John Cena’s first Undisputed WWE Championship defense will come against a longtime rival.
It will be Cena vs. Randy Orton at WWE Backlash for the title, putting the two future hall of famers in the ring one more time.
After Cena won the title at WrestleMania 41, he detailed his plans to ‘ruin wrestling’ in his final year of in-ring competition at the Raw After WrestleMania. However, he was interrupted by Orton and an RKO.
The two stars faced off on SmackDown as Orton scolded Cena for his change in attitude and said he couldn’t let Cena ruin WWE. Orton then challenged him to a match immediately, but Cena said it will instead be done at Backlash, since it will be held in St. Louis, Orton’s hometown. Cena then attacked Orton, but ‘The Viper’ countered with an RKO.
When is WWE Backlash 2025?
WWE Backlash 2025 takes place Saturday, May 10 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
John Cena-Randy Orton history
The match at Backlash will likely culminate what’s been a near-20 year rivalry between two of WWE’s great. They’ve fought against each other for the WWE title several times in their careers, and are some of the most decorated performers. Cena is now a record 17-time champion, and Orton is a 14-time WWE title holder.
Cena and Orton have faced each other several times in their WWE careers in plenty types of matches, from singles competition to tag team to matches with multiple competitors.
In one-on-matches, Cena and Orton have faced each other 21 times. Cena has the edge with a 13-8 record against Orton in singles matches.
The tag team category has been overwhelming dominated by Cena, as his team’s are 28-6 whenever matching up against Orton and other stars. In matches where there’s been multiple wrestlers, they’ve each won six times.