John Cena Wishes He Had Longer Rivalry With CM Punk
By Craig Ballantyne on 7 October 2025
John Cena believes he and CM Punk bring the best out in each other.
Between 2010 and 2013, John Cena and CM Punk often found themselves facing off in the ring. The most memorable match between the pair took place at Money in the Bank 2011, shortly after Punk’s infamous “Pipebomb” promo. The Straight Edge Superstar fulfilled his promise from the promo, leaving Money in the Bank with the WWE Championship, seemingly never to return (in reality, Punk had signed a new contract with the company and came back to challenge Cena again a few weeks later).
“I wish I could have kept him with us” – John Cena On CM Punk
Punk did walk out of the company under a cloud in 2014, but eventually made his return a decade later. During an appearance at Fan Expo Chicago, Cena admitted he wishes the hiatus hadn’t happened and he had been able to wrestle Punk many more times.
“A few things. First of all, we both want the same spot. And I also think we both love the same thing. A lot of people that want that front spot, purely want it for selfish reasons. Every once in a while, you get somebody who wants to sit in the front that loves the business, and we love it in different ways, too. I think we’re such different personalities, but we share a lot of the same core values. So we just want to bring the best out of each other.
“For some reason, we kind of found each other and found each other at the right time and man, I wish I could have kept him with us. I wish he didn’t have to take all that time off because we could have had some more matches, but I’m grateful for the moments we’ve had. And I think that, I think we just, we both want to sit in front. We both really love the business.”
Cena did get to face Punk one more time at Night of Champions 2025 in Saudi Arabia. While Punk came close to claiming the gold from Cena again, interference from Seth Rollins allowed The Last Real Champion to pick up the win.
Would you have liked to see a longer rivalry between John Cena and CM Punk? Let us know your thoughts below!
H/T to Fightful for the above transcription.