Why John Cena Needs To Win The 2025 WWE Royal Rumble

John Cena

It's Royal Rumble week in WWE and with WrestleMania on the horizon, men and women on the WWE roster will be competing in the annual over-the-top-rope extravaganza in the hopes of winning an opportunity at a world championship on the biggest stage of the year.

The 2025 men's Royal Rumble is stocked with talent. Not just big names and top stars, but big names and top stars that all have reasonable paths to winning and wrestling in the main event of WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas.

MORE: Why CM Punk Needs To Win The 2025 WWE Royal Rumble

This is a new series on The Takedown on SI that analyzes potential winners of the big match this year. Next up? John Cena.

John Cena Needs To Win The 2025 WWE Royal Rumble

John Cena is again active in WWE for the final in-ring run of his career. Cena announced that 2025 would be his last year competing at Money in the Bank and that it would be his final entry into the Men's Royal Rumble Match? Why? Cena is chasing history.

Cena is one of two pro wrestlers to have 16 world championship title reigns -- the other being Ric Flair -- and a Rumble victory would grant him an opportunity at a record-breaking 17th world championship in the main event of this year's WrestleMania in Las Vegas.

Cena dancing with that historic moment is why he needs to win the Royal Rumble match. WWE loves moments. Is there a better moment than a retiring John Cena becoming the most decorated world champion in history? I can't think of one.

Plus, with Cena as champion, he can have a proper final run with the title that culminates in putting over the next generation of talent in WWE. This year matches with CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, Gunther, Bron Breakker, and others are on the table and someone like Breakker would get an enormous rub from not only winning the world title but retiring Cena from the ring.

Not only that, but Cena winning the Rumble this year gives WWE the opportunity to do a money match with Cody Rhodes right away before 2025 gets rolling. After all, Cena is 47 years old and has been away from the ring consistently for years. Injuries do happen and a Cena Rumble win can keep him out of the ring to avoid injury until he has the big fight with Rhodes.

Finally, Cena is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. The right storyline for him is to find his footing early and be the champion people love to see. An underdog story? For Cena? Superman Cena? Not sure that's something people will buy into after seeing his prime run be what it was.

He's not an underdog and whenever he's tried to play the role it came across as comedic and disingenuous.

If Cena wins the Royal Rumble, he starts his final run with a big win that paints him as a champion and top contender. That's a better, more effective, and more serious role for Cena than anything else at this point in time.

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Zack Heydorn
ZACK HEYDORN

Zack Heydorn has been covering the pro wrestling industry for nine years. He's a former Assistant Editor of PWTorch and Managing Editor of SEScoops. Zack is the author of the Hybrid Shoot book Stunning: The Wrestling Artistry of Steve Austin, which is available on Amazon. You can follow Zack on