John Cena has been a divisive figure to say the least through his entire run as the "top guy" in WWE. In recent time his "Let's Go Cena/ Cena Sucks" chants and the "John Cena Sucks" being sung to his theme tune have become almost a term of endearment in the ilk of Kurt Angle's "You Suck" chants.
The new warmth, or at least thawing, towards Cena is probably due to the fact that Roman Reigns has taken his mantle and spot of "divisive figure" (deep voices boo, high voices cheer) and the fact that Cena is now a part time performer and is following Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's foray into Hollywood.
Cena, for better of worse, defeated our own Finn Balor to earn his spot in this year's Elimination Chamber, with the winner earning himself a spot in the WWE Universal Title match at Wrestlemania in New Orleans. But let's be honest, there's only gonna be one winner there and his name is Roman Reigns.
So what will John Cena's match be at "the grandest stage of them all"? Love him, newly like him or hate him, Cena is still the biggest name the company has and one of the top draws in the history of wrestling so he needs to be in a marquee match at Wrestlemania.
Possible Opponent #1: The Undertaker
This is the match that has been highly rumoured to be happening through the various online rumours for the past few months. In my opinion, this would be bad for everyone involved. The Undertaker had a perfect retirement for the character last year and as much as in pains me to say, he looked an old, frail man during his match with Reigns.
This can benefit nobody really. Part timer Cena beats part timer Undertaker., who cares? Part timer Undertaker beats part timer Cena, who cares?! This match is unfortunately looking more and more like a possibility but it should not happen. Enough said.
Possible Opponent #2: Finn Balor
There's been some controversy, online at least, between these two. Cena eliminated Balor from the Royal Rumble this year after the Bray man's ironman performance in the 30 man event. The next night Cena then (seemingly) derailed all the good work by beating Finn to advance to the Elimination Chamber and leave Balor in limbo for Mania.
You could argue (and lots of people have) that they could have used almost anyone else for Cena to beat to qualify for the Elimination Chamber, but what if there was a reason? Imagine if this is all part of a bigger plan. Cena eliminates Balor from the Rumble, beat him so he couldn't get into the Elimination Chamber and the added fact that Balor never received a rematch after having the give up the WWE Universal title. It's the perfect set-up for a Finn Balor heel turn.
Balor and his Balor club break into the Elimination Chamber, attack John Cena and take him out of the Chamber, thus repaying the favour and costing Cena his chance at a Wrestlemania main event. Balor finally beating Cena at Wrestlemania would then surely cement him as a top guy in WWE and give Roman Reigns a ready made heel opponent after he beats Lesnar for the title.
UNLESS...
Possible Opponent #3: Roman Reigns
In my very humble opinion, this is the match that WWE should make happen. These are both Vince McMahon's chosen men. Cena apparently passed the torch to Roman back at No Mercy of 2017 but the electricity in the crowd when these two were face to face in the Royal Rumble was hard to ignore and in past years would have had WWE's decision makers licking their lips ahead of Wrestlemania.
Back at Wrestlemania 18 The Rock and Hulk Hogan famously faced off as older era met newer era, this is the closest thing WWE have to recreating that moment. We all expect Reigns to beat Lesnar and win the title in the most predictable ending to a Wrestlemania to when Reigns beat Undertaker last year....and Triple H the year before.
Imagine if WWE threw a MASSIVE curveball at us and had Cena and Reigns cost each other the win in the Elimination Chamber and led to a grudge match at Mania where Cena can really pass the torch on the big stage to the new chosen one. It would be infinitely more interesting and palatable than what we are all expecting for a year or more.
