During the course of his illustrious career, John Cena has divided opinions. He has been loved and hated by many but there is no denying that his dedication to WWE is unmatched. Moreover, it was hard to imagine a time that Cena would not be the face of the company, but now he only makes sporadic appearances due to outside projects taking center stage.
Nevertheless, the 16-time World Champion has featured in many World Title matches so there are no surprises that he generally closes out the show. Cena does generate star power but there have been many instances where he was in the main event of a pay-per-view, but he should not have been in that spot.
10 WrestleMania 23 (Vs. Shawn Michaels)
At WrestleMania 23, John Cena defended the WWE Championship against Shawn Michaels. Cena and Michaels were the reigning World Tag Team Champions, and they managed to close out 'Mania 23 on a night which was best remembered for Mr. McMahon getting his head shaved bald.
However, The Undertaker who won the 2007 Royal Rumble match, challenged Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship. The two behemoths should have main evented the show, but they stole the show from their early positioning on the card. Their bout was solid, but the main event slot should have gone to the Rumble winner.
9 New Year's Revolution 2007 (Vs. Umaga)
The third and final iteration of New Year's Revolution in 2007 pitted John Cena in a WWE Championship title defense against the unbeaten Umaga. This was the perfect opportunity for WWE to give Umaga the chance to become WWE Champion, but Cena retained the title.
It wasn't a bad match by any stretch of the imagination, but the World Tag Team Championship match featuring Rated-RKO and DX was a cracker. The four former world champions had the star power to headline the show, in a brutal match that saw Triple H tear his quadriceps.
8 WrestleMania XXVII (Vs. The Miz)
John Cena was no stranger to headlining WrestleMania main events, and he was once again in the mix to regain the WWE Title from The Miz at WrestleMania XXVII. Miz's WWE Championship reign was mediocre, and he was nowhere near ready to be in a WrestleMania main event.
The result was shocking, when The Rock aided Miz to retain the WWE Championship, handing Cena his first singles loss at WrestleMania. Undertaker and Triple H's No Holds Barred match was a no-brainer to close out the show, which sadly did not happen.
7 Judgment Day 2007 (Vs. The Great Khali)
WWE was persistent with pushing The Great Khali, but he was not quite live up to the task of being a consistent main eventer, with his movement being extremely limited. Nonetheless, Big Match John was eight months strong into his WWE Championship reign, and he put his title on the line against Khali at Judgment Day 2007.
It was a drab affair that lasted 10 minutes and should have not main evented the show. Edge and Batista put on an excellent World Heavyweight Championship match, and their match would have been better suited to close out the show.
6 Extreme Rules 2011 (Vs. The Miz Vs. John Morrison)
Extreme Rules 2011 was actually better than a lackluster WrestleMania XXVII. John Cena was once again challenging The Miz for the WWE Championship, but Miz's former tag team partner John Morrison was involved in a rare triple threat steel cage match.
This was a remarkable contest, and Miz received a double suplex from Cena and Morrison, where it looked like Miz landed on his neck, but he was fine to continue. Inevitably, Cena reclaimed the WWE Championship. However, Christian captured his first World Heavyweight Championship in a ladder match against Alberto Del Rio, and that match deserved to headline the show, so Captain Charisma could have had the spotlight on a career-defining moment.
5 TLC 2010 (Vs. Wade Barrett)
The whole Nexus and John Cena rivalry was massively underwhelming, considering the potential the young faction had. The culmination of the feud was at TLC 2010 which saw Cena take out every member of Nexus throughout the night, leaving Cena and Barrett to do battle alone in a Chairs match.
There was no doubt that Big Match John was going to prevail, which signaled the final nail in the coffin for Nexus. Edge's 10th World Heavyweight Championship triumph in a fatal-4-way match TLC match unquestionably was the true main event of the night.
4 Elimination Chamber 2012 (Vs. Kane)
John Cena's blockbuster match with The Rock was already set in stone a year before taking place at WrestleMania XXVIII. However, Cena engaged in a filler feud with Kane for a couple of months before he could shift his attention towards WrestleMania.
Cena and Kane's Ambulance match at Elimination Chamber 2012 was one of the worst main events in the history of the Elimination Chamber event. The two World Title Chamber matches felt like an afterthought, which saw both CM Punk and Daniel Bryan retain their respective titles. One of those Chambers was the logical decision to headline the show.
3 Capitol Punishment 2011 (Vs. R-Truth)
John Cena's 10th WWE Championship title reign in 2011 was incredibly lackluster, with the poor feuds that he had to contend with. Out of nowhere, R-Truth received a push and challenged Cena for the WWE Title at Capitol Punishment.
Truth did give a good account himself but he was never going to wrestle the WWE Championship away from Cena. It was a disservice to Randy Orton and Christian's feud over the World Heavyweight Championship in the summer of 2011, which was off the charts, and they once again tore the house down.
2 No Way Out 2012 (Vs. Big Show)
Once again, John Cena and Big Show's boring rivalry was renewed in 2012. At No Way Out, Cena and Show collided in a Steel Cage match with John Laurinaitis' job as the General Manager of Raw and SmackDown on the line.
Unfortunately, CM Punk's WWE Championship triple threat match with Daniel Bryan and Kane took a backseat. It was farcical that this dreadful cage match was positioned in the main event, which simply no one cared about.
1 Over The Limit 2012 (Vs. John Laurinaitis)
Arguably the worst match in John Cena's career came at Over The Limit 2012, Cena collided with John Laurinaitis in an underwhelming contest that somehow got the main event position. There was an added caveat, that if anyone interfered they would be fired on the spot.
It was so predictable that Big Show would return, and once again turn heel for no apparent reason. CM Punk and Daniel Bryan stole the show as expected, in a remarkable WWE Championship match that encapsulated the greatness of two workhorses, which certainly should have headlined the show.