Minus-Star Match Reviews: JBL vs. John Cena – WWE WrestleMania 21

John Cena is one of the most successful, recognizable, and beloved wrestlers of the past 25 years. He has done everything there is to do, had some memorable rivalries, and made a lasting impact on many wrestlers and an entire generation of fans. But if we peel back the curtain and dig a bit deeper into how things went for Cena at first, any claims that he was “always destined for greatness” come off as dubious, at best.

A good example of this is his match at WrestleMania 21. As Kevin Nash once said, one of the ONLY things that actually matter in wrestling is winning one’s first world title. As such, when someone reaches that point it’s supposed to come across as a big deal. For John Cena, what was supposed to be his shining moment in the sun…came across as a wet fart in church.

The Story

This is a tale of two men with nothing in common save their desire to be world champion. On one side was John “Bradshaw” Layfield, the defending WWE Champion who had held the belt for ten months, longer than anyone in SmackDown history up to that point. He had made a dramatic transformation, going from the long-haired beer drinking comedy guy to a serious, snooty, businessman with a stretch limo and enough money to buy his own Cabinet. With all this wealth (and with a stable full of minions to do his dirty work for him), JBL ran through everyone left on SmackDown with any shred of main-event credibility: Eddie Guerrero, Booker T, The Undertaker, The Big Show, and Kurt Angle.

With all these opponents defeated JBL needed a new challenger…which he found in the last guy eliminated from the 2005 Royal Rumble.

John Cena spent most of 2004 as a midcard act feuding over the US Title with the likes of Booker T, Rene Dupree, Carlito, and Orlando Jordan, that last one being a member of JBL’s stable. After quashing his feud with Carlito, Cena beat Kurt Angle at No Way Out to earn a shot at the WWE Title. In a nearly identical copy of the feud between Angle and Eddie Guerrero leading into WrestleMania XX, JBL felt insulted that he would be sharing the WrestleMania spotlight with someone so undeserving and with such a poor character.

Things got more heated from there. JBL trashed Cena as a personality. He cost Cena a big match on SmackDown which led to Cena wanting payback, only for then-GM Teddy Long to let him know that he was not to touch JBL until WrestleMania else he lost his title shot. This gave JBL carte blanche to say whatever he wanted to Cena knowing Cena couldn’t touch him back. At the same time, Teddy’s rule applied to JBL as well so Cena worked around those rules to get under JBL’s skin. He vandalized JBL’s limo, cut off his time, dumped water in his cowboy hat (all technically within the rules). Both men came nose-to-nose and Cena vowed to rip JBL apart at WrestleMania.

But could he? Cena was still unproven as a main-event draw, having beaten only a handful of people with main-event credibility. Then again, much of JBL’s reign saw him thanks to interference, shenanigans, and a lot of smoke and mirrors. So how would he fare all alone?

The Match

This took place on April 3, 2005. It was rated *1/4 out of five by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

After so much trash-talking and intense angles on SmackDown, the match begins…with more trash-talking and some basic lock-ups. Cena fights out of a headlock but JBL shoulderblocks him down. Cena hits back with a shoulder of his own but runs into a big boot and a second shoulderblock. JBL lands some clubbing blows and stops a back body drop. A pair of swinging neckbreakers get JBL a two-count. he chokes Cena using the ropes and he follows with a rope guillotine catapult. Cena tries a comeback with some punches but JBL drops him with a spinebuster for another two-count.

JBL hits a straightjacket neckbreaker for another near-fall and lands some mocking shots to his head. he cuts off another attempt at a comeback with a corner clothesline and lands a proto-Rainmaker but Cena gets his foot on the ropes. JBL continues with some back kicks and a sleeper hold which goes on for a long time until Cena counters with a back suplex. Cena ducks a clothesline and we get a double-down spot. Cena lands some punches but JBL throws him to the floor and lands a neckbreaker on the ringside mats.

JBL hits a superplex for two and dives off the top-rope but Cena catches him with a powerslam. Cena fires up and hits a strike barrage followed by a back body drop. He goes through his usual comeback sequence and goes for a corner charge but JBL boots him again. JBL charges for the Clothesline from Hell. Cena ducks and hits the F-U and gets the three-count just like that. Wait, really? That’s it?

Winner and NEW WWE Champion after 11:18: John Cena

Review

Wow, no wonder people shat on this match when it first happened. That match sucked then and it still sucks now. It has to be one of the most disappointing semi-main event matches in WrestleMania history. But not because the crowd was dead for most of it, or because there was no way it could follow the MITB match, Undertaker/Orton, or Angle/Michaels. It sucked because it has to be one of the worst-structured matches to ever grace WrestleMania.

From the very beginning something was clearly off here. All those intense promos and deep-cutting statements in the weeks prior built towards some personal encounter. But when the bell rang, the match started off slow and never really picked up. There was no intensity. Cena looked weak from the start. He didn’t get a single opportunity to blow off any steam or otherwise do anything to live up to the hype. And for 90% of the match JBL just threw stuff at Cena one after another with little to no resistance. There was barely any fightback from Cena; when he did land a few punches he was soundly put down seconds later. So when Cena made his match-closing comeback it came off as completely unearned. He landed maybe three light moves and one slam and somehow we were all supposed to believe THAT was all it took to beat JBL.

It just didn’t make any sense. JBL, who had been this supposedly dominant champion for almost a year, was felled by a short burst of mild offense. He didn’t even do the typical “charging guy gets dazed from hitting the corner” spot to setup Cena’s finish. No, Cena just ducked a lariat and picked up a fresh JBL and planted him for the three-count out of nowhere.

The whole thing came off as flat, underwhelming and nonsensical. It had little drama and almost no excitement. Despite JBL being serviceable as a bully heel character, Cena clearly wasn’t ready to play the valiant babyface hero. His timing was off, he didn’t really wow the audience, and he rushed through his comeback.

Final Rating: DUD

To give this match even * is a tad too generous. For a WrestleMania match this was seriously underwhelming and a huge blight on both men’s careers. On this night they had anti-chemistry. The ending came out of nowhere and thus lacked any sense of satisfaction it would’ve had if they stretched out Cena’s comeback a bit more. This left JBL looking like a complete chump and Cena looking way too cartoonish. It’s no wonder so many fans went into his coronation with a sour taste in their mouths. Had the show not been carried by one great match, one excellent match, and one MOTDC, this would’ve gone down as one of the worst WrestleManias of all time.

When Cena does begin his big retirement tour in 2025 I wouldn’t be surprised if JBL makes some kind of cameo and tries putting over this match as some kind of groundbreaking moment. Don’t fall for it. The only time they had an entertaining match was their I Quit match at Judgment Day 2005. Hopefully that’s the match WWE includes in the inevitable “Best moments of John Cena’s career” special and not his bathroom break of a first coronation.

Thanks for reading.