Alright, let’s talk about something that crossed my mind recently. I was just thinking about some big wrestling matchups, you know, the kind that stick with you. And the question popped up: has John Cena ever actually pinned Roman Reigns? Seems like a simple thing, but their careers overlapped in such a big way, I had to double-check my memory.
So, first thing I did was just wrack my brain. I remember them having some huge matches, right? Summerslam definitely comes to mind, and didn’t they have one around No Mercy a few years back? Big feuds, lots of talk, main event stuff. But specifically, a Cena pin on Reigns? My gut feeling was leaning towards no, especially in major singles matches, but gut feelings aren’t always reliable.
Next step, I actually went looking. Didn’t do anything fancy, just started searching online. Typed in things like “John Cena vs Roman Reigns match history”, “Cena pin Reigns”, stuff like that. Had to sift through a bunch of fan theories and general articles first, you know how it is.
Digging into the Results
Okay, so I started focusing on their big one-on-one pay-per-view encounters. Those are usually the ones that count the most, history-wise.
- No Mercy 2017: This was a big one. Billed as Wrestlemania-worthy at the time. I checked the result for this specifically. Roman Reigns won this match. He pinned Cena clean. Okay, so not that one.
- SummerSlam 2021: This was for the Universal Championship. Massive main event. Cena came back, big challenge. I looked up the finish here too. Roman Reigns won again, pinned Cena after a long battle.
Then I thought, maybe there were tag matches? Or house shows? Sometimes weird stuff happens off TV. But looking through common records and well-documented matches, especially the televised ones people remember, the pattern held. Reigns usually came out on top in their singles bouts.
I spent a bit more time checking recaps and match databases. Looked at some Raw encounters too, though often those end less definitively. But even there, couldn’t find a record of a televised singles match where Cena got the 1-2-3 pinfall victory over Reigns.
So, What’s the Bottom Line?
Based on what I could find from digging around match records and major event summaries, the answer seems pretty straightforward. John Cena has not pinned Roman Reigns in a major, televised one-on-one match. Reigns won their key singles encounters at No Mercy 2017 and SummerSlam 2021, pinning Cena in both instances. While they’ve been in the ring together in other situations like tag matches or Royal Rumbles, a direct pinfall victory for Cena over Reigns in a singles competition just doesn’t seem to be in the record books.
It’s kinda interesting, right? For two guys who were the face of the company at different times and had such significant confrontations, you might assume Cena snagged a pin at least once. But nope, seems like Roman consistently had his number when it came down to the pinfall in their biggest solo clashes. Just goes to show how they built Reigns up.
