John Cena has played 17 games throughout his career at WWE WrestleMania, and his first show was held in 2004 against the Big Show. During her recent appearance at the Philadelphia Fan Expo (via Matt Kempke), Cena named the match as his favorite moment at Madison Square Garden in New York City, giving it a grace to Paul Wight.
“[He] I took a risk on me very early in my career,” Cena said. “I always thank him.”
After making WWE’s main roster debut in June 2002, China spent her first year. He had nothing to do with WrestleMania 19 in 2003, but he started to be pushed out quickly, eventually leading to a match against the big show at WrestleMania 20.
Their match was set up during the Royal Rumble that year, and the show eliminated Cena. The story wasn’t too deep, but Cena made the first entrance to WrestleMania that year, cutting a big show that scorned the rhyme-making promotion that was then WWE US champion. The Big Show answered the phone and the two continued to work on the almost 10-minute match before the champion earned the honors for the younger performers and made Cena the new US champion.
In addition to being his first WrestleMania match, the victory marked Cena’s first title victory on the main roster. It was early in his career that Cena had just really started chasing fans and victory was what Cena needed to move to the next level. Cena appears to be closing his wrestling career in the near future, so it doesn’t seem like he’s lost gratitude to those who helped him to be there.
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