WWE's Royal Rumble is one of the most difficult matches to win, because there are 30 participants, each on his own, and only one can achieve glory, so a simple blink of an eye can result in an elimination.
Despite the complexity of this match, John Cena has managed to win it twice. He is one of only eight multiple Royal Rumble winners in history. Cena himself has had eight Royal Rumble appearances in total, some were lackluster, but there were also some excellent ones.
8 Royal Rumble 2004
In the 2004 Royal Rumble, John Cena had a quite favorable spot, as he was the 28th entrant. Cena was unable to capitalize on it, though. John Cena first attacked Nunzio and then made an alliance of sorts with Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit and Rob Van Dam to try to eliminate the Big Show, but they failed.
Cena was unable to eliminate any opponent and his total time before he was eliminated by Big Show. This was a performance to forget for John Cena, no doubt about it.
7 Royal Rumble 2003
John Cena's first appearance in a Royal Rumble match was in 2003. The young Cena was the 18th entrant and, despite not being able to score any eliminations, he managed to stay in the ring for almost 20 minutes,which was not bad for his first time.
John Cena was eliminated by none other than The Undertaker, who nearly won the match, but in the end, it was Brock Lesnar who prevailed.
6 Royal Rumble 2005
The 2005 Royal Rumble match was epic, although it was arguably the strangest finish in the history of the event, with a terrible botch and then Vince McMahon legitimately tearing his quadriceps.
Despite the botch, John Cena had a srong performance. He entered the ring at #25 and managed to score the first three eliminations of his career, which were Viscera, Kane and Edge. Cena was the runner-up, as he was eliminated by Batista after restarting the match. The Animal earned his title shot at WrestleMania, but eventually Cena got a title match at The Shows of Shows as well.
5 Royal Rumble 2018
This time John Cena was the 20th entrant, and he quickly eliminated Elias and The Hurricane. Eventually Cena made the final four alongside Finn Balor, Roman Reigns, and Shinsuke Nakamura.
Cena eliminated Finn Balor, which gave him a boost as he started to look like the winner, but Shinsuke Nakamura had other plans and eliminated both John Cena and Roman Reigns to win the Royal Rumble match. This was one of the best Rumbles in history, by the way.
4 Royal Rumble 2010
At the 2010 Royal Rumble, John Cena was the 19th entrant, and was the wrestler who lasted the longest in the ring. In addition, he threw four men over the top rope: Shelton Benjamin, Yoshi Tatsu, Kofi Kingston, and Batista.
John Cena's night was looking great, but it was ruined by one man, Edge. The Rated-R Superstar made his return to WWE and won the Royal Rumble match in epic fashion. Once again, Cena came in runner-up.
3 Royal Rumble 2011
In terms of eliminations scored, this was John Cena's best performance in a Royal Rumble match. He entered the ring at #22 and threw six men over the top rope in a row, which were The Nexus members, Mason Ryan, Michael McGillicutty, David Otunga, CM Punk, Heath Slater, and Tyson Kidd.
Minutes later, John Cena also managed to eliminate Alex Riley, so in tota,l he eliminated seven opponents (the most of the night, along with CM Punk) before being taken out of the match by The Miz.
2 Royal Rumble 2008
After a two-year absence from the Royal Rumble match, and after a four-month hiatus due to injury, John Cena returned in style, with his first Royal Rumble victory. The Cenation Leader was the 30th entrant and scored four eliminations in a total of under ten minutes.
Cena eliminated Carlito, Chavo Guerrero, and none other than Mark Henry, consecutively. few minutes later, Cena came face to face with the 29th entrant, Triple H, and managed to toss him over the top rope to claim the huge win. It is evident that John Cena took full advantage of the #30 spot, which is the most coveted number in the match.
1 Royal Rumble 2013
At the 2013 Royal Rumble, John Cena did have to work a little harder, as he was the 19th entrant, lasting 26 minutes in the ring. Super Cena eliminated four opponents, first eliminating Heath Slater and then throwing Cody Rhodes over the top rope. Moments later, Cena eliminated Cesaro as well, and stayed alive until the end. Cena's final obstacle was Ryback, who was on fire and had eliminated five men, including Randy Orton and Sheamus. However, John Cena continued strong and managed to eliminate Ryback to become the fourth wrestle in history to win a Royal Rumble match twice.