#WordOnTheStreet: John Cena’s Final WWE RAW Announced!
It’s #WordOnTheStreet Monday and it’s been an emotional year if you’re a Gen Z baby or even Millennial that grew up watching John Cena.
Greatest of All Time? Who else can genuinely rival that in terms of simply WWE? Only Hulk Hogan, right? Some will say Stone Cold or The Rock out of bias and nostalgic eyes, but let’s be real, they were around for maybe 6-8 years in their prime. Undertaker? He was mainly a special attraction. Ric Flair? I said just WWE. John Cena’s resume is on an entirely different level. 18…I mean 17 world titles, they scrubbed one for the record. If you watched WrestleMania 41 and know the REAL title lineage then you know. Anywho, 17 world titles!! The most of any recognized reigns from a major professional wrestling promotion. That includes WWE, WCW, TNA, AEW, NWA, AWA, and NJPW. Not counting ROH or ECW, as they were/are primarily Indy promotions.
Career Accolades:
26 Year Pro Wrestling Career
17x World Champion (arguably 18)
5x United States Champion
5x Tag Team Champion
2x Royal Rumble Winner
Most Elimination Chamber Wins
Second Most PPV Appearances
Legends Defeated: The Rock, Triple H, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, CM Punk, Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, Seth Rollins, Kurt Angle, Big Show, Chris Jericho, Batista, Edge, AJ Styles, Mark Henry, Daniel Bryan, Bray Wyatt, Kevin Owens
Legends Teamed With: Hulk Hogan, Sting, Bret Hart, The Rock, Undertaker, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Big Show Brock Lesnar, Batista, Randy Orton, Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, etc.
Greatest Rivals: Edge, Randy Orton, CM Punk, The Rock, Brock Lesnar, AJ Styles, The Miz, Bray Wyatt, Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins/The Authority.
Teams/Factions: The Nexus, Rock/Cena/Travis Scott (one night only), Batista & John Cena, Shawn Michaels & John Cena, Cena & B2
John Cena signed with the WWF in 2000 and made his SmackDown debut in 2002, after 2 years in developmental. Cena was someone closed to getting released from the company but turned around his entire career and changed the landscape of the business forever. He would go on to become the face of WWE in 2005, a spot originally meant for Dave Bautista. Cena would run that role for 10 years before Roman Reigns took over in 2015 and Cena went part time shortly thereafter to let focus on a movie career and give Roman his chance to grow and shine.
I was late to the party as I didn’t start watching wrestling full time until the final weeks of 2009 and my friends in school were always talking about WWE and John Cena. I got hooked and even wanted to become a WWE Superstar at one point, thanks to this segment.
This followed and storylines like HBK/Undertaker, Legacy splitting, Batista as a bad guy, and Bret Hart returning.
As a kid, the adults hated this storyline, but I loved it…but felt bad for my hero:
Who could forget the dream feud no one ever thought would happen…
or what about when Cena fought for what was right against Mr. McMahon ahead of his clash with CM Punk..
or when he raged war against The Authority…
or who could forget when he made Kevin Owens look like a million bucks in his debut..
How about a lil heel turn…
John Cena has been a cornerstone for Monday Night RAW for over two decades and unfortunately that comes to an end because it’s been announced that John Cena’s final WWE RAW will take place at MSG on November 17th, where Cena is rumored to challenge Dominik Mysterio for the Intercontinental Championship. The last time is now and John Cena’s near 30 year career is almost up.
