John Cena names his favorite career matches after years of giving “cheat code” answers
During an appearance at SpaceCon San Antonio 2026, John Cena was asked about his favorite career matches. Here was Cena’s response…
“This used to be a cheat code of mine, right? When I was still a wrestler, I used to be like, ‘Oh, that’s easy. My favorite match is my next one.’
Because it’s true. I would always look forward to performing. But now I can’t cheat—I am retired.
So, from a logical standpoint, great question. I don’t think you can have the journey without the first step. So I really have a soft spot for a match in Chicago with an Olympic gold medalist named Kurt Angle.
[Cheering and applause]
Speaking of matches that give me the emotions and maybe the feels and a little bit of a tear or two, I was lucky enough on the retirement tour to face AJ Styles in Australia.
[Cheering]
I really enjoyed that match as well.
So I’ll give you those two as a concrete answer.
The reason I showcase that AJ match is because it wasn’t just me and him. It was all of us.
I don’t know if you all saw it, but the crowd was calling out spots. We had 55,000 people telling me to hit AJ with the RKO. Hell, I almost did a 619.
I don’t know if it can get better than that as far as interaction because I’ve always encouraged our audience to interact. Man, they felt like they were all in the ring with us, and I just don’t know if it gets any better than that.
I’ve never had that happen in my career. Ever.”