What’s Next for John Cena Following WrestleMania 41

John Cena is officially a 17-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion, breaking the “record” held by Ric Flair in the official WWE books. Whether or not you accept WWE’s version of events, the story will be that he broke Flair’s record and will officially go down as the most decorated champion of all. If you ask me, that means Cena lost the title 16 times. After defeating Cody Rhodes in one of the most lackluster main events in company history, Cena needed a strong promo on Monday Night Raw, and that’s just what he gave right up until the point that Randy Orton showed up and gave him an up close and personal spelling test on the three most dangerous letters in sports entertainment; R.K.O., and left Cena in a heap of failure. 

Given the events of Raw, it seems likely that Orton will be Cena’s next opponent or at least his next feud. Orton had been plenty vocal about wanting to wrestle Cena one more time before he left the company, and as WWE’s most tenured superstar behind Cena, they were more than willing to oblige. The set up for their feud was pretty solid, with Cena delivering a work-shoot promo that, once again, called out the fans for their hypocrisy at WrestleMania and booing Cody Rhodes. He reiterated that he wanted to ruin wrestling for the fans and this was just the first step. 

While Orton likely won’t be the one to end Cena’s reign, there has been plenty of talk among the fans about who will get this honor. One potential name on the list was Bron Breakker, but given his heel turn on the same Monday Night Raw I mentioned earlier, it doesn’t seem too likely that they would do a heel versus heel to close out Cena’s chapter. Roman Reigns has talked openly about retirement and doesn’t need to “end Cena’s plans.” It wouldn’t help or hurt him at this point, and it would be better to give it to a star who could benefit from that accomplishment. 

One name that fans would love to see thrown in the mix is Karrion Kross, but it looks like he is about to enter a feud with A.J. Styles. Kross came back into the WWE with an absolutely vicious promo about how Logan Paul doesn’t belong in the WWE, and Styles was under obligation to go into business for himself because “doing the right thing sometimes means doing the wrong thing.” When it comes to Paul, he is bad for business, diminishing all the workers who spent years on the road exhausting blood and sweat equity into this business, only for Paul’s jackassery on YouTube to land him a contract with the largest promotion in the world. 

C.M. Punk is another veteran who will likely be given a chance to go head-to-head with Cena one last time. Similar to Orton, Punk has also mentioned wanting the honor of wrestling him once more, especially after their legendary Elimination Chamber match just before WrestleMania 41. Given that Punk and Triple H are on much better terms, it’s easy to see Hunter rewarding Punk with a series of matches/paydays before Cena retires. 

LA Knight is the last name on my list of potential opponents. Knight has been on a list of names fans have wanted to see the WWE use more often. Now that they’ve taken the U.S. Title off of him and put it on Jacob Fatu, hopefully, this means the start of a push on LA Knight toward the upper end of the card. Knight easily has the talent to make a feud not only interesting in the ring, but interesting on the mic, as well. 

While I don’t think this will happen, I want to throw out one more thing that could be cool as hell if they ever decided to do it. The reaction Joe Hendry got facing Randy Orton at WrestleMania 41 sent a huge message to the WWE that this dude is over, over. If the WWE decided to bring him in and give him a series of matches with Cena to boost his profile even more before he joins the company full-time, Hendy might very well become the face of the next generation. They don’t have to put the title on him, they just need to give him a program with Cena. The rest will take care of itself. 

Do any of these matches interest you? How long do you think Cena is going to wrestle as champion? Who would you prefer to see John Cena wrestle on his way out? Let us know what you think in the comments. If anyone drops a really interesting name and reason, I might even give the idea its own article and make sure you get the credit.  

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