#3.) John Cena vs Edge
In the summer of 2006, Edge was the hottest heel in all of WWE. His personal life had come to the forefront and after the real-life issues between him, Matt Hardy and Lita had become public knowledge, the audience found even more reason to hate him.
WWE did the right thing and capitalized on this heat, making him feud with John Cena in the summer of 2006. While he had briefly feuded with him earlier that year after capturing the WWE Championship, their feud in the summer helped both starts immensely, with the title changing back and forth between them. Their match at Unforgiven 2006 is considered among the best matches of both superstars’ careers and their rivalry is now looked back on with much acclaim.
#2.) John Cena vs AJ Styles
To say that AJ Styles had a meteoric rise in the WWE would be an understatement. The company trusted him enough and used a feud with John Cena to push him to the WWE title picture, all within his first year of the company.
Their bouts at Money In The Bank, SummerSlam and Royal Rumble could arguably be considered one of the greatest match trilogies in WWE history. Each and every match they found a way to better the previous one and produce nothing short of magic. The culmination of the trilogy saw Cena finally get one over Styles and become a 16-time World Champion.
It wasn’t just their matches, but their promos that got intense and real. It also helped AJ Styles overcome his biggest weakness at the time as a wrestler: promos.
#1.) John Cena vs CM Punk
Among all of John Cena’s memorable feuds, this one stands on top. Punk and Cena had unmatched chemistry and their polar opposite characters played off each other perfectly. The added circumstances were undoubtedly a huge factor. Punk’s WWE contract was expiring and he threatened to win the title and take it to other promotions and the big title match just so happened to be in his hometown of Chicago.
It was also during this feud that CM Punk had his famous pipebomb, a promo that many say changed wrestling forever. They would go on to feud through the summer until Alberto Del Rio interjected and cashed in his Money In The Bank contract on Punk, who had won the WWE title at Money In The Bank.
All said and done, the feud worked out great for Punk and was the early seeds planted for an eventual 434-day reign as WWE Champion.
