Every Major Injury Of John Cena's WWE Career, Explained

When mega stars like The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar, and Goldberg started to leave WWE one after the other, the company was in dire need of filling their void with a new superstar. John Cena fit into that role to perfection and carried WWE on his shoulders as the company's poster boy throughout his time as a full-time wrestler. But such kind of commitment comes with a disadvantage as the 16-time WWE Champion had to put his body on the line in high-profile matches on a regular basis. It led to Cena sustaining several injuries over the years, with some of them being almost career and life-threatening.

RELATED: 10 John Cena WrestleMania Matches (And Who He Should Have Faced Instead)

However, there have also been several instances when Cena had to sell fake storyline injuries either to add more drama or to take time off to deal with his other commitments. Some examples of such fake injuries include his ankle injury in 2019, the stab injury in 2004, and the spotlight Chokeslam he took from The Big Show in 2009. With that said, let's take a look at every major injury of John Cena's career in detail.

7 Torn Pectoral Muscle - 2007

The first major injury John Cena sustained in his wrestling career was the torn pectoral muscle he endured in 2007. Cena suffered the injury during a match with Mr. Kennedy when he tried to execute a hip toss.

He underwent surgery to repair the damages the very next day, and it was revealed that his pectoral muscle was torn completely off the bone. WWE announced that it would take six months to one year for John Cena to rehabilitate from the injury, but the "never give up" attitude of the 16-time WWE Champion saw him making a triumphant and surprise return at the 2008 Royal Rumble match.

6 Herniated Disc - 2008

After making a miraculously quick recovery from his torn pectoral muscle, John Cena looked to make up for the lost time by working extra hard. As usual, WWE booked him in high-profile storylines, and he was set to be one of the contestants in the World Heavyweight Championship Scramble match at the 2008 Unforgiven PPV.

RELATED: Every Wrestler Who Defeated John Cena In A Singles PPV Main Event

But things took an unexpected turn as he got taken out of the match after he sustained a herniated disc in his neck during his match against Batista at that year's SummerSlam PPV. This kind of injury takes a long period of rest to heal by itself, but Cena chose to undergo fusion surgery with Dr. Joseph Maroon, who is the current Medical Director of WWE. Similar to his return at the 2008 Royal Rumble, John Cena underwent a quick healing process and returned within two months of the surgery and competed against Chris Jericho at that year's Survivor Series PPV and won his first World Heavyweight Championship.

5 Arm Injury - 2012

Following his WWE Championship match against CM Punk at the 2012 Night of Champions PPV, which ended in a double pinfall draw, John Cena got sidelined from in-ring action once again with a legitimate arm injury. Cena had to undergo yet another surgery, and the procedure was done to remove bone chips from his elbow. WWE revealed that the recovery time would be between six and eight weeks, and it was the first time John Cena stuck to the original recovery timetable.

After being on the sidelines for two months, John Cena returned to in-ring action at the 2012 Survivor Series PPV, where he competed in a triple threat match for the WWE Championship against CM Punk and Ryback, but ended up losing the contest.

4 Achilles Tendon Injury - 2013

After suffering a defeat at the hands of The Rock at WrestleMania 27, John Cena made sure he got to face The People's Champion once again, and he finally made it happen at WrestleMania 28 after winning the 2013 Royal Rumble match and booked a showdown with The Rock who had won the WWE Championship from CM Punk at the same event.

John Cena was successful in defeating The Rock at the event and winning the WWE Championship, but Cena couldn't enjoy the victory as he injured his Achilles Tendon during a match with Ryback during their European tour. Speculations about Cena's potential recovery timetable started increasing, but he put a stop to all of that by continuing to do his regular duties and granted wishes in New York as part of the Make A Wish Foundation and also returned to the ring competition soon after and even defended his WWE Championship against Ryback at Extreme Rules 2013.

3 Torn Triceps - 2013

In the weeks leading to the 2013 SummerSlam PPV, John Cena chose Daniel Bryan as his opponent for his WWE Championship at the event. Cena ended up losing the title to Bryan at SummerSlam and also sustained a torn triceps in the process.

RELATED: John Cena's Highest Rated World Title Matches, According To Dave Meltzer

Cena had to undergo a surgery to repair the damage, and it was speculated that he'd be out of action for six months. But as usual, he made a quick recovery and returned two months later at the Hell in a Cell PPV and defeated Alberto Del Rio to win the World Heavyweight Championship.

2 Broken Nose - 2015

During his feud against Then Authority in 2015, John Cena was the reigning United States Champion, and the heel authority figures made him defend the title against Seth Rollins. The match took place on the July 27, 2015, episode of Raw, in which Cena successfully retained the title. But the victory came at a great cost as Cena endured a legitimate broken nose during the match and had to undergo surgery to fix the damage.

However, Cena only took two weeks off as he accepted Rollins' challenge to a Winner Takes All match for both the WWE and United States Championship at SummerSlam 2015, where he ended up losing to Rollins.

1 Shoulder Injury - 2016

The final days of John Cena's fifth and final run with The United States Championship saw him dropping the title to Alberto Del Rio at the 2015 Hell in a Cell PPV. After a brief hiatus, John Cena returned to challenge Del Rio for the title but couldn't win back the title as the match ended in a disqualification.

Following that, Cena had to endure yet another surgery as he had to undergo a procedure to repair a shoulder injury in January 2016. WWE didn't reveal a comeback timetable for John Cena after the surgery and simply stated that he would remain out of action for an undisclosed period. However, it's John Cena we're talking about, and similar to his past miraculous recoveries, he made his return to WWE at WrestleMania 32, where he helped The Rock fend off an attack from The Wyatt Family. He then made a full return on the Memorial Day edition of Raw in 2016, which was four months earlier than it usually takes to heal from the surgery.