When does Cena's "Open Challenge" shtick end and who will be the one to beat him?

[Prince Bálor]

The thread title says it all.

Speculate away.

- I, for one, don't have a certain pick at the moment.
But, I'd really love it if a debuting NXT superstar like Balor/Zayn or (maybe even KO) ended up defeating Cena [clean] for the title.
Sure, it might be a little bit rushy for a recent NXT call-up, but it would do wonders for the guy's career and I sure as hell wouldn't mind it.

But, knowing good ole Vinnie Mac, Cena will most likely lose the title in a triple threat or a fatal four-way without even eating the pin. I hope I'm wrong about this, though.

 

[Farooq]

I would much rather it be used on a star who's already on the main roster, but still fresh to me. It would be interesting to see them beat Cena, but then it would have to be someone who also has a solid gimmick and can keep the title looking relevant. I wouldn't mind Bray Wyatt here, seeing him beat Cena on a number where it matters. The only problem I see would be if creative keeps him relevant with the strap.

Another could be Neville. He's been having solid matches, but the problem is I feel he doesn't have a solid gimmick yet, and he might not provide much attention to the title outside matches, though I could be wrong with that.

 

[TC Punk]

I would like to see Bad News Barrett have a rematch and win, or many Curtis Axel pulls the biggest upset and beats John Cena clean. Also, if they want to keep Damien Sandow relevant they could have him win it.

 

[The GOAT]

I wouldn't put it past possibility that Rusev will regain the United States Championship come Payback. The prediction making the rounds (and this is what I had in mind as well) is that they'll continue teasing the break-up between Rusev and Lana until the PPV and then during the match, Rusev will grab Lana and threaten to hurt her if Cena doesn't say I Quit into the microphone, at which point he will. So Rusev regains the championship, Cena says I Quit in a manner that doesn't make him look weak (and that gets a whole ton of heat on Rusev), Lana turns babyface and splits from Rusev, and because Cena specified that this was the final chapter in the Cena-Rusev saga no matter what, you don't gave to worry about a dreaded fifth match due to Cena being contractually owed a rematch for the championship and whatnot. Not really what I WANT to happen, mind you, but definitely a possibility. I even made a thread a few weeks ago stating that the whole purpose behind Cena's "Open Challenge" shtick could be so that he gets as many successful title defenses under his belt as possible since they may not plan on keeping the strap on him long.

Personally, I hope Cena holds onto the title for a long while and keeps it warm until Kevin Owens debuts and takes it from him.

 

[TC Punk]

I wouldn't put it past possibility that Rusev will regain the United States Championship come Payback. The prediction making the rounds (and this is what I had in mind as well) is that they'll continue teasing the break-up between Rusev and Lana until the PPV and then during the match, Rusev will grab Lana and threaten to hurt her if Cena doesn't say I Quit into the microphone, at which point he will. So Rusev regains the championship, Cena says I Quit in a manner that doesn't make him look weak (and that gets a whole ton of heat on Rusev), Lana turns babyface and splits from Rusev, and because Cena specified that this was the final chapter in the Cena-Rusev saga no matter what, you don't gave to worry about a dreaded fifth match due to Cena being contractually owed a rematch for the championship and whatnot. Not really what I WANT to happen, mind you, but definitely a possibility. I even made a thread a few weeks ago stating that the whole purpose behind Cena's "Open Challenge" shtick could be so that he gets as many successful title defenses under his belt as possible since they may not plan on keeping the strap on him long.

Personally, I hope Cena holds onto the title for a long while and keeps it warm until Kevin Owens debuts and takes it from him.

Please put this guy on the creative team.

 

[Prince Bálor]

I wouldn't put it past possibility that Rusev will regain the United States Championship come Payback. The prediction making the rounds (and this is what I had in mind as well) is that they'll continue teasing the break-up between Rusev and Lana until the PPV and then during the match, Rusev will grab Lana and threaten to hurt her if Cena doesn't say I Quit into the microphone, at which point he will. So Rusev regains the championship, Cena says I Quit in a manner that doesn't make him look weak (and that gets a whole ton of heat on Rusev), Lana turns babyface and splits from Rusev, and because Cena specified that this was the final chapter in the Cena-Rusev saga no matter what, you don't gave to worry about a dreaded fifth match due to Cena being contractually owed a rematch for the championship and whatnot. Not really what I WANT to happen, mind you, but definitely a possibility. I even made a thread a few weeks ago stating that the whole purpose behind Cena's "Open Challenge" shtick could be so that he gets as many successful title defenses under his belt as possible since they may not plan on keeping the strap on him long.

Personally, I hope Cena holds onto the title for a long while and keeps it warm until Kevin Owens debuts and takes it from him.

You've got a plausible scenario there, bud. Definitely wouldn't surprise me if it happened that way.

The thing about Cena saying I Quit in that manner would be kinda weird (unless they Mankind it) and NEVER GIVE UP is his whole shtick, but not like I'd mind it or anything...

But, I think Rusev losing to Cena and going away after that loss at Payback is also a possibility, he'll prolly get repackaged and then come back with a slightly different gimmick.
This "LOL. I hate 'murica. Boo me!" gimmick is as old as time.

But yeah, I'm with you on pretty much all of this. I'm fine with Cena having a lengthy reign and I'd love it if someone from NXT took it from him.

 

[Green Jesus]

Cesaro! please?

 

[Prince Bálor]

Cesaro! please?

No! He hasn't connected with the crowd yet, dammit! - Vince McMahon :

 

[ShaRpY HaRdY]

I think it'll go on definitely until Payback and if Cena wins there I got it going until SummerSlam. Neville, Ryback, Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose are all the people who I think will answer, go to put on good matches and have a chance at winning.. Fandango, Adam Rose, Curtis Axel are all people I want to see job.. I am going to say that Jack Swagger & Little Zebby Coulter will be the ones to answer and defeat Cena at some random point.

I do want to see Damien answer it at some point, put on a good match and then most likely lose.. pretty much just seeing him in a title match would make me happy.

 

[Snowman1]

I love how I saw this thread, heard some other opinions, thought about it, and realized there were three good options and all three of them were already posted in this thread 1:

Thing is they have a great chance to pull off a SHOCKING moment right in their hands with anything they do with this, and whoever wins the US title will get a shockingly huge rub from such an unpredictable moment... Thought it would be wonderful to see Sandow randomly winning it on a random Raw, or Owens randomly coming out and either winning it or coming close (much like Cena's first match, ironically), or Rusev winning it back...

Come on, WWE. This is the second most predictable match in your entire company's history behind Undertaker and Brock Lesn... oh, right