A former World Heavyweight Champion has claimed John Cena refused to lose to him during his run with WWE.
Cena is a legendary WWE figure and won a record-setting 17th World Championship in WWE on his retirement tour.
Cena spent over two decades on top of WWE following his debut in 2002, and he’s bringing his career to an end in 2025.
There’s been much speculation around Cena’s final WWE opponent, but one of his previous foes has accused him of refusing to lose to him.
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Jack Swagger claims John Cena refused to lose to multiple WWE stars, including himself
In 2010, Jack Swagger held the Money in the Bank briefcase and looked set to use the briefcase on then-WWE Champion, Cena.
However, that didn’t happen and Swagger believes it was entirely down to the 17-time champion refusing to play ball.
“Oh yeah, he absolutely refused to do it (lose to Swagger). I was told that was what happened,” revealed Swagger in an interview on Insight with Chris Van Vliet.
Instead, Swagger teased the cash-in on Cena on WWE Raw, before eventually defeating Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship.
“Because the original plan was I was gonna beat him Monday Night Raw and not do the tease,” revealed Swagger.
The former WWE man said he was unable to push for the decision due to his inexperience in the company.
“But I’m a young guy. I’ve been there for a cup of coffee, so what are you gonna do?” asked Swagger, before suggesting Cena would often refuse to lose to up-and-coming stars.
“But I’m not the only guy he’s done that to,” said the former World Champion. “He did that throughout his career.”
Cena has widely been criticised by fans for not losing to the likes of Bray Wyatt and Wade Barrett during the heights of their WWE careers.
WWE veterans were unhappy with John Cena after he refused to lose
Another famous example of Cena refusing to lose to rising WWE stars was when he defeated the entire Nexus at SummerSlam in 2010.
One of the members of The Nexus, Heath Slater, claimed Cena was not happy with losing to the NXT faction, and it didn’t best please two of the biggest stars on the roster at the time.
“Edge and Jericho were the ones that put the whole match together, made it make sense and it was good,” said Slater in an interview with Inside the Ropes.
“Then Cena didn’t like it, is the story I’ve heard. He didn’t like it, so he wanted to change it. Edge and Chris went to bat for us. They were all for it. Then it got switched and Jericho and Edge were p—–.”
Cena has rarely opened up about the times he’s been accused of refusing to lose to WWE stars.