‘WWE: John Cena’s Greatest Rivalries’ Review
For the first time ever, relive all the classic feuds with John Cena himself as he gives insight into the rivalries that defined his WWE legacy. From his early confrontations with Eddie Guerrero and Chris Jericho, to career-defining battles with Shawn Michael, JBL and Triple H, to his most recent conflicts with Batista, Randy Orton, and The Rock. Experience all of John Cena’s greatest rivalries in this definitive collection and witness the evolution of John Cena into one of the greatest WWE Superstars of all time.
John Cena has been the face of WWE for the last decade, and in that time he has been involved in feuds and rivalries with some of the biggest and best names in the history of WWE. Now, not everyone who Cena has feuded with could be in this set, that would just be too long of a product to sit through, but the main ones are here, and we get insight from Cena himself as each rivalry is covered and matches presented. Now, it’s a mixed bag, especially for those of us that might not necessarily be fans of John Cena and his work in pro-wrestling. I’m not a fan of Cena, but he sure has had some impressive feuds with some of the greatest workers of the last ten years.
From his 2003 feud with the late great Eddie Guerrero, right up to his 2013 feud with the future Hall of Famer, The Rock, most of the big-time rivalries are on this set. My memories on each one differs, like the fact that I remember the two I just mentioned well, yet I don’t recall much of Cena’s 2005 and 2008 rivalries with Chris Jericho. That may just be down to my lack of interest during those periods, but either way, the content is up and down in terms of quality. Cena’s feud with Guerrero is entertaining, though Cena was still honing his rap character during that period and was very green. His feud with JBL in 2005 was a snooze-fest, like most JBL feuds were. Cena and Randy Orton have had a long running rivalry, and one that WWE currently likes to paint as the current era’s version of Austin/Rock, but it isn’t. We’ve seen those two men wrestle on and off for ten years, and they are still doing it now (literally), it was hard to sit through a replay of any Cena/Orton matches because of that fact, making them a negative aspect for me personally, yet one that I understand being here. The Cena/Shawn Michaels content is enjoyable with Shawn being one of the best workers of all time, and it’s nice to see it included here because, frankly, I forgot that they even had a rivalry at any point. Other guys, like Edge, Batista and Triple H are on here too, and it all depends on your opinions and enjoyment of the particular superstars as to whether you’ll enjoy revisiting the feuds in question.
The insights and comments from Cena himself are typical of a set like this and don’t tend to offer any major information or news that we didn’t already know. Still, fans of Cena, and collectors of sets like this will probably find plenty to enjoy here. It is also worth noting that the Blu-ray of this release exclusively includes Cena’s rivalry with former WWE superstar CM Punk, a rivalry that is one of his most memorable, and one that will undoubtedly help Blu-ray sales of this title.
With WWE moving on to its next chapter as a company, and John Cena possibly winding down his career as a full time headliner, it is strange that they didn’t wait to release this until later, with less matches and more rivalries included, such as Cena’s feuds with Brock Lesnar, Kane, Kurt Angle and others. Still, fans will eat this up and it is another way to promote the most promoted man in WWE history just that little bit more.
John Cena’s Greatest Rivalries is out now, on DVD and Blu-ray, through Freemantle Media.
