By almost any metric alive, John Cena has done all the things there may be to do in skilled wrestling. He was the highest star within the industry, no less than in the US, for over a decade, producing classic rivalries with the likes of CM Punk and Adam Copeland, winning 16 World Championships, and drawing in major crowds, even when a few of those crowds were there to boo Cena. After a number of false starts, he used his wrestling fame to successfully transition right into a film and tv profession, very like former rivals Dave Batista and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. After years of anticipation, Cena finally turned heel, though the run didn’t go as he had hoped for. And within the strategy of that run, he defeated Cody Rhodes within the most important event of WrestleMania 41, capturing a record-setting seventeenth World Championship in the method.
Add all of it up, and it could look like there’d be nothing else Cena could ask for as he continues to approach his retirement on the December 13 edition of Saturday Night’s Most important Event. But there are at all times goals and needs one can have even after accomplishing a lot, especially relating to dream matches that might never occur. And that’s where Cena, who became a wrestling fan throughout the first golden age of wrestling within the Nineteen Eighties, does have one match he wishes he could have had, no less than if he had access to a time machine. And when asked what that will be when appearing at Fan EXPO Chicago 2025, Cena revealed that match was with, arguably, the be all, end all star in WWE history.
“Just selfishly, Andre, because he was just like the measuring stick,” Cena said. “The folklore behind Andre the Giant is mythical, and each physical, as his presence, but in addition in, like, the folklore of the fraternity, of the brotherhood of wrestling, especially the WWF territory. I’m sure it’s the world over, because Andre was a worldwide phenomenon. But selfishly, yes. That will be the one, Andre the Giant.”
Andre the Giant Was One Half Of Cena’s Favorite Childhood Wrestling Moment
It’s a solution that likely won’t surprise many. For one, Cena’s profession largely followed the formula that one other one among Cena’s idols, Hulk Hogan, perfected within the 80s. While many would argue that Cena was a greater in-ring performer than Hogan and wound up having more interesting feuds in some regards, lots of his earlier feuds were much like the battles Hogan had with opponents like Andre, Big Bossman, and others; an even bigger wrestler would get in Cena’s way, the chances against Cena would appear relatively grim, and ultimately he would overcome the chances and prevail. It was a storyline that played out to a T between Cena and the person many consider to be Andre’s successor, the Big Show Paul Wight, with the 2 having matches that likely would’ve been much like ones Cena and Andre would’ve had.
In fact, it also doesn’t hurt that, as mentioned, Cena grew up idolizing Andre, and that Andre was involved in what Cena later described as his favorite WrestleMania moment ever. That moment was none aside from Andre vs. Hogan at WrestleMania III, arguably still the largest match to ever happen in a WWE ring and arguably a very powerful, given how Hogan’s slam of Andre inspired many to turn into wrestling fans. Cena was already a fan of wrestling by that time, however the moment had a profound effect on him, with Cena later admitting that he got goosebumps watching Hogan pick Andre up for the slam. Between that, and Cena’s Hogan fandom as well, it makes all of the sense on the planet that Cena wishes he and Andre could’ve replicated something similar, if time travel had been possible.
Should you use any of the quotes in this text, please credit “FAN EXPO” and supply a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription