Cena in Wikipedia - Part 2

Professional wrestling career

Ultimate Pro Wrestling (2000-2001)

Cena started training to become a professional wrestler in 2000 at Ultimate Pro Wrestling's California-based "Ultimate University" operated by Rick Bassman. Once he was placed into an in-ring role, Cena began using a semi-robotic character known as "The Prototype".^[3][24] Some of this period of his career was documented in the Discovery Channel program Inside Pro Wrestling School.^[25] While in UPW, Cena held the UPW Heavyweight Championship for just shy of a month in April 2000.^[26]

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment

Ohio Valley Wrestling (2001-2002)

In 2001, Cena signed a developmental contract with the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE). He was assigned to its developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW).^[27] During his time there, Cena wrestled under the ring names "The Prototype" and "Mr. P". He held the OVW Heavyweight Championship for three months and the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (with Rico Constantino) for two months.^[28][29][30]

Debut on the primary roster (2002–2004)

Shortly after the Kidman attack, on a Halloween themed episode of SmackDown, Cena dressed as Vanilla Ice performing a freestyle rap.^[31] The next week, Cena received a new character: a rapper who cut promos while rhyming.^[31] As the gimmick grew, Cena began adopting a variant of the 1980s WWF logo – dropping the "F" – as his "signature symbol", along with the slogan "Word Life".^[34] Moreover, he was joined by an enforcer, Bull Buchanan, who was rechristened B-2 (also written B² and pronounced "B-Squared").^[31] Buchanan was later replaced by Red Dogg,^[31] until he was sent to the Raw brand in February.Cena made his television debut answering an open challenge by Kurt Angle on June 27, 2002.^[31] Inspired by a speech given by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to the rising stars of the company, exhorting them to show "ruthless aggression" to earn a place among the legends, Cena took advantage of the opportunity to face Angle. Cena managed to counter the Angle Slam and the ankle lock submission hold,^[32] but ultimately lost to a hard amateur wrestling-style pin.^[32] Following the near-win, Cena became a fan favorite and started feuding with Chris Jericho, defeating Jericho at Vengeance.^[31] In October, Cena and Billy Kidman took part in a tag team tournament to crown the first WWE Tag Team Champions of the SmackDown! brand, losing in the first round.^[33] The next week, Cena turned on and attacked Kidman, blaming him for their loss, becoming a villain.^[31]

For the first half of 2003, Cena sought the WWE Championship and chased the reigning champion, Brock Lesnar, performing weekly "freestyles" challenging him to matches.^[35][36][37] During the feud, Cena unveiled a new finishing maneuver: the FU, aFireman's carry powerslam, named to mock Brock Lesnar's F-5 because both moves start with Fireman's carry, with the first victim being Rikishi.^[38] Cena won a number one contenders tournament against Lesnar at Backlash. However, Cena was defeated by Lesnar. At Vengeance Cena lost a singles match against The Undertaker.^[31][39] At the end of the year, Cena became a fan favorite again when he joined Kurt Angle as a member of his team at Survivor Series.^[40][41]

United States and WWE Champion (2004–2005)

Cena took part in the 2005 Royal Rumble match, making it to the final two. Cena and Raw brand wrestler Batista went over the top rope at the same time, ostensibly ending the match. Vince McMahon, however, appeared on stage and restarted the match insudden death rules, with Batista eventually eliminating Cena.^[55] The next month, Cena defeated Kurt Angle to earn a spot in the SmackDown brand's WrestleMania 21 main event match,^[56] beginning a feud with WWE Champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield(JBL) and his Cabinet in the process. In the early stages of the feud, Cena lost his US belt to Cabinet member Orlando Jordan,^[57] who proceeded to "blow up" the spinner championship with JBL and returning a more traditional style belt.^[58] Cena defeated JBL at WrestleMania winning the WWE Championship, giving Cena his first world championship.^[59] Cena then had a spinner WWE Championship belt made,^[60] while JBL took the original belt and claimed to still be WWE Champion,^[60] until Cena reclaimed the original belt in an "I Quit" match at Judgment Day.^[61]In early 2004, Cena participated in the Royal Rumble match at the 2004 Royal Rumble,^[42] making it to the final six before being eliminated by Big Show and the Match being won by Chris Benoit.^[43] The Royal Rumble elimination led to a feud with Big Show,^[44][45] which Cena won the United States Championship from Big Show at WrestleMania XX.^[46] During his reign, Cena came into contention with SmackDown General Manager Kurt Angle over issues arising with René Duprée and Torrie Wilson.^[47] The reign ended almost four months later, when he was stripped of the belt on July 8 by Angle after he accidentally knocked him over, thus attacking an official.^[48] Cena won the championship back defeating Booker T in a best of five series that culminated at No Mercy,^[49] only to lose it to the debuting Carlito Caribbean Cool the next week.^[50] After the loss to Carlito, the duo began a feud, which Cena was stabbed in the kidney while at a Boston-area nightclub by Carlito's bodyguard, Jesús.^[51][52] This worked injury was used to keep Cena out of action for a month, while Cena was filming The Marine.^[29] Immediately on his return in November, Cena won the United States Championship back from Carlito debuting a "custom made" spinner-style championship belt.^[53][54]

Cena was drafted to the Raw brand on the June 6, 2005, becoming the first wrestler selected by General Manager Eric Bischoff in the annual draft lottery.^[62] Cena immediately entered a feud with Bischoff, after refusing to participate in the "war" against theExtreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) roster at One Night Stand.^[63] With Bischoff vowing to make Cena's stint on Raw difficult, he hand picked Jericho to take Cena's championship from him.^[64] During their feud, even though Cena was portrayed as the fan favorite and Jericho as the villain, a vocal section of live crowds, nonetheless, were booing Cena during their matches.^[65] More crowds followed suit during Cena's next feud with Kurt Angle,^[66] who took over as Bischoff's hand-picked number-one contender after Cena defeated Jericho in a You're Fired match on the August 22 Raw.^[67] As the feud continued and the dissenters grew more vocal, sometimes seeming to outnumber fans by wide margins,^[68] the announce team was forced to acknowledge the booing on television and began calling Cena a "controversial champion", claiming some people disliking him on account of his "in-ring style" and his chosen fashion.^[69] Despite the mixed and negative reactions, Cena held on to his championship through his feud with Angle, losing to him by disqualification^[70] – which titles do not change hands in WWE – at Unforgiven and pinning him at Survivor Series.^[71] The feud with Angle also saw Cena add a secondary, submission based, finishing maneuver – theSTFU (a Stepover Toehold Sleeper, though named for a Stepover Toehold Facelock) – when he was put into a Triple Threat Submissions Only match on the November 28 Raw.^[72]

WWE Championship feuds and injury (2006–2007)

On the heels of his feud with Edge, Cena was placed in an inter-brand angle to determine the "Champion of Champions" – or which was the most dominant champion in WWE's three brands. Cena, the World Heavyweight Champion King Booker, and the ECW World Champion The Big Show engaged in a mini-feud leading to a Triple Threat match at Cyber Sunday, with the viewers voting on which of the three championships would be placed on the line.^[83] At the same time, Cena became involved in a storyline with non-wrestler Kevin Federline, when he began appearing on Raw with Johnny Nitro and Melina. After getting into a worked physical altercation with Federline on Raw,^[83] Federline appeared at Cyber Sunday to hit Cena with the World Heavyweight Championship during the match, helping King Booker retain his championship.^[76] 2006 ended with Cena beginning a feud with the undefeated Umaga over the WWE Championship,^[84] while 2007 began with the end of his storyline with Kevin Federline. On the first Raw of the new year, Cena was pinned by Federline with an assist from Umaga, although later in the night he was able to get his hands on Federline performing an FU on him.^[85]In July, Edge won the championship from Van Dam in a Triple Threat match that also involved Cena,^[77] re-igniting the feud between him and Cena from earlier in the year. After Edge went about retaining the title by dubious means – getting himself disqualified^[78] (for which Championships do not change hands) and using brass knuckles^[76] – he introduced his own version of Cena's "custom" belt, this one with his logo placed on the spinner.^[79] Cena eventually won the championship back in a match and arena of Edge's choice: a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match at Unforgiven at the Air Canada Centre in Edge's hometown of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The match had a stipulation that, had Cena lost, he would have left the Raw brand for SmackDown.^[80][81] Cena returned his version of the spinner belt on the next night's Raw.^[82]Cena lost the WWE Championship at New Year's Revolution, but not in the Elimination Chamber match that he had been advertised to participate in beforehand. Instead, immediately after winning the Elimination Chamber, he was forced into a match against Edge, who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract – a "guaranteed title match for the WWE Champion at a time and place of the owner's choosing." Two quick spears allowed Edge to pin Cena, winning him the championship.^[73]Three weeks later, Cena won the championship back at the Royal Rumble.^[73] After winning the championship, Cena began feuding with Triple H, which the crowd began booing Cena and cheering the intended villain, Triple H.^[74][75] Cena beat Triple H at Wrestlemania 22 to retain his WWE Title.^[2] The negative reaction towards Cena intensified when facing Rob Van Dam at One Night Stand. Taking place in front of a crowd of mostly "old school" ECW fans at the Hammerstein Ballroom, Cena was met with raucous jeering and chants of "Fuck you, Cena", "You can't wrestle", and "Same old shit". When he began performing different moves into the match, the fans began chanting "You still suck". Cena lost the WWE Championship at One Night Stand, with Van Dam pinning Cena after interference from Edge.^[76]

One night after the Royal Rumble, an impromptu team of Cena and Shawn Michaels defeated Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton) for the World Tag Team Championship, making Cena a double champion.^[86] On the April 2 episode of Raw, after losing a WWE Championship match to Cena at WrestleMania 23,^[87] Michaels turned on Cena, costing them the championship in the second of two 10 team battles royals, by throwing Cena over the top rope and eliminating the team. The Hardys (Matt and Jeff) eventually won the match and the championship.^[88] For the rest of the month, Cena feuded with Michaels, Orton, and Edge until The Great Khali declared his intentions to challenge for Cena's championship attacking and "laying out" all three of the top contenders^[89] before assaulting Cena himself and stealing the physical belt.^[90] For the next two months, Cena feuded with Khali over the championship, eventually becoming the first person in WWE to defeat him by submission at Judgment Day^[91][92] and then by pinfall at One Night Stand.^[93][94] Later that summer, Randy Orton was named the number one contender for the WWE championship,^[95] starting a feud between the two. Leading up to SummerSlam, Orton delivered a number of sneak-attacks, performing three RKOs to Cena, but in the actual match, Cena retained the championship.^[96] A rematch between the two occurred at Unforgiven, with Orton winning by disqualification after Cena ignored the referee's instructions and continued to beat on him in the corner.^[97]

During a match with Mr. Kennedy on the October 1, 2007 episode of Raw, Cena suffered a legitimate torn pectoral muscle while executing a hip toss.^[98] Though finishing the match and taking part in the scripted attack by Randy Orton after the match, surgery the following day found that his pectoralis major muscle was torn completely from the bone, estimating at the time to require seven months to a year of rehabilitation.^[99][100] As a result, Cena was stripped of the title in an announcement by Vince McMahon on the next night's episode of ECW,^[101] ending what was the longest WWE Championship reign in over 19 years.^[102] Cena's surgery was performed by orthopedic surgeon James Andrews at St. Vincent's Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.^[98] Two weeks later, in a video update on WWE.com, Dr. Andrews and Cena's physical trainer both said that he was several weeks ahead of where he was expected to be in his rehabilitation at that time.^[103] Despite his injury, Cena attended the annual WWE Tribute to the Troops show filmed at Camp Speicher in Tikrit, Iraq on December 7, and aired on December 24.^[104]

Return from injury and World Championship reigns (2008–2010)

Cena made an unannounced return as the final participant of the Royal Rumble match, winning the match, and the traditional WrestleMania title shot, by last eliminating Triple H.^[12] Instead of waiting until WrestleMania, the title shot was cashed in against WWE Champion Randy Orton at February's No Way Out pay-per-view^[105] in a match where Cena won by disqualification, resulting in him not getting the championship.^[106] The night after No Way Out, Cena was placed back into WrestleMania XXIV's WWE Championship match, making it a Triple Threat match also involving Triple H,^[107] during which he was pinned by Orton.^[108] At Backlash, Cena failed to regain the title in a Fatal Four-Way elimination match, in which he was pinned by Orton.^[109] Triple H won the title during that match. During the match, Cena eliminated JBL,^[109] renewing their feud from 2005. Cena defeated JBL at Judgment Day and then at One Night Stand in a First Blood match.^[110][111] JBL, however, defeated him in a New York City Parking Lot Brawl at The Great American Bash in July.^[112]

Cena made his in-ring return at the November pay-per-view event, Survivor Series, defeating Chris Jericho to win his first World Heavyweight Championship.^[119] The two continued their rivalry up to Armageddon, where Cena retained his championship.^[120]Cena lost the championship at No Way Out, to Edge after Kofi Kingston was attacked by Edge, who took his place in the Elimination Chamber match.^[121] Cena was given an opportunity to regain the title at WrestleMania XXV in a Triple Threat match also involving Big Show, which Cena won.^[122]On the August 4 episode of Raw, Cena became a World Tag Team Champion for a second time, teaming with Batista to defeat Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase,^[113] but failed to retain the titles the following week against the former champions.^[114] Batista defeated Cena at SummerSlam;^[115] shortly after, he was named one of four contenders for CM Punk's World Heavyweight Championship in the Championship scramble match at Unforgiven. He was replaced by Rey Mysterio, however, after Cena suffered a herniated disc in his neck, which required surgery.^[116] Cena underwent successful surgery to repair the injury.^[117][118]

Cena lost the championship back to Edge in a Last Man Standing match at Backlash after interference from Big Show, who chokeslammed Cena through a big spotlight.^[123] This angle resulted in Cena beginning a feud with Big Show. Cena defeated Big Show at Judgment Day^[124] and at Extreme Rules in a Submission match by applying the STFU.^[125]

At the July pay-per-view, Night of Champions, he participated in a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship, which also involved Triple H and WWE Champion Randy Orton. Cena, however, did not win the match.^[126] Two months later, at Breaking Point, Cena defeated Randy Orton for the WWE Championship in an "I Quit" match to win his fourth WWE Championship.^[127] At Hell in a Cell, Cena lost the title to Orton in a Hell in a Cell match.^[128] Three weeks later, at WWE Bragging Rights, Cena defeated Orton in a 60-minute Iron Man match.^[129] Cena successfully defended the title against both Triple H and Shawn Michaels in a Triple Threat match at Survivor Series, and lost it to Sheamus at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in a Tables match.^[130]

Feuding with and joining The Nexus (2010–2011)Cena regained the title at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in an Elimination Chamber. His reign was cut short after Mr. McMahon made him defend the title against Batista, who won the title.^[131] Cena defeated Batista at WrestleMania XXVI for the title,^[132][133] and successfully defended it at Extreme Rules, in a Last Man Standing rematch.^[134] Cena faced Batista one more time, winning an I Quit match at Over the Limit.^[135]

See also: The Nexus

On the June 7, 2010 episode of Raw, Cena was suddenly thrust into a new storyline when during his main event match against CM Punk, he was attacked by all eight former contestants of WWE NXT Season 1, with Wade Barrett as their leader. Punk, his follower Luke Gallows, and other personnel around the ring were attacked as well, but Cena took the worst of the attack and was carried out on a stretcher. This group later referred to itself as The Nexus.^[136] At Fatal 4-Way, Cena lost the WWE Title to Sheamus, in a fatal four-way match involving Edge and Randy Orton, after The Nexus interfered.^[137] Cena again lost to Sheamus, in a steel cage match, at Money in the Bank, after The Nexus again interfered.^[138] Cena, in retaliation to The Nexus, formed an alliance with Edge, Chris Jericho, John Morrison, R-Truth, The Great Khali and Bret Hart. They defeated The Nexus at SummerSlam, with help from the returning Daniel Bryan, a former member of Nexus, who replaced Khali after he was injured.^[139]

Orton defeated Barrett to retain the title, thus terminating Cena's WWE contract.^[143] The following day on Raw, Cena gave a farewell speech, before costing Wade Barrett the WWE Championship by interfering in his rematch with Randy Orton.^[144] A week later, Cena invaded Raw, first as a spectator, but then attacked members of Nexus, explaining that he would still take down Nexus one by one, despite not having a job in the WWE anymore.^[145] On the December 13 episode of Raw, Cena was rehired by Barrett, in exchange that he would face him at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in a Chairs Match.^[146] Prior to TLC, Cena teamed up with Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio to defeat Wade Barrett, The Miz and Alberto Del Rio at The WWE Tribute to the Troops. On December 19 at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, John Cena was victorious against Wade Barrett in a Chairs match in the main event of the evening.Hoping to end The Nexus, Cena challenged Wade Barrett to a match at Hell in a Cell with the stipulations that if he were to lose, he would join The Nexus. After Barrett defeated Cena, he joined The Nexus,^[140] and was forced by the Raw GM to follow their orders or be fired. Cena and fellow Nexus member David Otunga defeated Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre to win the Tag Team Championship at Bragging Rights.^[141] Later, he was forced to help Barrett defeat Orton in a championship match, giving Barrett the disqualification win.^[141] The next day, Cena and Otunga lost the Tag Team Championship to fellow Nexus members Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel, when Barrett ordered Otunga to lay down and lose the title.^[142] At Survivor Series, Cena officiated a match for the WWE Championship between Wade Barrett and Randy Orton. Per stipulation, if Barrett didn't win the championship, Cena would be fired from the WWE.

On the January 17 episode of Raw, Cena returned and faced Punk in a match. During the match, a man, who was later revealed as Mason Ryan, attacked Cena. During the 2011 Royal Rumble match, Cena eliminated most of The Nexus, ending his feud with them.On the December 27 episode of Raw, The Nexus, minus Wade Barrett, announced they were under new management and offered to bury the hatchet with John Cena, to which Cena refused. The Nexus attacked Cena, leaving a Nexus armband in the ring during the process. As the group retreated, CM Punk, who had attacked Cena with a steel chair twice the week before, came to the ring to, what looked like attack John Cena, but instead put on the armband left behind to symbolically announce his allegiance with The Nexus.^[147] The next week, Wade Barrett returned to Raw and confronted CM Punk over the issue of who the leader of The Nexus was and who was responsible for Cena's attack the week before. Barrett was placed into a Triple Threat Steel Cage Match that night that would determine the No. 1 contender for the WWE Championship. CM Punk added his own stipulation to the match saying if Barrett lost, he would be banished from the group, but if he won he would remain leader. Barrett lost the match after CM Punk interfered and ripped off Barrett's armband.^[148]

Record-breaking WWE Champion (2011–present)

On the February 21 episode of Raw, Cena replied to The Rock's comments about him from the previous week, as The Rock returned as the announced guest host of WrestleMania, in the form of a rap. That same night, Cena was placed into a WWE Tag Team Championship match, with him teaming with The Miz, where they defeated Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater to become WWE Tag Team Champions. After the match, Wade Barrett invoked Gabriel and Slater's rematch clause straight away, where they won their titles back after The Miz attacked Cena.^[150] Cena and The Rock continued to feud, on-air and through social networks. After weeks of insults, they finally met face-to-face. Cena denied The Rock's claim to truly "love" the WWE, claiming that he used WWE only to jumpstart his acting career, a claim which Johnson angrily refuted. After a brief attack by The Miz and Alex Riley, Cena hit The Rock with the Attitude Adjustment.^[151] At WrestleMania, Cena and Miz fought to a double countout. The Rock restarted the match and hit Cena with a Rock Bottom, allowing The Miz to retain.^[152] The next night on Raw, Cena, in response to The Rock "screwing" him out of the title, agreed to face him in the main event ofWrestleMania XXVIII, making it the first match to be set up for WrestleMania one year in advance. At Extreme Rules, Cena defeated The Miz and John Morrison to become WWE Champion.^[152] Cena went on to successfully defend the title against The Miz at Over the Limit in an "I Quit" match^[153] and R-Truth at Capitol Punishment^[154]Cena competed in the 2011 Royal Rumble match at the pay-per-view, making it to the final five before being eliminated by The Miz, the current WWE Champion at the time, who wasn't an official participant in the match. At the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, Cena won the chamber match to face The Miz at WrestleMania XXVII for the WWE Championship.^[149]

Cena then began a feud with CM Punk, who was leaving the company at Money in the Bank. Punk was enraged at Cena and The Rock, calling them "phonies", already being announced to headline the next WrestleMania, and demanded change. At Money in the Bank, CM Punk defeated Cena to win the WWE Championship, and left the company with the title.^{[155][156][157]} After Rey Mysterio was crowned WWE Champion, Cena challenged and defeated him to become WWE Champion for a record-breaking ninth time,^[158] only to be interrupted by CM Punk, who too claimed to be champion. Punk again defeated Cena at SummerSlam in a title unification match.^[159] After Alberto Del Rio became WWE Champion by cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase, Cena became number one contender and beat Del Rio at Night of Champions to become WWE Champion for the tenth time.^[160] He lost it back to Del Rio at Hell in a Cell, in a Triple Threat Hell in a Cell match also involving CM Punk.^[161] Cena lost his rematch to Alberto Del Rio at Vengeance in a Last Man Standing match, due to interference by The Miz and R-Truth.^[162] After a few weeks of Miz and Truth attacking Cena and other employees, Cena was allowed to choose his partner to challenge Miz and Truth at Survivor Series. Cena announced he had chosen The Rock as his partner. Leading up to Survivor Series, Cena and The Rock continued to verbally assault each other, reiterating their points for their WrestleMania match, while attacking the "Awesome Truth". At the pay-per-view, after Cena and Rock defeated Miz and Truth, Rock gave Cena another Rock Bottom.^[163]

On the December 12 episode of Raw, during his match with Mark Henry, Cena was attacked by the returning Kane.^[164] Cena then began a feud with Kane, who continually attacked him,^[165] crediting his digust for Cena's "Rise Above Hate" slogan and that Cena would need to embrance the hate in order to defeat The Rock at Wrestlemania.^[166] Cena foght Kane to a draw at the Royal Rumble,^[167] and then defeated him in an Ambulance match at Elimination Chamber^[168]

After Elimination Chamber, Cena and The Rock verbally attacked each other. At WrestleMania XXVIII, Cena faced The Rock in the main event match which had been building for a year and was billed as "once in a lifetime". Cena claimed the match was the most important of his life and that winning was a necessity, since nobody remembers second place. The match ended when Cena attempted the People's Elbow on The Rock, and The Rock countered with a Rock Bottom for the pin.^[169]

On the June 25 episode of Raw, Cena announced he would enter his first Money in the Bank ladder match at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view to try and stop the Big Show from winning the contract.^[181] At the pay-per-view, Cena won the match over Show, Chris Jericho, Kane and The Miz, earning a contract for a shot at the WWE Championship anytime within a year.^[182] On July 23 at Raw 1000, Cena cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on CM Punk to have a match for the title; Cena won the match by disqualification after interference from Big Show, thus becoming the first person to ever cash in a Money in the Bank contract and not win a title.^[183][184] Show continued to attack Cena until The Rock arrived to make the save.^[185] The following week on Raw, a WWE Championship number one contenders match between Cena and Show ended in a no contest due to interference from Punk. Following this, both men were entered in the championship match at SummerSlam by RawGeneral Manager AJ.^[186] At the event, however, Cena would be unsuccessful as Punk would go on to retain the title once more.^[187] Over the next few weeks, Cena continue feuding with Punk by refusing to call him "best in the world" and fighting him to a draw at Night of Champions on September 16.^[188] On September 20, Cena was sidelined with a legitimate arm injury, rendering him inactive.^[189] On the October 15 episode of Raw, Cena was replaced by Ryback in a Hell in a Cell match for the WWE Championship at Hell in a Cell.^[190] On the November 5 episode of Raw, Cena and Ryback were announced as part of a Triple Threat match for Punk's WWE Championship at Survivor Series, while also starting a feud with Dolph Ziggler over an alleged relationship with AJ Lee.^[191] At the pay-per-view on November 19, Punk pinned Cena in the match to retain the championship.^[192] Cena continued to feud with Ziggler and on December 16, at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, lost to him in a ladder match for his World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank contract, after AJ turned on Cena.^[193] The following night on Raw, Cena teamed with Vickie Guerrero to face Ziggler and AJ in a mixed tag team match, however, the match ended in a disqualification after Cena was attacked by the debuting Big E Langston.^[194] Cena then defeated Ziggler on the January 7, 2013 episode of Raw in a singles match, and again in a steel cage match the following week, despite interference from AJ and Langston in both matches.^[195][196]The following night on Raw, Cena addressed The Rock, admitting defeat and accepting the loss at WrestleMania; Cena then called The Rock the greatest WWE wrestler ever and invited The Rock to the ring so that he could congratulate him. However, Cena's call was answered instead by the returning Brock Lesnar, who then attacked Cena with an F-5.^{[170][171][172]} This resulted in Cena feuding with the RAW General Manager John Laurinaitis, who revealed that he signed Lesnar to bring "legitimacy" to WWE and for Lesnar to become its "new face".^{[173][174][175]} On April 29 at Extreme Rules, Cena defeated Lesnar in an Extreme Rules match.^[176] The next night on Raw, Cena was confronted and then attacked by Laurinaitis, who declared himself Cena's opponent atOver the Limit.^[177] Cena would go on to lose the match against Laurinitis due to interference from Big Show.^[178] It would then further be announced by Laurinaitis that Cena would be facing Show at No Way Out with the stipulation that dependent on the victor of the match, either Cena or Laurinaitis would be fired.^[179] Cena would go on to win the match against Big Show and proceed to do the Attitude Adjustment on Laurinaitis through the announce table, while Vince McMahon fired Laurinaitis.^[180]

On January 27 at the Royal Rumble, Cena entered the Rumble at #19 and won the match after last eliminating Ryback, becoming the fourth wrestler (after Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold Steve Austin) to win multiple Rumble matches.^[197] The following night on Raw, Cena announced that he would pursue the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania 29, after which, he would be assaulted by The Shield.^[198] The following week on Raw, Cena would gain vengeance on the Shield when he, along with Ryback and Sheamus, attacked the stable.^[199] This culminated in a six-man tag team match on February 17 at Elimination Chamber, where the Shield emerged victorious.^[200] On the February 25 episode of Raw, Cena defeated CM Punk to reaffirm his status as number one contender for the Rock's WWE Championship.^[201] Cena then returned to his rivalry with The Rock, with Cena blaming his personal and professional troubles on his loss to the Rock the previous year.^[202][203] On April 7 at WrestleMania 29, Cena defeated Rock in their rematch to win his eleventh WWE Championship.^[204] The following night on Raw, Cena defeated Mark Henry in a non-title match via count-out. Afterwards, Henry would attack Cena until Ryback came in to save and eventually attack Cena in return.^[205] The following week on Raw, Ryback explained his attack on Cena as stepping out from Cena's shadow and getting revenge for Cena not having his back against The Shield; Ryback backed up his statement later that night, by allowing The Shield to attack Cena.^[206]