John Cena (Image credit: WWE)
John Cena has earned the right to be called ‘The Greatest of All Time’ in WWE. One of the main reasons that the moniker stuck with him was the historic record of winning a 17th World Championship last year.
However, The Cenation Leader recently revealed that he was close to setting that record years before it actually happened.In a recent interview with No Contest Wrestling, Cena revealed that he was originally penciled to win his 17th WWE World title at the 2021 SummerSlam Premium Live Event in his match against Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship. The plan was for Cena to win the title and then lose it back to Reigns immediately.
However, WWE managed to sign back Brock Lesnar by 5 PM on the day of the show, which led to the higher-ups changing the finish of the match.
He said, “I was going to win, 17. We were going to have someone come out and restart the match, and Roman was going to take it back.”
John Cena won his 17th WWE World Championship at WrestleMania 41
Four years after losing to Roman Reigns, John Cena began his farewell tour in 2025 and turned heel on the road to WrestleMania 41. Using underhanded tactics, he managed to defeat Cody Rhodes in the main event of WrestleMania to become a record-setting 17-time World Champion in the Stamford-based promotion.
John Cena won the Undisputed WWE title at WrestleMania 41The Never Seen 17 had successful title defenses against top stars like Randy Orton and CM Punk. He was scheduled to battle Cody Rhodes in a rematch from WrestleMania 41 at that year’s SummerSlam Premium Live Event. The duo had delivered one of the best matches in WWE history, which ended with Cena dropping the title to him and marking the end of his 17th title reign.
Coincidentally, it was at the same event where WWE had plans to make him a 17-time World Champion four years prior.John Cena continued his farewell tour until December 2025. He battled Gunther in his final in-ring match at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event. Despite a hard-fought match, the match ending saw the heartbreaking sight of Cena tapping out to Gunther’s sleeper hold, which marked the end of one of the most illustrious careers in WWE history.Also read: ‘He died that night’- WWE megastar Charlotte Flair shares the pain that never left her
