John Cena now stands alone with probably the most world championship wins in professional wrestling historical past.
Cena, 47, defeated Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE championship in the primary occasion of WrestleMania 41 Evening 2 at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday evening.
It offers Cena his seventeenth world championship, transferring him one forward of the legendary “Nature Boy” Ric Aptitude.
Cena leaned into being a heel all through your entire match and particularly on the end. Rapper Travis Scott got here out to assist Cena after Rhodes kicked out of a fourth Perspective Adjustment, pulling the ref out of the ring at one level to maintain the “American Nightmare” from profitable the match.
Cena then tried to smash Rhodes within the face with the championship belt. Rhodes blocked it, however refused to hit Cena with it. The challenger then kicked Rhodes low and hit him with the title anyway to get the 1-2-3 and the historic win.
Cena performed up his heel persona within the post-show press convention after first saying he wished to develop a greater relationship with the journalists who cowl WWE. He proceeded to reply every query by saying it was a “clickbait question.”
“I’m beginning to sense a pattern here that you guys are just looking for headlines. So, I’ll give you one. Tune into Monday Night Raw to see how I ruin wrestling. And keep in mind, you are now talking to the last real champion. Step your game up next time,” Cena concluded earlier than strolling off.
Aptitude and Cena had been tied at 16 because the “Peacemaker” star received the WWE championship in January 2017. The win comes 20 years after he received his first WWE championship towards JBL at WrestleMania 21 and ends Rhodes’ reign at 378 days.
Additionally it is Cena’s first televised singles victory since he defeated Triple H on the Biggest Royal Rumble in April 2018.
This, nonetheless, was Cena’s first world championship as a heel after turning on and attacking Rhodes, alongside The Rock and Scott, after 20‐plus years as a babyface in some of the surprising moments in wrestling historical past. Cena is ready to retire on the finish of this 12 months after 25 years in WWE.
Cena is Rhodes’s real-life mentor. He used to drive him up and down the roads throughout The American Nightmare’s first stint within the firm.
The story going into the match had Cena breaking apart with the WWE viewers after years of constructing him probably the most polarizing performer within the sport regardless of all his wins. Cena referred to as it an abusive relationship.
Cena stated in one in every of his storyline promos that it made him sick to see his former driver carry mediocrity in his eyes to a championship he helped elevate for all these years. He plans to retire as champion and make everybody else chase a “toy belt.”
We’ll now get yet another Cena championship run for nonetheless lengthy it lasts. With Randy Orton on the Backlash poster with the occasion in his hometown of St. Louis, the 2 previous rivals could face one another one final time, with Orton sitting on 14 world championships and attempting to shut the hole.
(Aptitude technically has greater than 16 world title victories in his profession, however the year-long placeholder WCW Worldwide World Heavyweight championship, which he received twice, and his non-televised NWA World’s Heavyweight champion wins aren’t acknowledged by WWE.)
