3 Times John Cena allegedly didn't want to lose in WWE and 2 times he did
John Cena is widely regarded as the greatest WWE Superstar of his generation. A 16-time World Champion, he main-evented WrestleMania five times and worked as WWE’s top babyface for over a decade.
Given Cena’s level of stardom, it is only natural that he has more influence in his match finishes than the majority of WWE Superstars.
According to Cagematch.net, Cena has competed in 723 televised matches throughout his WWE career. He won 486 (67.2%) of those matches, while he lost 205 (28.4%) and drew 32 (4.4%).
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Although John Cena has occasionally wanted certain WWE opponents to defeat him, he has also reportedly used his backstage power to prevent himself from losing.
In this article, we take a look at three times Cena did not want to lose, as well as two times he was happy to take a defeat.
#5 John Cena didn’t want to lose against The Rock (WrestleMania 28)
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Former WWE referee Mike Chioda revealed in August 2021 that John Cena was “sourpussed” about losing to Dwayne “The Rock” at WrestleMania 28.
WWE started advertising the “Once in a Lifetime” encounter between the two megastars in 2011, an entire year before the match took place.
Speaking on Such Good Shoot, Chioda said Cena felt he should have won his first one-on-one match against the WWE Superstar-turned-Hollywood movie star.
“I had that first one, and I was wondering who the f*** was gonna go over [win]. Cena had been running the road for 10 years. Rock’s been in f***ing Hollywood, and then all of a sudden it’s like, ‘John, you’ve gotta do the job [lose].’ It was in Miami. I said, ‘Damn, I can’t believe they gave it to The Rock.’ I love The Rock, don’t get me wrong. I felt bad for Cena because I knew he was sourpussed about it. He busted his a** for a decade,” Chioda said.
Despite WWE marketing John Cena vs. The Rock as “Once in a Lifetime,” the two men also went head-to-head in the WrestleMania 29 main event.
On that occasion, Cena defeated his long-term rival to win the WWE Championship. However, the match is best remembered for The Rock tearing his abdominal and abductor muscles and suffering a hernia.