Even I'm almost embarrassed to admit that John Cena had such a phenomenal year. This is because I am not a John Cena fan. I'm not sure what changed exactly. Did his in-ring work get better? A little, most notably during his 3 ppv's in a row feud with Kevin Owens when he unveiled a new move (a leap off the ropes into a Stone Cold stunner). Did his opponents get better? Well, he did have good matches against Brock Lesnar, Cesaro, Sami Zayn, Owens, and Seth Rollins...so he did have great opponents. Or was it just that the WWE was so bad this year that any hint of entertainment was magnified? Whatever happened, Cena was in 3 of the top ten best matches of the year. His U.S. Open challenge was a highlight of the year for RAW, producing surprise oppenents and good matches with Zayn and Cesaro, among others. I even admitted that his first match against Kevin Owens in May was Cena's best match ever (and it was topped a few weeks later against Owens). Even though he is corny as hell, he's still light years better than just about anyone on the mic in the WWE (compare his promo's to WWE's new "star," Roman Reigns' awful, awkward promo's, and you'll understand). Cena wasn't in good matches every time out of course. His feud with Rusev was average, although their final match, an "I Quit" match at May's Battleground, was decent. And at the end of the year he had a dull match with the returning Alberto Del Rio. But Cena was in some really great matches. The crowd-favorite Rumble match with Lesnar and Rollins was awesome. And his first two matches against Owens featured some of the best wrestling the WWE's seen in years. And it says a lot that I changed my mind this year about a guy I never cared for.
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