With John Cena’s Final RAW set for Madison Square Garden, it’s the perfect time to rewind the tape. The Garden is WWE’s most iconic venue, and it has been the setting for some of John Cena’s loudest nights, from a first WrestleMania breakthrough to a shock return that blew the roof off Midtown. Here are five of his defining MSG moments, ranked.
5) Live from MSG (Oct. 3, 2015): Steel cage vs. Seth Rollins
A Network special built to spotlight the arena closed with Cena and Seth Rollins inside a steel cage for the United States Championship. It was peak-era Cena against the architect of the next generation, a rivalry that helped define the mid-2010s. The cage added the Garden’s old-school feel, and the finish sent the crowd out buzzing on a night designed to be a love letter to the building.
4) RAW at MSG (Nov. 16, 2009): Cena and Undertaker vs. DX vs. Jeri-Show
Only the Garden gets a television main event like this. On a Monday night, WWE rolled out a triple-threat tag showcase: A Championship pairing of Cena and The Undertaker sharing a corner against D-Generation X and the Jericho–Big Show tandem. Call it a superstar sampler. Both Cena and Undertaker held world titles during this stretch, and the crowd treated the one-night team-up like a comic-book crossover you never thought you would see. It is quintessential MSG: big names, big stakes, and a match you talk forever about on the train ride home.
3) Survivor Series 2011 (Nov. 20, 2011): Teaming with The Rock
“Never before, never again” landed right in New York. Cena teamed with The Rock to face The Miz and R-Truth in The Rock’s first match back, and the novelty alone made it an all-time event. The bout doubled as a handshake to the past and a runway to the future, laying the final pieces for Rock vs. Cena at WrestleMania. It also produced one of WWE’s most-watched YouTube clips, proof that the aura of that pairing still travels.
2) WrestleMania XX (March 14, 2004): U.S. title breakthrough vs. Big Show
Cena’s first WrestleMania match doubled as his first major singles title on the main roster. Opening the show at MSG, he hoisted Big Show and won the United States Championship, a scene that announced his jump from rising SmackDown star to future franchise player. It was a clean, simple coronation in the building that loves those moments, and it set the pace for what the next decade would look like.
1) Royal Rumble (Jan. 27, 2008): The shock return and the win
The countdown hit zero, the glass didn’t shatter, and then the horns did. Cena entered at No. 30, barely three months after a torn pectoral should have kept him out well past WrestleMania. The Garden lost it. He cleared house and won the Rumble, flipping a months-long storyline on its head and crystallizing the “he came back how fast?” mythology that followed him for years. As pure theater, it is hard to top: a genuine surprise that turned MSG into a wall of sound.
