By virtually any metric alive, John Cena has completed all the things there’s to do in skilled wrestling. He was the highest star within the business, at the least in the US, for over a decade, producing traditional rivalries with the likes of CM Punk and Adam Copeland, successful 16 World Championships, and drawing in main crowds, even when a few of these crowds have been there to boo Cena. After a number of false begins, he used his wrestling fame to efficiently transition into a movie and tv profession, very similar to former rivals Dave Batista and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. After years of anticipation, Cena lastly turned heel, although the run did not go as he had hoped for. And within the technique of that run, he defeated Cody Rhodes in the primary occasion of WrestleMania 41, capturing a record-setting seventeenth World Championship within the course of.
Add all of it up, and it will appear to be there’d be nothing else Cena may ask for as he continues to method his retirement on the December 13 version of Saturday Evening’s Most important Occasion. However there are at all times targets and needs one can have even after conducting a lot, particularly in the case of dream matches that would by no means occur. And that’s the place Cena, who grew to become a wrestling fan throughout the first golden age of wrestling within the Nineteen Eighties, does have one match he needs he may have had, at the least if he had entry to a time machine. And when requested what that will be when showing at Fan EXPO Chicago 2025, Cena revealed that match was with, arguably, the be all, finish all star in WWE historical past.
“Simply selfishly, Andre, as a result of he was just like the measuring stick,” Cena stated. “The folklore behind Andre the Big is legendary, and each bodily, as his presence, but additionally in, like, the folklore of the fraternity, of the brotherhood of wrestling, particularly the WWF territory. I am positive it is the world over, as a result of Andre was a worldwide phenomenon. However selfishly, sure. That will be the one, Andre the Big.”
Andre the Big Was One Half Of Cena’s Favourite Childhood Wrestling Second
It is a solution that seemingly will not shock many. For one, Cena’s profession largely adopted the components that one other certainly one of Cena’s idols, Hulk Hogan, perfected within the 80s. Whereas many would argue that Cena was a greater in-ring performer than Hogan and wound up having extra attention-grabbing feuds in some regards, lots of his earlier feuds have been just like the battles Hogan had with opponents like Andre, Large Bossman, and others; a much bigger wrestler would get in Cena’s method, the percentages in opposition to Cena would appear fairly grim, and finally he would overcome the percentages and prevail. It was a storyline that performed out to a T between Cena and the person many think about to be Andre’s successor, the Large Present Paul Wight, with the 2 having matches that seemingly would’ve been just like ones Cena and Andre would’ve had.
In fact, it additionally would not harm that, as talked about, Cena grew up idolizing Andre, and that Andre was concerned in what Cena later described as his favourite WrestleMania second ever. That second was none aside from Andre vs. Hogan at WrestleMania III, arguably nonetheless the most important match to ever happen in a WWE ring and arguably a very powerful, given how Hogan’s slam of Andre impressed many to grow to be wrestling followers. Cena was already a fan of wrestling by that time, however the second had a profound impact on him, with Cena later admitting that he bought goosebumps watching Hogan choose Andre up for the slam. Between that, and Cena’s Hogan fandom as properly, it makes all of the sense on the planet that Cena needs he and Andre may’ve replicated one thing comparable, if time journey had been attainable.
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