John Cena is a Hollywood superstar now, but before that, he was a WWE superstar - here's how he won all 16 of his world heavyweight titles. Cena will soon reach his highest peak so far in the movie industry, starring as domineering villain Jakob Toretto in the blockbuster sequel F9, and playing unhinged antihero Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad, James Gunn's latest comic book adaptation. What's funny is that after Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson left WWE for Hollywood, Cena spent years ragging on him, only to end up doing the same thing, although he did later apologize.
Back in the mid-2000s, with both The Rock and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin done as full-time wrestlers, WWE was looking to a younger talent to step up and be their main star going forward. That turned out to be Cena, who debuted in 2002, hit upon his popular rapper gimmick in 2003, and won his first WWE Championship at WrestleMania 21 in 2005. Cena went on to spend the better part of 15 years as WWE's latest standard bearer, main-eventing WrestleManias and becoming WWE's public face.
Cena now only appears sporadically for WWE, but seems to have no desire to leave wrestling behind for good quite yet. He's rumored to be returning to the ring in August at SummerSlam, possibly in a match for Roman Reigns' Universal Championship. If he wins the belt, he'll become a 17-time world champion, but for now, here's a look at his prior 16 title wins.
Vs. JBL, WrestleMania 21 (2005)
Starting in mid-2004, big bucks heel John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) came out of practically nowhere to keep an iron grip on the WWE Championship for over nine months. Finally, John Cena emerged as the conquering hero at WrestleMania 21, taking down JBL and ending his reign of terror. This would officially kick off Cena's time at the top of WWE.
Vs. Edge, Royal Rumble 2006
Edge memorably took the WWE Championship from Cena at New Year's Revolution 2006, becoming the first man to cash in the Money in the Bank briefcase for an instant title shot after Cena had just survived the Elimination Chamber. Cena took the title back only a few weeks later at Royal Rumble, in a decision many fans hated, as Edge's first reign had quickly turned into must-see-TV.
Vs. Edge, Unforgiven 2006
By this point in his career, Cena's honeymoon period had ended, and half the crowd - mostly men - had turned on his clean-cut good guy act. This led to the longstanding "Let's Go Cena/Cena Sucks" dueling chants. In the months prior to Unforgiven, Cena had dropped the title to Rob Van Dam at One Night Stand, who then in turn dropped it to Edge at Vengeance. Cena reclaimed the gold at Unforgiven, in front of Edge's hometown and in a ladder match.
Vs. Chris Jericho, Survivor Series 2008
Cena's third WWE Championship reign was ended after over a year, when he was forced to vacate the title due to injury in October 2007. His next brush with a top prize would occur on November 23, 2008, at Survivor Series, when John Cena - returning from a different, more recent injury - smashed Chris Jericho to claim WWE's World Heavyweight Championship, aka the former WCW title, for the first time.
Vs. Edge & Big Show, WrestleMania 25 (2009)
Cena would drop his first World Heavyweight Championship to Edge in the Elimination Chamber a few months later, but win it back from him at WrestleMania 25 in April 2009, as part of a triple threat match also including The Big Show. Cena then lost the title back to Edge again at Backlash later that month, as part of their terrific 2000s rivalry, and that ended his brief dalliance with that particular belt for a while.
Vs. Randy Orton, Breaking Point 2009
Cena would next recapture the WWE Championship at Breaking Point from another long-term rival, Randy Orton. The pair would trade the title back and forth over the fall of 2009, and this particular title change would occur as part of an I Quit match. Orton had won the title in June after it was relinquished by an injured Batista (Dave Bautista).
Vs. Randy Orton, Bragging Rights 2009
Cena's next WWE Championship win came at Bragging Rights in October 2009, after losing the title to Orton earlier that month at Hell in a Cell. Cena effectively ended their feud, at least for the time being, by triumphing in a 60-minute, no-rules Iron Man Match. While the pair did have some good matches, WWE's attempts to push Cena vs. Orton as the next Austin vs. Rock never really worked.
Vs. Sheamus, Kofi Kingston, Randy Orton, Ted DiBiase & Triple H, Elimination Chamber 2010
Cena would surprisingly drop the WWE Championship to Sheamus, a then relative newcomer, at the 2009 TLC pay-per-view. He would win it back in February 2010, as part of an Elimination Chamber match at the titular show, which also included Kofi Kingston, Randy Orton, Ted DiBiase, and Triple H. He didn't hold it long, as Vince McMahon came out and gave Batista an instant title shot afterward when Cena was beaten up, leading to a predictable win.
Vs. Batista (Dave Bautista), WrestleMania 26 (2010)
Thankfully for Cena, Batista's reign was short-lived, as he was about to take his first extended break from WWE and try to make it in Hollywood, in a move that would eventually see him play Drax in the MCU. Cena and Batista clashed at WrestleMania 26, with Cena coming out on top, resulting in him picking up his third world title win at a WrestleMania event. Clearly, Vince McMahon sees value in having Cena chase the gold into WrestleMania.
Vs. The Miz, Extreme Rules 2011
Before The Miz was a popular fan casting for Johnny Cage in the Mortal Kombat sequel, he cashed in Money in the Bank on Randy Orton in 2010 to pick up his first WWE Championship. This came after Cena had dropped the belt to Sheamus in June, and Sheamus dropped it to Orton in September. Miz held the gold for 160 days, even retaining against Cena at WrestleMania, before losing to him at Extreme Rules in May as part of a cage match also including John Morrison.
Vs. Rey Mysterio, Raw 7/25/11
After taking the WWE Championship from The Miz, Cena was feuding with an exceedingly popular CM Punk, with the two battling for the title at Money in the Bank. In the storyline, Punk was threatening to take the title and leave WWE, as his contract was up. Punk did just that, but only for a few weeks. By then though, Rey Mysterio had won a tournament for the vacant title, then had to defend against Cena the same night.
Vs. Alberto Del Rio, Night of Champions 2011
A triumphantly returned Punk defeated Cena at Summerslam to resolve the WWE title dispute, but lost it immediately to the villainous Alberto Del Rio's Money in the Bank cash-in, which was helped by a surprise attack from Kevin Nash. Del Rio then dropped the WWE Championship to Cena at Night of Champions in September 2011.
Vs. The Rock, WrestleMania 29 (2013)
It would be quite a while before John Cena won his next WWE Championship after dropping it back to Del Rio at Hell in a Cell in October 2011. In the meantime, CM Punk took it off Del Rio, then held it for an astonishing 434 days before losing to The Rock at Royal Rumble 2013. Rock and Cena then had a rematch of their WrestleMania match from 2012, which Rock won, with Cena winning this time out.
Vs. Alberto Del Rio, Hell in a Cell 2013
Cena would lose the WWE Championship to the fast-rising Daniel Bryan at SummerSlam 2013 in August, then switch over to challenging for the World Heavyweight Championship again a few months later, defeating old rival Del Rio at Hell in a Cell in October. Randy Orton would win the vacant WWE Championship that same night, setting up a showdown.
Vs. Alberto Del Rio, Bray Wyatt, Cesaro, Kane, Randy Orton, Roman Reigns & Sheamus, Money in the Bank 2014
Cena and Orton would unify the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships at TLC 2013 in December, with Orton winning, and carrying on the WWE Championship lineage. Daniel Bryan won the title in a triple threat against Orton and Batista at WrestleMania 30 in 2014, but Bryan was later forced to drop it due to injury. Cena won an eight-way ladder match at Money in the Bank in June to pick up his fifteenth overall world title in WWE.
Vs. AJ Styles, Royal Rumble 2017
John Cena took home his sixteenth and last WWE World Title at Royal Rumble 2017, defeating AJ Styles in a classic encounter. Cena's WWE schedule had become part-time in the years since his 2014 reign, as he moved further into Hollywood. He lost the belt one month later, to Bray Wyatt in an Elimination Chamber match. Cena's 16 reigns ties him for the all-time record, at least according to WWE, but in reality, Ric Flair is a 21-time world champion, a record John Cena is unlikely to equal.