All John Cena vs Brock Lesnar WWE Matches: The wrestling world stood still at the sight of the return of controversial superstar Brock Lesnar to the WWE at last weekend’s SummerSlam 2025. After an enthralling Night Two main event between John Cena and Cody Rhodes for the WWE Championship, Lesnar made his return to the big time after nearly two years to take Cena out.
The Leader of the Cenation, who is currently in his final year as a WWE wrestler, turned heel at Elimination Chamber, won the WWE title in the main event of WrestleMania 41, and became the superstar with the most world title reigns in the WWE, turned face before losing the title to Rhodes at the Biggest Party of the Summer.
It now seems that the Beast has the 17-time world champion in his sights. But this is not the first time the two will compete. In fact, these two have arguably been each other’s greatest rivals in the WWE. So today, we will look at all the WWE matches where John Cena has faced Brock Lesnar.
Here are All John Cena vs Brock Lesnar WWE Matches:
All John Cena vs Brock Lesnar WWE Matches
So, the Cena vs Lesnar rivalry is divided into two halves. The first half covers Brock’s first run in the WWE in the early 2000s, while the second half covers his second run in the company from the 2010s to the 2020s.
The first time the two men competed against each other was on the September 19, 2002, episode of SmackDown. Brock, known back then as “The Next Big Thing,” took on a rookie John Cena, only three months into his WWE career and still quite green. The two had a very average TV match where Lesnar emerged as the winner.
Over the next year and a half, the two competed on various occasions. Their next bout came on the February 13, 2003, episode of the Blue Show. This was a much better match. The highly entertaining contest saw the now Doctor of Thugonomics Cena face Brock, who was months away from winning the main event of WrestleMania against Kurt Angle. The two had a fine match, with John even hitting Brock with a chain at one point, but the Beast Incarnate emerged victorious.
Check Out: All John Cena vs Brock Lesnar WWE Matches
Next, the Chaingang Soldier challenged Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship at Backlash 2003. The two were still quite apart in terms of their standing in the company. And so, it came to no one’s surprise when the champ retained in a one-sided bout.
By late 2003, Cena had entered a feud against the United States Champion Big Show. And on the November 13 episode of SmackDown that year, John teamed up with Chris Benoit to take on the team of Show and Lesnar. This was the first occasion where John Cena picked a victory over Brock Lesnar, although indirectly. Cena hit Show with his chain and pinned him, winning the match for his team.
Next came another team-up between Cena and Benoit; this time the pair took on Brock Lesnar, Matt Morgan, and Rhyno in a handicap match on the January 22, 2004, episode of SmackDown. The underdog team of John and Chris picked up the win, with Cena pinning Rhyno after hitting an AA.
A few weeks later, Eddie Guerrero had entered the WWE title picture and started a feud against Brock Lesnar. Three days before he won the title, Latino Heat teamed up with Cena, who was still in the US title scene, to take on champions Lesnar and Big Show on the February 12, 2004, episode of the Blue Brand. The two babyfaces lied, cheated, and stole the victory from the two champs, with John getting a pinfall win over Lesnar.
This brought to an end the first phase of the Cena vs Lesnar rivalry. After WrestleMania 20 in March 2004, Brock Lesnar left the WWE. He gave the NFL a try, became the IWGP World Champion, entered UFC, became the Heavyweight Champion, suffered from a life-threatening case of diverticulitis, and returned to the WWE on the night after WrestleMania 28 in April 2012, attacking John Cena.
The two faced off in Lesnar’s first match back after eight years. It was a Street Fight at Extreme Rules 2012. In a classic Extreme Rules match, both men were busted open. In one of the most brutal matches in the company in some time, Cena emerged victorious in a decision that didn’t sit right with a section of the fans.
Brock would take his revenge two years later, at SummerSlam 2014. By this time, Lesnar had established himself as the final boss of the WWE, even breaking The Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak earlier that year. Meanwhile, John Cena was the WWE Champion. In Cena’s only squad match at the prime of his career, The Beast dismantled the Champ, broke him down for 15, and won the title with authority, becoming a wrestling spectacle unlike any before.
A rematch at Night of Champions 2014 was a lot more competitive and a lot less thrilling. This time, John Cena came close to winning back the title, but Brock Lesnar stood tall.
Finally, the last Cena vs Lesnar match, so far, is also probably the best one. At Royal Rumble 2015, Brock Lesnar defended his WWE Championship against John Cena and Seth Rollins. This was a modern-day classic, a five-star contest, and arguably the greatest triple-threat match in wrestling history. This match saw all three men at their physical, psychological, and technical peak. Cena played the role of the babyface, Rollins, Mr. Money in the Bank, was the conniving heel, and Brock was the unstoppable monster. It was the champion who retained his title that night, only to lose it to Rollins a few months later at WrestleMania 31 after the best cash-in of all time.
Here is the record of All John Cena vs Brock Lesnar WWE Matches. The two competed against one another on 10 occasions over the past 23 years. Brock Lesnar won six of these matches, which include almost all of the one-on-one bouts between them. On the other hand, John Cena was victorious on four occasions, three of which were tag matches.
Check Out: All John Cena vs Brock Lesnar WWE Matches
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