Event: WWE Summerslam (2013) | Rating: 4.5 Stars Out Of 5
The main event of Summerslam in 2013 was between John Cena and Daniel Bryan. This was for the WWE Championship and Triple H was the special guest referee.
Daniel Bryan won the Title but his celebration was short-lived. Randy Orton cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to win the Title.
Cena vs Bryan won the Match of the Year award for 2013 from Pro Wrestling Illustrated.
John Cena vs Bray Wyatt
Event: WWE Payback (2014) | Rating: 4.5 Stars Out Of 5
John Cena faced off against Bray Wyatt at the 2014 Payback PPV. This was a Last Man Standing match. Cena went on to win the match after Bray couldn’t make it back to his feet.
Cena vs Wyatt won the Match of the Year award for 2014 from Pro Wrestling Illustrated.
John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan, Ryback, and The Big Show vs Kane, Luke Harper, Mark Henry, Rusev and Seth Rollins
Event: WWE Survivor Series (2014) | Rating: 4.5 Stars Out Of 5
Team Cena faced off against Team Authority at Survivor Series 2014. If Team Cena was to lose the match, all of Cena’s teammates (with the exception of Cena himself) would have been fired.
Team Cena won the match, with Dolph Ziggler being the last-man-standing. This match was the WWE debut of Sting.
John Cena vs Kevin Owens
Event: WWE Elimination Chamber (2015) | Rating: 4.5 Stars Out Of 5
John Cena and Kevin Owens faced off in a Champion vs Champion match at Elimination Chamber 2015. Owens was the NXT Champion at the time, Cena was the United States Champion.
Owens would pick up the win in his WWE PPV debut. This was a pretty incredible way for Owens to start his main roster career. Not too many people can say that they beat John Cena in their first PPV match.
John Cena vs Kevin Owens
Event: WWE Money In The Bank (2015) | Rating: 4.5 Stars Out Of 5
Cena and Owens faced off in another Champion vs Champion match at Money in the Bank 2015. This was a rematch after Owens won at the Elimination Chamber PPV.
This time, Cena picked up the win.
John Cena vs Seth Rollins
Event: WWE Summerslam (2015) | Rating: 4.5 Stars Out Of 5
John Cena and Seth Rollins faced off at Summerslam 2015. This was a Winner Takes All match for both the WWE World Heavyweight and WWE United States Championships.
Rollins picked up the win after some help from Jon Stewart.
John Cena vs AJ Styles
Event: WWE Summerslam (2016) | Rating: 4.5 Stars Out Of 5
AJ Styles and John Cena faced off at Summerslam 2016. Styles ended up winning after hitting a second Phenomenal Forearm on Cena. The match went for over 23 minutes. This was the second PPV match between Styles and Cena.
Cena vs Styles won the Match of the Year award for 2016 from Pro Wrestling Illustrated.
John Cena vs Bray Wyatt vs A.J. Styles vs Baron Corbin vs Dean Ambrose vs The Miz
Event: WWE Elimination Chamber (2017) | Rating: 4.5 Stars Out Of 5
Cena was involved in the Elimination Chamber match in 2017. This was for his WWE Championship. Cena ended up getting eliminated from the match by Bray Wyatt.
Bray would go on to win the match and the Title.
John Cena vs Brock Lesnar vs Seth Rollins
Event: WWE Royal Rumble (2015) | Rating: 4.75 Stars Out Of 5
John Cena, Brock Lesnar, and Seth Rollins faced off in a Triple threat match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. This was at the 2015 edition of the Royal Rumble.
This was a really good triple threat match that went for about 22 minutes. Lesnar ended up winning the match to retain his Title.
John Cena vs AJ Styles
Event: WWE Royal Rumble (2017) | Rating: 4.75 Stars Out Of 5
John Cena faced AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at the 2017 Royal Rumble PPV. The match was won by Cena after about 24 minutes. As a result, Cena became the new WWE Champion.
With the win, Cena tied Ric Flair’s record of 16 recognized world championship reigns.
John Cena vs CM Punk
Event: WWE Money In The Bank (2011) | Rating: 5.00 Stars Out Of 5
John Cena’s only 5-star match came at Money in the Bank 2011. He put his WWE Championship on the line against CM Punk. The stipulation was that if Cena did not retain the Title, he was fired. Punk pinned Cena to win the Title.
It won match of the year for 2011 in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards. It also won the Match of the Year award for 2016 from Pro Wrestling Illustrated.
This was the first WWE match to receive a 5 star rating from Dave Meltzer since 1997. If you are compiling a list of the best John Cena matches, this one has to be on there somewhere, if not at the very top.
What is your favorite on the list of best John Cena matches? Let us know in the comment section below. Also, make sure to let us know if you think any matches should have made this list. We will be constantly updating this page as Cena’s career progresses, so make sure to keep checking back.