Comparing Roman Reigns' WWE Career So Far to John Cena's Early Run

Roman Reigns is on the path to surpassing John Cena if he can only overcome the ardent resistance to him from the WWE fanbase. 

Raw's sneering, spear-happy gladiator is a better in-ring performer than Cena was early in his career. Reigns' growing collection of matches speaks to that.

But what of Reigns' ability with a microphone in hand? What of the persistent negativity thrown his way from the crowd?

For Reigns to climb the list of all-time greats, he'll have to figure those issues out.

A look back at where Cena was at this stage in his career, though, is a reminder of how much growth likely lies ahead for The Big Dog. Cena made his SmackDown debut in June of 2002. 

A decade later, Reigns charged into Survivor Series 2012 when The Shield issued its first beatdown. Reigns has now been competing on the main roster for about four and a half years.

Contrasting who he is and what he's done with Cena's early career is revealing.

Championships and Accomplishments  

WWE gave both Reigns and Cena an abundance of gold early on. The company identified both men as top priorities, and they reaped the rewards.

Reigns, though, is filling up his resume faster than Cena did.

As seen on Cena's CageMatch.net profile, his first title win came just under two years of his debut. The Big Dog's CageMatch.net page notes that Reigns' first championship victory came in May 2013. That was only five months into his run on the main roster.

And Reigns has piled on the big accomplishments since:

• Royal Rumble winner
• WWE Tag Team Championship
• United States Championship
• WWE Championship (three times)
• WrestleMania headliner (three times)

Cena had plenty to brag about in his first few years, but not to the degree Reigns has:

• United States Championship (three times)
• WWE Championship (three times)
• WrestleMania headliner 

Reigns won the Royal Rumble earlier than Cena did in his career. He's been on the WrestleMania marquee twice more than his counterpart at this stage too.

The numbers point to Reigns surpassing Cena's total title count at this rate although the 16 world title reigns feel like a record that may stay untouched.

In-Ring Resume

The knock on Reigns after he ventured on his own was that he couldn't hang as a solo act. He was too limited and inexperienced in the ring. He didn't have a varied offense.

The Big Dog, though, has spent much of his singles run becoming a go-to guy for WWE, delivering big-time matches at a steady rate.

Cena looked good early on too, thriving against the likes of Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle.

Credit: WWE.com

Fans dismissed him then much as they do Reigns today. Many proclaimed that Cena's superior opponents "carried" him to good matches. The same rhetoric is used against Reigns, but there are more displays of excellence to deny with him than there were with Cena.

Not counting tag team matches and Battle Royals, Reigns has Cena beat by miles in terms of contests Dave Meltzer rated four stars or higher in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

Event	Opponent	Star Rating (Out of 5)
No Mercy 2003	Kurt Angle	4.25
Judgment Day 2005	John "Bradshaw" Layfield	4.25
Backlash 2006	Triple H, Edge	4.25
Unforgiven 2006	Edge	4.25

Event	Opponent	Star Rating (Out of 5)
SummerSlam 2014	Randy Orton	4
Fastlane 2015	Daniel Bryan	4.5
WrestleMania 31	Brock Lesnar, Seth Rollins	4.5
Extreme Rules 2015	Big Show	4
Raw, Nov. 16, 2015	Cesaro	4.25
TLC 2015	Sheamus	4
Fastlane 2016	Brock Lesnar, Dean Ambrose	4.5
Extremel Rules 2016	AJ Styles	4.5
Battleground 2016	Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose	4
Royal Rumble 2017	Kevin Owens	4.5
Fastlane 2017	Braun Strowman	4

Reigns' progression between ropes has happened at a rapid rate.

It only feels like yesterday that he was heading into his SummerSlam showdown with Randy Orton with whispers of doubt echoing around him. He has since flourished opposite WWE's top performers like AJ Styles while also leading Braun Strowman and Big Show to some of their best work ever.

Cena has gone from really good to great in his later years, becoming a stellar storyteller and a guy who can bring out anyone's best. His United States Open Challenge in 2015 was proof of that.

Reigns looks well on this way to getting there. In-ring acumen appears to be an area where The Big Dog may outdo The Cenation Leader by the time he hangs up his boots.

Promos

In 2006, Cena had not yet donned his Superman character.

He still had touches of his Doctor of Thuganomics persona. He was brash and in-your-face.

And when he took the mic, he was not yet near as masterful as he is today. Cena had good charisma back then, a trait that only ballooned over time. 

At that stage, though, he was a work in progress. Dusty Giebink reviewed a January 2006 edition of Raw for PWTorch and wrote, "Cena is still largely unrefined, but now they have time to work on it without him being the focus of the company."

Reigns, meanwhile, can only dream of being as magnetic as 2006 Cena.

His presence is larger-than-life, and he certainly looks like a star, but The Juggernaut is limited as a talker. He struggles with longer promos and often fails to connect.

WWE has sometimes tried to fit him into a Cena-sized peg, but Reigns isn't suited for one-liners and playful back-and-forth interactions with the crowd. He's at his best being concise and intense at this point.

Cena's progress on promos, however, is a reminder of how growth in this industry is continuous. Reigns is sure to improve in the years to come. But even so, there's little chance he catches up to Cena in that area.

There's too much of a gap to make up.

Popularity

When Cena stepped into the ring for the 2006 One Night Stand pay-per-view, the backlash for him had reached a boiling point.

The diehards who packed the building that night made it clear they didn't like Cena. They booed him with a visceral passion. An "If Cena wins, we riot" sign hung in the rafters. 

Reigns is getting similar treatment.

He's become the go-to guy for a portion of the audience to despise. After getting booed out of the building when he won the 2015 Royal Rumble, The Big Dog has had moments where he briefly won over his detractors, but it hasn't lasted.

The response to his arrival after this year's WrestleMania showed how strong the resistance to Reigns still is.

Cena was well on his way to becoming WWE's certified centerpiece in 2006, the next big megastar. WWE is treating Reigns as if he will follow suit, but vocal fans have not accepted him in that spot.

When Triple H busted open Reigns' nose last year, the crowd cheered for The Game. When Strowman demolished Reigns and flipped over the ambulance he was in, the audience thanked the monster loudly and emphatically.

Cena wasn't dealing with that kind of hate a decade ago.

The folks at the Tights and Fights podcast asked who would get booed in a Cena-Reigns bout today, and the majority of those who answered believed The Big Dog would get the worse treatment:

That's not a fair comparison, though.

Over time, the anti-Cena backlash has cooled. There is a greater appreciation of Cena today. It took a long time and a mountain of classic matches to do so, but it has happened.

That could happen to Reigns eventually, especially if someone else takes over the "No. 1 public enemy of the Internet Wrestling Community" spot.