5 WWE Superstars who surprisingly defeated John Cena
John Cena is a 16-time world champion in WWE. In a career spanning nearly two decades, Cena has competed against numerous superstars.
He has picked up countless victories and battled many rivalries. Often, he has ended matches in the blink of an eye. However, there have been times when he has taken losses to new and upcoming superstars. John Cena has never shied away from giving the right superstars a push, and he has put himself down to get them over.
However, there are a few superstars who have surprisingly picked up a win over Big Match John. While Cena has competed at the top of the company for most of his career, a few enhancement talents and lower-card superstars have defeated him in singles competition.
One of Cena’s most surprising losses came against Kevin Federline (K-Fed) in 2007. The rapper pinned The Doctor of Thugonomics after he was attacked by Umaga. He is one of the few men in history to have gotten the better of Cena inside the squared circle.
In this article, we look at the five superstars who have surprisingly scored a victory over John Cena in WWE.
#5 R-Truth defeated his idol John Cena more than once
It is no secret that R-Truth is heavily influenced by John Cena. He claims that he used to watch all of Cena’s matches while growing up. The two men have had a couple of interesting rivalries during their careers.
In 2011, the two men got into an extended rivalry. In May that year, they collided in a match on RAW. Truth was playing a heel and outsmarted Cena in the match to make him leave the ring. He then attacked The Doctor of Thuganomics outside the ring and laid him out to beat the 10-count himself.
In June 2011, the two men collided in a tables match on RAW. John Cena lifted R-Truth to perform the Attitude Adjustment through a table, but CM Punk interfered to prevent it. Big Match John and Punk had an argument and Truth used the distraction to Spear Cena through a table to win the match.
R-Truth was unable to pin John Cena in either of his victories. However, he still defeated the 16-time world champion twice to write his name in the history books.
#4 Rhyno took down the WWE legend
Rhyno saw many ups and downs during his WWE career. The big man won the WWE Hardcore Championship thrice in his career and the United States Championship once. He was also the inaugural SmackDown Tag Team Champion along with Heath Slater.
Unfortunately, Rhyno never won a world championship in the company. However, he did defeat the man who has won the most number of world titles in WWE. Cena and Rhyno faced each other on five separate occasions.
In one of their matches on SmackDown in May 2003, Cena rapped his way into the ring looking extremely confident. Rhyno wasn’t ready to play around and pounced on him as soon as the match got underway.
John Cena recovered, but a distraction from Spanky proved to be too much for the 16-time world champion. The former Hardcore Champion took advantage and rolled him up for the three-count.
It was the only time Rhyno defeated Cena in a match. It was one of the earliest matches in which Big Match John competed. He worked hard to become one of the biggest superstars the company has ever produced. Meanwhile, Rhyno did not get the same treatment from the creative team.
#3 Curtis Axel defeated The Leader of the Cenation twice
Remember when Curtis Axel beat John Cena during his 1st month in WWE? Neither does he. #AxelMania #RAWNewark http://t.co/oMmD23Vo2m
In mid-2013, John Cena was involved in a rivalry with Curtis Axel and a few other superstars. Axel was being pushed heavily at the time and had Paul Heyman's backing.
The opportunity to work with a star like Cena helped him get more spotlight on his character. The then-WWE Champion took on Axel in a match on RAW in May 2013. The match went on with Cena retaining the upper hand for most of the contest.
An ambulance entered the arena, and Cena went to check on it. A superstar emerged from it and attacked the WWE Champion, causing him to get counted out.
A week later, the two men again faced off in a No-Disqualification match. Once again, A superstar came out to beat down Cena and put him through a table. Big Match John couldn’t make it back to the ring after the assault and was counted out by the referee.
The two wins were arguably the biggest of Curtis Axel’s career. He never became a main event-level talent and was released from the company during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.
#2 Lord Tensai has picked up a win over John Cena
Lord Tensai competed under a few different names and gimmicks in WWE. He was booked as an unstoppable force in the company but did not have much success when it came to championships. During his career, Tensai won the Intercontinental Championship once.
One of the biggest accomplishments of his career came in April 2012. On an episode of Monday Night RAW, Tensai faced John Cena in an Extreme Rules match. The match was a hit as both men gave their best in the ring.
Big Match John came close to bagging another victory before David Otunga interfered in the match. Cena hit him with the Attitude Adjustment, and Tensai took advantage of the situation. He sprayed John Cena with his signature green mist before hitting a Sitout Chokebomb to pick up a clean victory over the multi-time champion.
It was a surprising win for the superstar, who remained on the mid-card for most of his career. Tensai also scored the biggest victory in the character he was playing and his first against Big Match John.
#1 John Laurinaitis pinned the 16-time world champion
ON THIS DAY: @JohnCena was ready to take then-General Manager @JohnLaurinaitis OVER THE LIMIT in 2012! wwe.me/9pqBrK https://t.co/b4HF0LnV7p
John Laurinaitis competed in several matches during his time in WWE. He had an extended rivalry with John Cena that saw them compete in several singles and tag team matches on and off the screen.
At the Over The Limit 2012 Premium Live Event, the two men faced off in a No Disqualification match. Their contest was the main event of the show.
It turned out to be one of the most disappointing matches of Big Match John’s career. Had Cena won, Laurinaitis would have been fired, and anyone who interfered would have been fired.
John Cena pushed around Laurinaitis for more than 15 minutes and kept control of the match. There were many comedy spots in the contest and the creative team decided to stretch the main event of the night.
In the end, Big Show showed up to knock Cena out with a WMB, which allowed Laurinaitis to win the match. It was arguably one of the worst endings to a Premium Live Event.
Show had already been fired before the match and had nothing to lose in the finish. The result allowed Laurinaitis to retain his job and hand The Leader of the Cenation arguably the most embarrassing loss of his career.