John Cena is bowing out of wrestling after Saturday Night’s Main Event and he’ll go down as one of the best to ever do it.
At 48-years-old, Cena walks away as a record-holding 17-time world champion, a 15-time performer at WrestleMania and six times in the main event and with a collection of legendary matches against names like AJ Styles and CM Punk.
The Boston-born star can also say he was a credible draw during his time at the top, particularly his two back-to-back matches at WrestleMania with The Rock setting pay-per-view records at the time.
He also handled being the company’s poster boy maybe better than anyone ever has. All those Make-a-Wishes he granted, the media appearances and working on top – nobody has done it with the dedication and longevity that Cena has.
For sheer longevity, many people would have him on their Mount Rushmore of WWE stars.
Names like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker and Hulk Hogan rival him – and there’s plenty of names missing – but who is the best to ever do it?
During a conversation with Chris Van Vliet, Cena chose AJ Styles.
“Best to ever do it. Shawn’s gonna be p*ssed, and God did Shawn [Michaels] ever take care of me.
“There’s not a lot he [Styles] can’t do, and he makes difficult look easy. But that is not God given talent.
“That is practice. When you see difficult become seamless, it’s because it’s been done 10,000 times, and the amount of sh*t he can do seamlessly. Man, he’s best to ever do it.”
Most people say Michaels when talking about best-ever in-ring performer, but nobody is going to screw their face up at Styles.
He essentially carried TNA on his back during their boom period, ruled in Japan and then came to WWE and put on classics with everybody he stepped in the ring with from age 39 onwards.
There’s no denying Styles’ CV and his track-record and Cena has spent ample time in the ring with both Styles, Michaels and nearly any other legend you can think of.
At the end of the day, Cena is an all-time great whose middle part of his career was slightly blighted by Vince McMahon’s one dimensional booking and the WWE’s move to the PG era.
But if he says AJ Styles is the best to ever do it, that speaks volumes.
