5 Feuds John Cena Must Have Before In-Ring Retirement from WWE

When we talk about the history of professional wrestling, certain names stand out as leaders of their respective generations.

Bruno Sammartino, Andre the Giant and Bret Hart are just a few of the legends who left their permanent mark on WWE. When looking at more modern times, the name that sticks out the most is John Cena.

The 16-time world champion has continued to keep his association with pro wrestling while his career in Hollywood continues to thrive. Despite being in blockbuster movies such as The Suicide Squad, he still makes time for the Cenation.

"Retirement" is not as concrete as it once was. We constantly see people who have been retired return for a match or even a short run. Trish Stratus is a recent example of someone who spent months working matches after having been retired for several years.

WrestleMania 40 has been a hot topic recently, but Cena's name has been absent from the buildup. He recently mentioned during an interview with Entertainment Tonight that he doesn't know if he is free that weekend but didn't rule out an appearance entirely.

The 46-year-old has never put a definitive end date on his career, but the more time passes, the less often he appears in a WWE ring.

Let's look at some of the feuds Cena and WWE should consider before he fully winds down his in-ring career.

CM Punk

The unlikely return of CM Punk to WWE in November opened the door for him to revisit numerous feuds from his past, but nobody was a bigger rival to him than Cena.

These men are two sides of the same coin. Both love pro wrestling, but they approach just about every aspect of the business and their personal lives differently.

Cena is the clean-cut company man. He has the ideal physique, always looks like he just saw the barber for a trim and shave, and he speaks thoughtfully and in a way that will protect his brand.

Punk is the tattooed rebel. He couldn't care less about perfectly defined muscles, shaves whenever he feels like it, and says whatever is on his mind without caring if he ruffles any feathers.

Even their entrance music is an easy way to see how different they are. One man comes out to a rap he recorded himself and the other uses a famous rock song by Living Colour.

Two men who are as opposite as it gets came together to produce some incredible matches and moments. Cena was the man in the ring when Punk delivered his infamous pipebomb promo, and he was also his opponent for what is arguably his most famous match at Money in the Bank in 2011.

They can't recapture that same magic, but they might be able to expand on it as two veterans who have changed a lot since they last crossed paths.

This is the kind of match WWE can use to build an entire event. SummerSlam would be the perfect place for a non-title feud between two men who are already worthy of the Hall of Fame. A title would be nice, but fighting for pride would be enough for a rivalry like this.

Randy Orton

Punk and Cena were like Batman and Superman, but if Cena is The Man of Steel, then his Lex Luthor is definitely Randy Orton.

Much like "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock helped define the Attitude era, Cena and Orton's longstanding rivalry helped shape the Ruthless Aggression era.

Cena usually had a weight and power advantage during their feuds, but Orton was always the taller and quicker of the two. Between TV tapings and pay-per-views, they had more than 70 matches as opponents and a handful as partners.

The RKO vs. the Attitude Adjustment. The Leader of the Cenation vs. The Legend Killer. The Viper vs. The Doctor of Thuganomics. WWE has had these men fight each other so many times that they have probably spent more time in the ring together than many tag teams.

It's hard to imagine where either man would be without the other. They say iron sharpens iron and that was definitely the case with these two legends. They made each other better and brought each other up to new levels many times.

Orton is still an active presence in WWE, but Cena has dialed his career back to only having a match or two every year, if at all. Before one of them decides to hang up their boots for good—sneakers in Cena's case—they need to have one more showdown to put a cap on their epic rivalry.

Oba Femi

The NXT roster has tons of fresh talent who might be the people main-eventing WrestleMania in a decade, but one young wrestler has stood out more than anyone else recently.

Oba Femi is one of those special rookies who came into pro wrestling and just seemed to pick it up naturally. At only 25 years old and with less than three years of experience, he is already holding the NXT North American Championship after winning the NXT Breakout Tournament in 2023.

Femi is one of WWE's Next In Line recruits. He earned a college scholarship through his track and field accomplishments, including multiple wins in shot put at various events. He was one of several athletes who signed an NIL deal in 2021.

He has the athleticism and drive to be successful, but his size is going to be a big factor in what sets him apart. He's billed at 6'4" weighing roughly 275 pounds and moves like a man 100 pounds lighter.

Femi also has charisma and a great presence on screen, so he has the potential to be a great performer in addition to being a top-level athlete.

It's hard not to draw comparisons to names like Bobby Lashley and Brock Lesnar when someone comes along who looks and moves the way he does. But if you are going to be compared to anyone, you could do a lot worse than The All Mighty and The Beast Incarnate.

If Cena was going to put over a young star on his way out, Femi would be the perfect choice. It would instantly elevate his career and set him on the path to being a main event talent down the line.

When The Cenation Leader debuted on WWE television, he did so by answering an open challenge from Kurt Angle. It would almost be poetic if he offered the same chance and Femi answered the call.

Cody Rhodes

When Cody Rhodes left WWE in 2016, he and Cena were on completely different levels. The 16-time champion was a longstanding main event talent at that point in his career, while the younger wrestler was still going by the name "Stardust."

Fast-forward to 2024 and Cena is a legitimate Hollywood draw while the former intercontinental champion has elevated himself to one of the most popular Superstars in WWE and is almost guaranteed to win a world title in the near future.

Despite being at different levels during their time in the company, The American Nightmare and the star of Peacemaker have actually spent quite a bit of time in the ring together.

They have teamed up on many occasions when Rhodes was a babyface and been opponents just as many times when The American Nightmare was a heel. Most of their experience together has been in tag team matches, but they did have a couple of one-on-one encounters along the way.

Their best performance as opponents came on the April 6, 2015 episode of Raw. Cena issued an open challenge for his United States title that led to a fun 13-minute match against Stardust.

Even then, you could see great chemistry between the two. Just imagine what they can do now they are both veterans who have built their legacies on being storytellers in the ring.

Rey Mysterio

Cena and Rey Mysterio are different in just about every way...bar one. The only thing they have in common is that both have spent an overwhelming majority of their careers working as babyfaces.

Other than a brief feud in 2003 and a WWE Championship match on Raw in 2011, they have mainly worked together in random tag team and multi-man matches as partners.

When Cena worked a brief stint of house shows and dark matches in 2021, he was exclusively alongside Rey and Dominik Mysterio in six-man tag bouts.

You can count the number of televised one-on-one matches between Cena and Rey on one hand, which is rare for two people who spent so many years in WWE together. It creates a unique opportunity to offer the crowd something it hasn't seen in over a decade and has only seen a couple of times before.

On one side of the ring, you have one of the most successful champions in WWE history and a powerhouse who made a career out of lifting giants and super-heavyweights who were twice his size on his shoulders for an Attitude Adjustment.

On the other side, you have one of the greatest underdog performers and luchadors in the history of pro wrestling and a man who has also made a career out of taking out men who dwarfed him in height and weight.

Other than a brief stint on the indies when he first started, Cena has spent the entirety of his 20-plus-year career in WWE.

Mysterio, on the other hand, has worked for WWE, WCW, ECW, AAA, CMLL, Lucha Underground, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, numerous indie promotions, and even the original All In pay-per-view that inspired the creation of AEW.

WWE has a chance to book a match between two of the most beloved babyfaces of all time who have had vastly different lives and careers and have only been opponents a couple of times. This is not an opportunity that exists with many long-time WWE Superstars. For that reason alone, this is a feud worth exploring.

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The five names here would all make great rivals for Cena before he wraps up his career, but there are many more. Who do you want to see step into the ring with the 16-time world champion?