John Cena vs. Randy Orton: The brutal, iconic history of WWE Backlash's decades-long rivalry

Yahoo

09-05-2025

The minute WWE announced 2025's Backlash PLE would be taking place in St. Louis, most of us figured we knew where this was going. And here we are: Just one sleep away from WWE running back one of its greatest 21st century feuds, John Cena vs. Randy Orton, under the portentous banner of "one last time."
The word "generational" gets used so often in wrestling commentary that it sometimes feels more like an annoying catchphrase than a genuine accolade. But is there any better way to describe the contribution these two have made to the modern WWE product? At the very least they're amongst the top three stars of the early Millennium era.
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But what about when they come together? Is Orton the ultimate opponent for Cena? When I debated the question with the other Uncrowned regulars ahead of Saturday's weekend, we all agreed that Cena vs. Orton was somewhere in our top five Cena feuds. What's clear, though, is that this is perhaps the best placed of Cena's legendary feuds (if not neck-and-neck with CM Punk) for a modern-day revival.
By this point, most people know the backstory: How Orton and Cena emerged in tandem from the golden days of Ohio Valley Wrestling — then serving as WWE's developmental partner — around the late 1990s, before bursting onto the main scene to help finally turn the page on the Attitude era.
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Once both men had established themselves as main-carders, the scene was set for their feud to begin. At the time, Cena was firmly in place as the WWE's golden boy, defending his title with a predictability that had begun to grate on some of the more cynical fans. A string of triumphs over The Great Khali in 2007 had practically confirmed Cena's invincibility.
After hitting the champ with a surprise RKO on "WWE Raw," Randy Orton threw down his glove as Cena's next competitor. And while he might not have quite punctured that invincibility, he did succeed in getting under the champion's skin — not least of which with a brutal punt kick to John Cena Sr. (Cena's real-life father) that left the all-American hero desperate for revenge.
Looking back, surely even Cena himself (Junior, that is) would concede that it was exactly what was needed. All of a sudden, the all-American babyface had a rawness and rage to his character — a development that led to Orton getting the better of him (at least psychologically) at 2007's Unforgiven event.
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When a legitimate injury forced Cena to vacate the title, the feud fell dormant, only to spring back into action with the former champ's shock return at the 2008 Royal Rumble. Given that his rival had won the WWE championship just an hour earlier, the stars were perfectly aligned for the old hostilities to resume.
If the smart fans had resented Cena's protected status as babyface champion, the next chapter went to great lengths to subvert their expectations — as the conniving Orton used every trick in the book to hang onto his gold and deprive the good guy of his prize. The legendary finish to their match at 2008's No Way Out — in which Orton assaulted the referee to force a DQ — remains one of the most famous heel moves in history.
Within months, Cena and Orton were being booked as blood rivals, in a similar vein to Austin and The Rock a decade earlier. The marquee treatment led to their best matches yet: A grueling "I Quit" showdown in 2009 that tested Cena's signature tenacity to its limits, and a similarly brutal 60-minute Iron Man match at Bragging Rights. Both remain modern classics to this day.
With Cena's destiny soon intertwined with that of the returning Rock, the Orton feud had to take a back seat for a few years. But that all changed in 2013, when a rug pull ending to SummerSlam saw Randy Orton returned to the top of WWE hierarchy — at the expense of the fans' beloved Daniel Bryan.
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Having screwed over the biggest babyface in all of pro-wrestling, "The Viper" was once again perfectly placed for another collision with his old nemesis. The fact that the two men were each holding the two biggest prizes in WWE pointed to an obvious landing point: A unification match to crown the one true champion.
It may have seemed the most predictable path. But who would have guessed back then in the blazing heat of a Los Angeles summer that the vendetta would culminate in a hardcore spectacle — a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match — just 10 days before Christmas? A very different prospect, to put it lightly, than the usual one-on-one stadium match at WrestleMania.
The match itself was an instant classic, with a series of inventive spots that drew as much on the deep psychological history of the Cena-Orton rivalry as they did on the TLC gimmick. There's a reason that WWE have been running so many video packages of it ahead of Saturday's reunion match. If you haven't seen them, go back and drink them in.
Given that the highlights have been shown on the weekly shows in the build to Saturday, should we expect some callbacks at Backlash? Some handcuffs perhaps? After the shallow and contrived end to Cena's last match at WrestleMania, it would certainly restore some authenticity to the main card.
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Acknowledging history is one thing, but it still leaves the obvious question: Can Saturday's match ever do justice to such a great rivalry? In all honesty, I wouldn't want to guess — but the fact that the 45-year-old Orton has lost none of the pace and appetite of his 'Legend Killer' days surely bodes well for what happens in the ring.
Throughout their interlocking careers, the two rivals have consistently shown their ability to exceed expectations and bring the best out of each other. Given the growing questions over the wisdom of the whole Cena heel turn, their pairing couldn't come at a better time — especially given Orton's well-earned status as a fan favorite.
Whatever else happens, there's a fitting symmetry to the whole thing. Just as the devious Orton helped round out Cena's babyface persona into something three-dimensional all those years ago, he now faces a parallel task some two decades later: To bring some much-needed authenticity to Cena's uneven run as the bad guy.
And if he can rise to that challenge, 'The Viper' might just go down in history as Cena's greatest rival after all.