History Awesome / JohnCena

** Cena also won another unlikely person over with his Wrestling/SummerSlam performance....Paul Heyman! The night after, during Heyman and Lesnar's victory speech, Heyman put over Cena HUGE, pointing out that Cena's been a constant main eventer (and in Heyman's own words "the single greatest fighting champion in WWE history") for a decade, longer than the likes of the Rock and Stone Cold, and that most people (possibly including those two) would have likely quit after taking such an asskicking from Lesnar, but Cena NEVER QUIT. Heyman then followed all that up by saying Cena earned his respect and admiration, that his kids were John Cena fans and now he understood why, and that [[WhatMightHaveBeen if he had the time,]] he would love [[CueTheFlyingPigs to make JOHN CENA A PAUL HEYMAN GUY.]] You couldn't buy better praise than that.

** He owned one of Wrestling/EddieGuerrero's lowriders for a few years as well.

** The aftermath of the match cannot be understated, either. Despite losing Cena presents himself a good sport and offers a handshake to Kurt, who blows him off and mocks him for it. When Cena gets backstage he’s greeted by a few wrestlers (such as Wrestling/RonSimmons, Wrestling/Rikishi, guys who are legitimate tough guys) who shake his hand and tell him he did a good job. Then the Undertaker walks up, offers Cena a handshake, and compliments his performance. It should be noted that handshakes are ''serious business'' in the wrestling business. It’s etiquette for wrestlers to offer handshakes to veteran wrestlers. So for the Undertaker to offer a handshake to Cena —the veteran offering a handshake to the rookie — was huge.

* On the August 8, 2011 edition of RAW, he and Wrestling/CMPunk have a face off. Punk airs a video of the Rock bashing Cena over his BrokenBase, then proceeds to do the same thing himself. Cena turns it around in a way that's completely in-character for him by pointing out the fact he ''likes'' being a BaseBreakingCharacter who can get that kind of reaction out of people because he enjoys seeing people really get into his matches. He then goes on by ''thanking'' Punk for his "you've become the [[UsefulNotes/MLBTeams New York Yankees!"]] insult after giving it some thought a couple of weeks back, he realized he was right, [[InsultBackfire but in a way that Punk hadn't thought of]], that he and the Yankees share their ability to get the crowd to be extremely vocal and involved. This got a ''huge'' pop from the crowd as well.

* The Legends Q&A with Wrestling/BretHart, Wrestling/BookerT, Wrestling/MickFoley and Wrestling/DustyRhodes on Raw 3/25/13, They asked Cena and [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]] a bunch of questions, but the real kicker was that Cena was speaking in a more aggressive voice and said The Rock knows that he is better then him and that at Wrestlemania he wants to dominate The Rock. [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness Instead of his usual cheerfulness, he was very visibly upset and terse, looking and stopping just short of actually saying he would do or give up anything to win]]... Do I smell a [[FaceHeelTurn Heel turn?]]. On a more meta note, Cena has an exemplary [[WrestlingPsychology telling the story]] mostly with just his face. The look after his defeat last year and after the Legends Q&A Rock Bottom was of clear [[MyGreatestFailure devastation]] He has looked, sounded, and acted very [[HeroicBSOD on edge and incredibly desperate]], like he's considering doing [[FaceHeelTurn just about anything, maybe something drastic]].

** Right after that, goes into his [[GrowingTheBeard great feud]] with Wrestling/{{Edge}}, culminating with their brutal [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Tables, Ladders, and Chairs]] match.

* In 2006 When he attacked Wrestling/{{Edge}} and threw him in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnrUnwQYaJI Long Island Sound.]]

** One even ''more'' memorable moment was at ''Wrestling/{{WrestleMania}} 25'', where he was in a Triple Threat match against Wrestling/{{Edge}} and Wrestling/TheBigShow, where he lifted ''both of them on his shoulders'' for his AA. Edge was in the middle of trying to choke out Big Show and [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere and jumped off]] before Cena AA'ed Big Show. In case you didn't notice, Cena had ''700'' pounds of human flesh on his shoulders before Edge ducked out of the way.

** The ''[=SmackDown=]'' before ''Wrestling/{{No Way Out|Wrestling}}'', Cena finally got his physical revenge and laid Laurinitis out despite (or perhaps encouraged by) threats of being fired.

* Most WWE Superstars only have one CoolCar, if at all. Cena and his partner Wrestling/NikkiBella have '''AN ENTIRE COLLECTION''' of them. A full list of his [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal cool car collection]] as of July 2015 can be found [[http://www.carbuzz.com/news/2015/7/13/John-Cena-Has-A-Massive-Collection-Of-Vehicles-That-We-re-Jealous-Of-7728008/ here]]

* His return to WWE at ''Money in the Bank'' 2021. John Cena has not been seen on WWE television since Wrestlemania 36, for ''thirteen months'', and even longer since he's been in front of a live crowd. So its only fitting that he returns to the first pay-per view in front of live audiences to arguably the biggest crowd reaction of his entire career. And there's no "John Cena sucks" from the crowd either, the audience were absolutely ''ecstatic'' to see him return. And to put the icing on the cake, he completely overshadowed Roman Regins' successful title defense against Edge a few minutes prior.

** On a similar note, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-pRGu7Z_PM this WWE 2K15 commercial]] that has Cena reciting a poem by Dylan Thomas, [[RealityEnsues out of character]] and [[SincerityMode completely straight]]. It is surprisingly and effectively chilling, with bonus points for the [[RealitySubtext appropriateness to Cena himself]], as [[LongRunner a character and a person]].

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN2EepsGISo Wrestlemania 22:]] Had a Mafia-style entrance complete with suits, a car, rifles and even an uncredited Wrestling/CMPunk. Note that the Tommy gun Cena fired was ''real''. Loaded with blanks, but real.

-->"No! No, Dolph, you two deserve each other, because you're the exact opposite: one enjoys [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar eating a lot of nuts]], and the other is still looking to find his. Good day to you, sir."

*** One of the IWC's biggest complaints about Cena's character is his tendency to turn into TheCape. Then again, it did cost him the match, which no doubt ''did'' [[FanDumb please the IWC a bit.]]

* Cena has superhuman recovery. His first major injury required surgery and ''at least'' six months of no wrestling. This was in October 2007, just before his match against Orton at ''Wrestling/NoMercy''. Fast forward to the Royal Rumble, which took place on January 27, 2008. Guess who's both No. 30''and'' winner of said rumble?

* A lesser example; just about any time he's involved in a match with a [[TheGiant particularly large]] opponent. If he doesn't hit his FinishingMove, he will at least get said large wrestler up onto his shoulders. [[HolyShitQuotient The normal reaction to this is pretty predictable.]]

** Goes into a feud with [[ArchEnemy Randy Orton]], that ends in another, [[HolyShitQuotient much more brutal]] [[NoHoldsBarredContest Iron Man Match.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/95f752a722f1bb7353bea2723175261f.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''He's back.'']]

** MoneyInTheBank. Cena vs, Owens. Not only was it an excellent match from both wrestlers where they both busted their ass off and giving their all, but for those who thought John Cena has limited movesets, the new moves he pulled off in this match had people wondering whether he had this in his repertoire all along. He managed to do such moves as: a reverse suplex, a frankensteiner, an electric chair suplex, a flying top rope DDT, and the most insane of all, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4GZ2TM6sMM a FREAKING CANADIAN DESTROYER/ CODE RED.]] [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Holy. Freaking. Shit.]]

* On the August 8, 2011 edition of RAW, he and Wrestling/CMPunk have a face off. Punk airs a video of the Rock bashing Cena over his BrokenBase, then proceeds to do the same thing himself. Cena turns it around in a way that's completely in-character for him by pointing out the fact he ''likes'' being a BaseBreaker who can get that kind of reaction out of people because he enjoys seeing people really get into his matches. He then goes on by ''thanking'' Punk for his "you've become the [[UsefulNotes/MLBTeams New York Yankees!"]] insult after giving it some thought a couple of weeks back, he realized he was right, [[InsultBackfire but in a way that Punk hadn't thought of]], that he and the Yankees share their ability to get the crowd to be extremely vocal and involved. This got a ''huge'' pop from the crowd as well.

** Respected wrestling critic [[Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter Dave Meltzer]] rated this match [[SerialEscalation 5 Stars, the first match to get this rating since 2006 and the first WWE match to get this rating since 1997]][[note]]For those of you out there, the match that got that five stars was Wrestling/TheUndertaker vs. Wrestling/ShawnMichaels in the first ever Hell in a Cell match (which was also, surprisingly, Kane's debut in the WWF)[[/note]].

* On October 15, 2012, Cena [[ShutUpHannibal shuts CM Punk's mouth]] by roaring a very loud "[[BigShutUp ENOUGH]]!" And after that, he slams his words down and encourages Wrestling/{{Ryback}} to accept the challenge in the Hell In The Cell match.

* Cena once again returns months ahead of schedule, and beats Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Title at Hell in a Cell 2013. To make things more awesome, the very next night, Damien Sandow cashes in Money In The Bank....and loses after an epic clash. "THIS IS AWESOME" indeed.

* Winning a 3-on-1 handicap match against Seth Rollins, Big Show and Kane by smartly using [[spoiler:Wrestling/{{Sting}}'s unexpected appearance.]] While everyone's distracted by his entrance, Cena uses the opportunity to pin an unsuspecting Rollins, winning the match and winning back the jobs of Wrestling/ErickRowan, Wrestling/DolphZiggler and Wrestling/{{Ryback}}. Everyone, audience included, doesn't even notice the pin until after the countdown finishes. After which, Cena disappears into the audience before any retribution can be delivered, while Triple H freaks out and [[spoiler:Sting]] looks on.

* Raw, 7/11/16. John Cena was in LA earlier in the day, doing rehearsal for his role as host of the [=ESPYs=]. ''Raw'', meanwhile, was in Detroit. [[Wrestling/BulletClub The Club]] alluded to this in their promos, pointing out before [[Wrestling/DrewHankinson Luke Gallows]] and Wrestling/KarlAnderson got into the ring with Enzo Amore and Big Cass that they had the numbers advantage -- Wrestling/AJStyles was in their corner, and Cena wasn't even in the same state, and went further trying to sow discord by using it as evidence that Cena doesn't care about them after they stuck their necks out for him the previous week. The match starts, and everything goes to hell as AJ gets involved, causing the ref to hand the win to Enzo and Cass via DQ, when Styles throws Cass into the crowd and the three begin to circle Enzo like buzzards. [[MostWonderfulSound Then]] [[TheCavalryArrivesLate the]] [[AwesomeMusic/ProfessionalWrestling music]] [[BigDamnHeroes hits]]. Cena and Cass get back into the ring to bail Enzo out, and the three of them drive the Club out of the ring. And the kicker? The entire crowd was CHEERING. None of the typical mixed reaction Cena gets. ''Everyone'' was overjoyed to see him prove the Club wrong and help out his newfound allies.

* [[HeReallyCanAct He Really Can Wrestle]]: Seems to have an incredible habit of pulling these whenever he has a brief slump.

--->'''Matt Striker:''' '''''[[SugarWiki/AwesomeMoments WOW!!!]]'''''

* People remember that Punk during his feud with Cena gave some of the best promos possible but how can we forget some of Cena's impressive mic work on a particular night. On the 8/8/11 Raw, after Punk states that he will walk out WWE Champion and Cena will still have his legion of fans and WrestleMania match, Cena can only grin and offer Punk [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0HBbLiMuj4&t=13m25s some advice]].
-->'''Cena:''' Fine speech. Do you realize how much pressure is on you this Sunday? No, no, no, no, no... You have no idea. Congratulations, Punk. You won one match, in Chicago, at Money in the Bank. You did a hell of a job. You beat me, straight out. You have every right to be called the WWE Champion. You ever thought about what happens if you just might lose at Wrestling/SummerSlam? Your little diatribe about me going on and facing [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson]] at WrestleMania is exactly correct. Win, lose, or draw, I'm headed to Wrestling/WrestleMania to face The Rock. You... You need this match. You need this more than anything in your life, because you now have people watching you. You have explained that that *points to the mic in Punk's hand* is a pipe bomb, and you speak your mind, and I commend you for that... But if you don't back it up when the bell rings, especially this Sunday, you know what you are? You're a loud-mouth one-hit wonder. You... You. You will be known as Buster Douglas, Yahoo Serious, Milli... *asks the crowd* What's the other guy? Vanilli. If you don't produce on Sunday with everything on the line, for you... All of this? *snaps his fingers* Gone, just like that. (signs the contract) [[WorthyOpponent Good luck]].

** Cena also won another unlikely person over with his SummerSlam performance....Paul Heyman! The night after, during Heyman and Lesnar's victory speech, Heyman put over Cena HUGE, pointing out that Cena's been a constant main eventer (and in Heyman's own words "the single greatest fighting champion in WWE history") for a decade, longer than the likes of the Rock and Stone Cold, and that most people (possibly including those two) would have likely quit after taking such an asskicking from Lesnar, but Cena NEVER QUIT. Heyman then followed all that up by saying Cena earned his respect and admiration, that his kids were John Cena fans and now he understood why, and that [[WhatMightHaveBeen if he had the time,]] he would love [[CueTheFlyingPigs to make JOHN CENA A PAUL HEYMAN GUY.]] You couldn't buy better praise than that.