John Cena has spent much of his two-decade-plus career as WWE’s top hero, fighting countless feuds with the baddest of the bad: Arrogant wrestlers like JBL and Randy Orton, violent monsters like Brock Lesnar and Umaga, and literal monsters like Kane. And let’s not forget AJ Styles, Mark Henry, Triple H, Bray Wyatt, Seth Rollins, Jon Stewart, Kevin Owens, The Rock, and so on.

Related: Every John Cena Battle Rap Segment, Ranked

Cena’s had a lot of enemies, but who is his best rival? We’re gonna say Edge, the R-Rated Superstar who sleazed his way into earning Cena’s ire, but we’re also gonna say CM Punk, whose feud with Cena made headlines outside of the sphere of wrestling. In other words, let's make a case for both Edge and CM Punk.

10 Edge: He Was the Ultimate Villain

Edge spent the majority of a three-year stint as a thorn in John Cena’s side. From cashing in the Money in the Bank contract to steal the WWE Championship from an already battered and bloody Cena in the final minutes of New Year’s Revolution 2006, all the way to their brutal last man standing match at Backlash 2009, Edge and Cena has a long history.

There was nothing about their rivalry that involved time-honored sports concepts like respect or fair play. Instead of hustle, loyalty, or respect, Edge was all about personal attacks, cheating, and interference -- all anathema to the heroic Cena’s very existence.

9 CM Punk: He Blurred the Hero/Villain Dichotomy

WWE loves to play with heel and face dynamics, and the Punk/Cena feud is easily their most successful attempt. On paper, CM Punk was the heel -- considering it all started with him getting angry over literal spilled Pepsi -- but those sympathetic to Punk could see an indie underdog taking on the corporate juggernaut of the WWE as represented by Cena.

Related: 10 Things Fans Need To Know About Edge

On the flip side, Cena fans can see a hard-working athlete at the top of his game defending the status quo from an angry, possibly jealous also-ran. Neither is the wrong answer, which is what made their rivalry so interesting.

8 Edge: “I Hate You”

On April 10, 2009, Edge delivered one of the most underrated hot promos in WWE history in the lead-up to his Backlash 2009 title match against Cena. Having lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Cena at Wrestlemania 25 a few weeks earlier, an angry Edge took to the mic to literally tell his opponent “I hate everything that you stand for.”

It’s an incredibly seething promo, perfect for a long-running feud fueled entirely by bad blood and career-shortening violence, especially because the ensuing Last Man Standing match ends up being the climax to the rivalry.

7 CM Punk: The Pipe Bomb

The pièce de résistance of the Cena-Punk rivalry was the infamous “Pipe Bomb” promo, where Punk cut a kayfabe-breaking tirade against Cena and his WWE overlords. Not only did this promo fool the uninitiated into thinking it was a shoot, but it also enticed lapsed fans and interested newbies into checking out Money in the Bank 2011 just to see what all the fuss was about.

The promo set the stage for the real heart of the Cena/Punk feud, establishing their rivalry as one based in Punk’s iconoclastic ethos versus Cena’s corporate ordination.

6 Edge: He Was the Original CM Punk

When Edge cashed in his Money in the Bank contract at the end of New Year’s Revolution 2006, he officially entered Cena’s orbit as an enemy. Edge was pretty obviously a heel doing heelish things, but the act drew huge cheers from a crowd that was already starting to turn on the effortlessly heroic John Cena.

Related: 10 Things Fans Need To Know About CM Punk's Walkout In 2014, Explained

Even though he’d been in WWE for longer, Edge felt like an upstart finally coming into his own as a subversive alternative to the squeaky-clean Cena. To put it in a different, apropos way: Edge is Coke, Punk is Pepsi.

5 CM Punk: A Battle of Ideology

John Cena is the conquering hero, a determined babyface approved by the corporation to serve as the face of the company by starring in WWE-produced movies and getting slimed on Nickelodeon. CM Punk is an indie wrestler covered in tattoos who managed to find himself near the top of the company despite WWE’s known revulsion at the idea of wrestling in bingo halls.

Cena is the establishment and Punk is the subculture that happened while WWE was nurturing Cena to be the establishment. Punk wanted to win the title and wrestle it from its corporate grip. Cena’s livelihood depended on making sure WWE reigned supreme.

4 Edge: Their Rivalry was Heated & Personal

John Cena seems so rarely fazed by his enemies that it’s tough to imagine him actually feeling hatred for them, but Edge seemed to really get to him. Edge stole the WWE Championship from him, embarrassed Cena in front of a hostile ECW crowd, and slapped his dad so hard that he collapsed.

This prompted Cena to act in unheroic but totally understandable ways, like pummelling Edge out of the ring and through the crowd before literally hurling him into the Long Island Sound. Nobody made John Cena as mad as Edge.

3 CM Punk: They Brought Out the Best in One Another

John Cena gets a bum rap from wrestling fans who think he’s not a good wrestler, but the thing is that Cena’s at his best when wrestling talented, engaged opponents.

Related: 10 Worst Things CM Punk Has Ever Done (In Wrestling)

Punk’s not a huge guy, so they could get away from the monster heel treatment where he beats up Cena until it’s time for the hero to bust out his Finisher. The best parts of their feud hinged on Punk wanting to beat Cena instead of relying on shifty managers and goons. In other words, Punk and Cena were super compatible.

2 Edge: Won the Feud

Despite John Cena’s superhuman ability to win matches, Edge and Cena’s rivalry had a lot of back and forth that worked to make Cena seem vulnerable and make Edge seem like a guy who could win matches against Cena, even if he had to be devious.

We mentioned the Backlash 2009 Last Man Standing match being the climax of their feud, but it’s also one where Edge emerged victorious (albeit with help from The Big Show). Given the emotional trappings of this final phase, it’s shocking that Edge ultimately beat John Cena and -- as anime thought us -- sometimes an opponent you can’t overcome is more valuable than the one you can.

1 CM Punk: Lost the Feud

John Cena doesn’t have a lot of clean wins over CM Punk post-Money in the Bank 2011, but their last singles match against one another was a doozy: A nearly 30-minute bout on the February 25th, 2013 episode of Raw for Cena’s main event spot against The Rock at Wrestlemania 29.

It’s another incredible performance for the pair, with Punk pulling out a Piledriver (!) and Cena pulling off a Hurricanrana (!!) right before putting his opponent away with the Attitude Adjustment. In his WWE career, Punk never got to headline Wrestlemania -- even when he was the champ or challenging The Undertaker -- and Cena ultimately took that away from Punk. In other words, Cena won LOL.

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