John Cena's losing streak: Inside the WWE legend's 2,452-day (and counting) singles slump
The former face of WWE has officially kicked off his 2025 retirement tour. Is a 17th championship in the cards? Perhaps, but first he needs to get a dang win...
The John Cena retirement tour is officially underway. The WWE icon-turned-Hollywood star will participate in the majority of the company’s PLEs this year before finally hanging up his boots in December.
Indeed we learned on Monday's Netflix debut of “WWE Raw” that the veteran babyface will enter this year’s Royal Rumble, marking his first appearance in the match since 2018.
But it wasn’t all celebrations. The 16-time world champion also brought up his long-running losing streak. It had been 2,446 days since his last one-on-one victory, he reminded us. Never mind winning another title, he suggested. Ending that appalling record will be his first priority.
Where did it all go wrong for Cena? Here’s a look at how we got here. (For kayfabe's sake, we're only counting televised matches in this timeline, so no dark matches or WWE house shows.)
April 2018: Cena’s last singles win
It was a night that was supposed to make history, as the WWE presented its first PLE in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Little did we know at the time that this inaugural event, The Greatest Royal Rumble, would end up marking another milestone — the final time Cena would win a singles match.
Having failed to topple The Undertaker weeks before at WrestleMania 34, Cena was pitted against Triple H, another of WWE’s long-serving legends, in an opening match intended to bring the Jeddah crowd to its feet.
After a string of Attitude Adjustments, Cena scored the pinfall. Standing tall in the ring, he thanked the fans in attendance, returning to his unofficial role as the face of the company.
Beating Triple H is no mean feat, but the importance of this win has faded in the years since. Surely Cena can’t let it be the final victory of his illustrious career?
March 2020: Cena loses to The Fiend
This one was always going to divide opinion — a cinematic “Firefly Fun House” featuring supernatural elements and pre-recorded scenes during the heart of the COVID-19 era. But like the infamous “Boneyard Match” at the same WrestleMania, it deserves respect for making the most of the pandemic conditions.
Watching it back five years later, I picked up on something else. As Wyatt unveiled his various torments, I wondered whether this ordeal may have left a bigger mark on Cena's character than we might have realized at the time.
After all, hasn’t Cena sounded more self-critical in the years following this encounter? Could it be that this psychological ordeal took a long-term toll on his self-belief, exacerbating the losing streak?
It would certainly be a nice touch for WWE to suggest as much during the upcoming Cena retirement tour — thus reminding us that the late Bray Wyatt is always with us.
August 2021: Cena loses to Roman Reigns
After more than a year away from wrestling, Cena made a surprise return at the end of 2021's Money in the Bank event to confront the victorious Roman Reigns face to face.
Given that the Universal Champion was riding high on his “Smash 'Em, Stack 'Em, Pin 'Em” wave, this was a rare occurrence of John Cena entering as an underdog. But could “Big Match John” pull off an upset and restore his place at the top of the WWE hierarchy?
Despite pulling off a near-fall for the ages after a top-rope Attitude Adjustment, Cena’s efforts fell short, as he was put down by Reigns with a Spear. “The Head of the Table” then stood tall over the former champion, calling on the WWE Universe to acknowledge his superiority.
Almost four years later, the match remains Cena’s last shot at the top gold — a mark he will be desperate to correct in 2025.
April 2023: Cena loses to Austin Theory
“Where’s the hustle? Where’s the loyalty? Where’s the respect, John?”
It was the moment that Austin Theory flipped the script on the man who had so famously popularized the “open challenge” during his run as United States Champion. Now it was Austin Theory, WWE’s hottest upstart heel, who held the belt in question and was throwing down the gauntlet.
After a cheapshot at his hairline, Cena took the bait, agreeing to a match at WrestleMania 39. But could he take home the U.S. Championship and put Theory back in his place?
Cena certainly brought the 67,000-strong Hollywood crowd to their feet, particularly when he managed to get Theory to submit (albeit while the referee was incapacitated). But in the end, it was the young pretender who scored the win after a crafty low blow led to an A-Town Down.
As Cena found out some years earlier, WrestleMania defeats can be the hardest to bear. So is there any chance that he will seek to avenge this particular injustice on his retirement run?
Given Theory’s habit of running his mouth, it’s not hard to imagine him provoking a staredown with Cena. Then the crowd can remind Theory of exactly what happened last time: “You tapped out, you tapped out…”
November 2023: Cena loses to Solo Sikoa
In his two decades in the business, there have been plenty of WWE legends who have gotten one over on Cena. But how many gave him such a ferocious beating as Solo Sikoa did at 2023's Crown Jewel?
It certainly wasn’t meant to go that way when Cena issued an open challenge on "SmackDown," hoping to score his first singles win in five years. But Sikoa was in no mood for sentimentality, hitting a barrage of Samoan Spikes to the throat of his opponent.
It was a big loss. But the real sting came later, as Cena took to social media to hint that he was retiring. Back on "SmackDown," The Bloodline’s “Wise Man” Paul Heyman gloated about how Sikoa had ended Cena’s career.
Of course, that turned out to be premature when Cena arrived at WrestleMania XL to exact revenge on Sikoa and help Cody Rhodes score an epic win.
It might not have ended the losing streak, but it certainly showed why you should never write off John Cena.
