John Cena - Open US Title Challenge 

This is one of the top highlights of Cena's career. He used his position to push new and underutilized talent, all while improving his own moveset. The US Open Challenge was when Cena earned the respect of the "hardcore" fans. Brilliant booking and brilliant performances from all the participants.

I remember this. Show it to those who still think Cena can't wrestle.

As a french canadian it was aboslutely insane to see Kevin Owens beating John Cena on is first match on PPV !!!

Short answer, absolutely, it was an incredible run and easily one of the best us title tunes out there, he brought back so much prestige to that title

From 2014 to 2016... we saw John Cena begin to really expand his moves set. A lot of new moves executed perfectly. We saw a lot of that during this U.S. title run, his matches with A.J. Styles, his matches with CM Punk, and his two WrestleMania matches with The Rock.

It so weird seeing the new day as heels I completely forgot that how they started out as heels

I actually loved Rusev vs Cena. The evil foreign heel will always have a place, and they played it to absolute perfection.

This was right when I stopped watching wrestling full time, John made the US title feel worth something

John Cena made the US belt felt real important like Gunther in making the IC belt now.

That Cena and Cesaro match is still one of the best matches in the history of RAW.

I forgot how good of a heel Rusev was, I don't know what he is now in AEW

“If you want come, some get some” bruh i fucking died after hearing that shit 🤣

Cena is definitely a legendary main eventer. However, I 'am the old fan who was a fan of his mid-card reigns because he was able to deliver himself as a balanced wrestler that could be beaten despite showing moments of resiliency. He also began to be able to expand his move arsenal after always using his cookie cutter finisher as a main eventer. He always treated the U. S title as a belt people should want to hold if they wanted to showcase their talent. This included title defenses, but also creating interest in you while on the mic.

They should bring this back honestly I cant remember the last time the u.s title felt prestigious

One of the greatest title runs. Feel free to disagree.

Banging in the WM tank is wild

Cena's best run ever. This up through his AJ rivalry.

Always hated on Cena but this is the run that turned me into a fan of his. Now I’m genuinely excited when I see cena

He absolutely made the U.S Title relevant again.

UPLOAD THE SABU VIDEO EVEN IT WAS LOW QUALITY WE LOVE YOU MAN EVEN IN LOW QUALITYY WE WANT THE HAWK

Cena wrestler with only 5 moves for years and for some reason 2014-16 he became a menace a killer. Cena was in his prime at this time

Cenas US Open Challenge was a highlight of Raw every week. He helped give younger and newer talent a rub,He put over the US title after years of being an afterthought,he showed he could be a Workrate guy and earned the respect of the more hardcore fans. It was also his last full time championship run and there hasnt been a great US champion since

Axlemania was a very underrated gimmick

Awesome run, definitely some of Cena's best matches. A bit like Bret's world champ run in the early days, take all comers, etc. Great storytelling and almost everyone he wrestled in this run is a star now.

It was soo good. I remember watching every week and feeling excited everytime. Interesting matches such as Sami, Neville it was all soo good 🔥

excellent video as always brotha

Loved this. This was my fav cena run

I suggest Paul London and Billy Kidman as a Tag Team and their feud afterwards

OMG YESSS I LOVE THIS RUN THANK YOU

I think this was the last Super Cena run

One of the last few segments I remember back when I used to watch shows weekly

cena's us title run literally got me back in watching wrestling his match with cesaro was amazing

Yes, it felt like a good run for the time. Since it was the last formidable John Cena run, if I'm not wrong, I'd say it was great in retrospect. It felt like an interloper run for Cena when the product was transitioning to a newer feel and his positioning in at the top of the card was in hindsight. This run feels like an anomaly because it fits in this transitional phase. Maybe that's why I'd say great. The 'transition' materialized with the 2016 RAW makeover so I get the feeling that this is the point of distinction between pre-2016 PG ERA and post-2016 PG Era.

i know im gonna love this one. good work Marky

Been needing a vid from ya maaan

Ended with a blergh with Del Rio

Great idea mate would be interested to see you covering more midcard title runs in wwe like Ortons intercontinental title reign or Rusevs US title reign in general.

Great video! This was indeed a good run

Only other "open challenge" that may be considered better is Wes Lee's. But Cena's "open challenge" is legendary and is the template for all other "open challenges" goes off of.

I absolutely adored this run watching it in real time. I only started watching in 2014/15 as an adult rather than as a child so I came in as a smark fully aware of the Cena hate and all of that, but this run had me loving the man. The Kevin Owens debut and subsequent victory had me enraptured but this whole run is good. Even Kalisto looked awesome imo!

This was one of the highlights of this whole year. Which was pretty unforgettable

John Cena was like the Manchester United team of the 90s,00s hated universally for constantly winning but compared to the United of today ( Maguire lol ) there is a appreciation for them and great players and achievements they produced and elevating the Premier League globally like appreciation for Cena for his contribution and excellent moments, matches etc

Fans "You can't wrestle." John Cena "Alright bet."

19:33 that brawl was the beginning of new day's domination.

Keith Lee 30 matches ????😡

From memory this run was great

E cutting a promo on Cena is hilarious work

The only time in the last 20 years, where the us title actually mattered.

great video. Could you do a similar video on Santinos run as IC Champion? (With the honk a meter)

I'm surprised WWE didn't re-tread the spinner belt to sell some more merch.

Lol, thanks for finally doing it, fun video

good job using clips marky. i cant stand watching these youtubers who do these videos but just spam pictures. i use clips as well. its takes effort. good video!

I can say that his open challenge run was the best. It showed how much you can make the title more important and elevated then ever At the time I had no clue what NXT was. You had to upgrade you tv provider and on RU-vid, there wasn’t much to watch since it was so “expensive”. Which means yes I was a Smackdown X Raw watcher only😂

This is when I start getting into wrestling

Aye that it was. Too bad Heath Slater never got his chance. Still hoping for a ROTH for Christian's 2001 solo run.

I started watching WWE again during this time. Pretty miserable time in my life lol. I remember coming home from work and being excited to see who was gonna come out and face him. Still never gonna be my favorite or even close but this made me realize cena really (while make a wish was dominating hus schedule and Hollywood were beginning to call) the man still wanted to work hard on bettering his wrestling, helping other talent this go round, and making a midcard title worth while. Great run.

Some of the best work of his career in this run.

Bro thanks for having a fair view of AEW and because your fair view of things , i used to hate TNA, BUT over the last few years ince like 2019 ive been following you, i learned a ton about TNA and i like it! They should hire you and pay you atleast 6 figures....theyre re tarded if they dont! Thanks bro

Good video marky

Another Banger🎉

Of all of those people they made Del rio defeat him. Classic Vince

a wild sethnuts appears.

It's amazing what can happen, when respect is given to the title, even if it is a secondary belt.

This run was great because it introduced me to Sami, KO and Pac who pushed me into start watching NXT

Yk it still sours me till this day that the one who ended Cena second US title reign in 2015 was Del Rio…… of all the wrestlers in that locker room they really thought Del Rio was the best choice TO BEAT CENA CLEAN and it ended up not paying off and being a huge disappointment

Cena/Rusev was built the same way as Cena/Umaga. Right down to the monster getting buried and not recovering for a long time.

excited to see this one! Loved this period of Cena. He really cemented himself again and showed hes one of the best

you should do Goldberg's weird brief Japan excursions in AJPW and Hustle

Can I request the Mickie James stalker run in WWE

I was 20 when this whole storyline was taking place, and I was as much a staunch cena hater as any other during my teens but the feud with Rusev and the open challenges with guys like Sami zayne and stardust opened my eyes and changed my mind about cena. When owens debuted and actually beat cena while NXT champion and they let owens one up cena so many times in the build up I was so excited and just sucked into the story I completely forgot it was a work for a bit I was just telling friends at work and my family “oh this owens guy is a big deal, he beat cena”. You can see in the background of one of the shots of owens coming down the ramp there is a destroyed car with an ax in the window, that was when Brock destroyed the car that the authority “gave to Seth as a gift” and he beat the hell out of j and j security and I think that was sadly the last time we ever saw them. I remember being shocked Seth beat Brock. When Seth beat cena we all pretty much collectively agreed the way it happened was stupid but seeing Seth as a double champion was cool and the gold statue of him and sting shoving the statue into a trash compactor was very memorable. But sadly Seth’s stint as a double champion has the shadow hanging over it of accidentally injuring and ending stings full time career. I actually forgot Alberto was the one who beat cena to end this storyline so marky d is right it’s definitely the wrong guy if that’s the only part that’s not memorable.

He also had an underrated gem against Sheamus during the run. (It’s the match that actually got me back to wrestling😅🤦🏽‍♂️)

I've noticed that jim cornettes run with the midnight express in mid south wrestling is on youtube, I'd love to know if it's actually any good

I really hope they do another US title open challenge, having the title defended every week makes it actually feel meaningful and it definitely helps viewership to constantly advertise that anyone could accept (even if it just ends up being someone like Omos) Hopefully if LA Knight beats Logan Paul they'll bring it back.

After the Revolution PPV, I’d be interested in seeing what you think of Sting’s final run in AEW for Ring of the Hawk

0:15 THAT explains why we didn't get a MarkyD video yesterday!

Can someone tell me what is the song that plays in the background pls?

I LOVED this open challenge seeing a bug star like cena make the midcard title feel just as important as the world title, giving young guy's spotlight it was amazing

I've been hoping for a ring of the hawk type video that would be exclusive to a long title reign, guess this is close enough

Finally... A wild slapnuts doesn't appear

Is that guy at 12:06 right beside the man with the microphone Underdog from inside the NBA?

such a great run. It proved to a lot of the Cena haters the he could go really hard in the ring when he wanted to lol

Yes, it was and he, along with Rusev, re-established the United States Championship as a sought-after title. I didn't like how his reign ended though.

This run reminded me that The New Day were heels at one point, and I completely forgot about that

It was a good way for Cena to go over on the mid carders under the premise of " elevating the US title"

This is where Cena started slowly winning me back after me just being done with him since like 2009

It was not only good, it was fantastic

It's so weird to hear Markyd talking about Cena for longer than a 3 minute

THERES NO BIGGER MANIA THAN AXELMANIA AND ITS RUNNING WILD !!!

When I think of Rusev, I think of the massive missed opportunity to make his heel character a bit more nuanced. His character originally wasn't "an evil Russian", it was "an evil Bulgarian who betrayed his country to support Putin's Russia", it was way more on the pulse (in those days Putin had invaded Crimea) and Bulgarians started hating him with a fiery passion that took quite long to extinguish.

Completely unrelated but what are your thoughts about the recent situation with Vince McMahon

Commenting on every new video until J&J security gets a video

We’ll RIP to your rankings, this gotta be first

😂😂 @3:55 If you want come, some get some

Top 3 highest of cenas career. He put on so many good matches and put so many wrestlers on the map

Rusev coming in Tank at Wrestlamania is great long time storytelling.

Everyone loved Alberto’s return tho

Rusev was a monster back in the day and now he looks like an Olympian. The reverse iron sheik.

Short answer yes it was awesome

Can u do a separate video on rusevs undefeated streak

Mentions of Tyson Kidd and a heel New Day... Feels so long ago