Championship Match: (1) John Cena vs. (3) Andre the Giant

Many of us have seen John Cena at his absolute zenith, I imagine that it would between when he was still riding a wave of momentum from his WrestleMania 21 win up until getting crushed by Brock Lesnar at Summerslam in 2014. That's a pretty long time to be the guy who can't be decisively

Since some folks are understandably on the fence with this one, I'll make another case for my favorite in this match. I'll also preface this by saying here and now that; if John Cena wins this, he's done more to earn this tournament win than anyone else in the history of this tournament. His bane had always seemed to be either Stone Cold or Lesnar. I'm fine knowing that we'll get somebody new this year, and that the final match would have been a barn burner of a close finish.

Many of us have seen John Cena at his absolute zenith, I imagine that it would between when he was still riding a wave of momentum from his WrestleMania 21 win up until getting crushed by Brock Lesnar at Summerslam in 2014. That's a pretty long time to be the guy who can't be decisively beaten. As much as I love Punk, I'll admit that his wins over Cena didn't make him look better. John Cena got those wins back, with interest, in later matches.

Andre the Giant hit the scene under various names, and was a smash hit anywhere he went. He would take an odd loss here and there, but that would often be as a fluke unto an opponent considered to be one of the greats of that era. His biggest moment was revealing himself to the wonderment of Japanese crowds in 1970, and his lowest moment was when he passed the torch to Hogan after laying down for a leg drop.

To analyze their potential vulnerabilities in this match; how about we look at Andre and Cena for when they slipped up during and after their epic runs on top of the pro-wrestling world?

John Cena was pinned by Umaga in 2006, The Great Khali in 2007, The Big Show in 2009 and 2010, Lord Tensai in 2012, Alberto Del Rio three times from 2012 to 2016 and Daniel Bryan in 2013. If we really want to count Orton's pinfall wins over John Cena, I'm sure we can just accept that it was a lot but that John Cena got the better of their insanely long feud with more pinfall wins.

From what I've been able to research; Andre the Giant was pinned by Karl Gotch in 1971, Killer Kowalski in 1972, Hulk Hogan in 1987 and then four times by The Ultimate Warrior throughout 1989. Please correct me if I've missed some pinfall loses on part of Andre, but all that I can find of the over two thousand matches that he's fought are only four men that have managed that. There's also the fact that if we stop Andre's status as the greatest at his loss to Hogan, then the Warrior wins don't even count.

Also; let's not forget that Johnny Ace and Kevin Federline currently hold pinfall wins over John Cena, though they (and most of the losses I've mentioned that he's endured) were the result of a ridiculous amount of interference. The difference in my mind is however, I can't imagine any amount of interference granting either of those two men the ability to pin Andre the Giant.

My brain is getting tired, so I'll wait to go into the potential of both men when it comes to a submission or knock out win. I highly doubt either of these two men would force a countout or dq at this point. If for no one else, it'll be for my own satisfaction to share what I've found.

When looking at pinfall statistics, I don't see an Andre -- who's in the middle of his 15 year hiatus from suffering a pinfall loss -- taking a pinfall loss here against a man who's more than proven that he can be beaten even when he's at his best.

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