Review for WWE: John Cena - Hustle, Loyalty, Respect

John Cena: Hustle, Loyalty, Respect looks at Cena's career between 2015 and 2019 featuring fifteen matches from multiple PPVs and also from Raw and Smackdown. The first disk features most of the major matches Cena had while he was United States champion. Now despite the feeling that he should have put Rusev over (and Rusev never really recovered afterwards despite the popular Rusev Day gimmick) this was a great opportunity for him to work with mid-card level people and elevate them.

Those he faced included Stardust (a surprising addition considering all the current buzz around his new AEW wrestling company), Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler and Seth Rollins. These are some great matches and many show that despite what many people think, he can wrestle and put with the right people can put on spectacular matches. Highlights include his match against Rusev at Wrestlemania which was a great match from the two and though I still think Cena should have lost, it was a great match from both, however I found their I Quit Match at Payback which felt more even in regards to who could have won. His matches against (at the time) NXT newcomers Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens are both amazing and show just why (especially in the case of Owens) why they went on to be main eventers and world champions in the company.

Cena's match against Seth Rollins felt like a wasted opportunity for Raw, though it was still a fantastic match from both of them. His match against Dolph Ziggler was good, if a little unmemorable when other matches could have been included instead.

From 2017 we get his WWE Championship match against AJ Styles at the Royal Rumble. I am always in two minds over this match. Taken out of context (as this set is), the match is a masterclass and as close to perfection as you can get. This was a dream match of the top star of WWE against one of the top stars of TNA in a match that many people never thought they would ever see. Both work perfectly together and though I still don't think the ending was the right call, it was still a great match.

It was surprising seeing his match against Shinsuke Nakamura and this is also a dream match. I didn't think the styles of these two would work, but it did and this could have easily been a PPV main event. Worth watching just for the shocked young fans face which was just beautiful. His match against Roman Reigns from No Mercy really needed more a build for it to mean anything. This should have been a passing of the torch moment, but as we found out at Wrestlemania no one wants Roman Reigns to carry the torch so not sure why they rushed with this one. His match against Elias could have been great, but to be honest it went on too long to be great and really should have been Cena putting Elias over and this could be the same of his match against Finn Balor.

A No DQ match against Kane was fine, but nothing special. From the Greatest Royal Rumble his match against Triple H was fine in general, though didn’t really mean anything. At times this felt like just watching a dark match or a house show match. It is a shame as they have worked so well in the past. Finally, we have a Fatal-4Way against Finn Balor, Drew McIntyre and Baron Corbin. This was a good match and could have easily been a main event of a PPV and showed just how well he works with different people.

This was a pretty good set with a lot of matches I hadn't seen for a while and the inclusion of lots from Raw and Smackdown showed just how much of a fighting champ he actually is. If you are a fan of Cena that you will already be buying this, but if you are not, but still want to see how he did working with many of the current main stars then this is definitely a set to look up. He may come and go, but when the champ is here THE CHAMP IS ON FIRE!!!