10 Best John Cena Movies & TV Shows Ranked

2025 will go down as a big year for John Cena. By the time December 31st rolls around, the 16-time world champion (but potentially 17-time champion after Wrestlemania 41 in Las Vegas) will have donned his iconic ensemble of a brightly colored t-shirt, matching terrycloth wristbands, and jean shorts for the last time. When the year ends, he has vowed that his professional wrestling career will come to an end after 25 incredible years.

However, that doesn't mean that the Leader of the Cenation will be completely disappearing from the public eye when he wraps up his in-ring life. While he will serve as a WWE ambassador in various capacities, the West Newbury, Massachusetts native will continue a budding acting career that began back in 2006 with a starring role in WWE Films' "The Marine." Since then, he has gone on to appear in projects such as fan-favorite USA series "Psych," the global phenomenon known as "Barbie," and the insanely awesome "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem." But he's also been proving himself to be a major player who belongs in higher positions on the call sheet.

Before (or after) seeing him headline the second night of Wrestlemania on Peacock (or Netflix, if you're watching internationally) against "The American Nightmare" Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship, here are some of John Cena's best movies and TV shows to binge whenever the mood strikes. 

Throughout the bulk of his career, John Cena has been known as the quintessential good guy in professional wrestling. Although, his fans got a whole new look at him and his life outside the ring thanks to the groundbreaking reality series "Total Divas," as well as its spinoff "Total Bellas."

Airing on E! for nine seasons between 2013 and 2019, "Total Divas" pulled the curtain back on the lives of various members of the WWE women's locker room. Twin wrestlers Nikki and Brie Bella were a prominent part of the cast for the entire run of the show, so viewers were given access to these now-WWE Hall of Famers and their families. Since Nikki was dating Cena at the time, he was also prominently featured in the franchise.

The John Cena depicted in these shows is pretty different than the character he portrays on WWE programming. Let's just say that he's quite particular about the way he lives his life. In one episode, he presented Bella with a 75-page document that outlined the household rules before she moved in with him. Sure, reality television is often more scripted than professional wrestling, but some of this stuff was almost too crazy to be made up. Whether these situations were truly based in reality or not, many fans joked that "Total Divas" and "Total Bellas" were the only places that wrestling fans could see him act like a heel again (until recently). While it would be great to get the behind-the-scenes dirt on this era of Cena's career, at least there's still plenty of insight to be uncovered on these shows that opened up the wrestling fandom to a whole new demographic of fans. 

Outside of the ring, John Cena is an avid car collector. His collection contains iconic cars such as a 1969 MGC GT, a 1970 Plymouth Superbird, and even a 1989 Jeep Wrangler. He even managed to spin his love of cars into "What Drives You" on Roku, which sees Cena interviewing celebrities about their favorite vehicles. So with his love of automobiles well-documented, it was only a matter of time until he appeared in one of the most iconic action movie franchises of all time: The "Fast and Furious" franchise

Cena made his first appearance in the series in 2021's "F9" (AKA "F9: The Fast Saga" or "Fast & Furious 9"). In this universe, he plays Jakob, a master thief and assassin who also happens to be Dominic Toretto's (Vin Diesel) long-lost brother. After a high-octane, death-defying game of cat and mouse between the two brothers across the globe, Dom and Jakob would eventually reconcile after years of resentment and uncertainty over their father's death and Dom's banishment of his brother from the family.

Jakob also appears in the 2023 film "Fast X," where he spends a large chunk of the movie protecting his nephew from Dante Reyes' henchmen before ultimately sacrificing himself in a heroic blaze of glory that allows Dom and Little B to get away unscathed. While it may seem like we've seen the last of the middle Toretto sibling, you never really know if anyone's truly dead in this universe. But even if he isn't alive for the next and final installment of "The Fast Saga," there are still plenty of epic car stunts in Cena's future, as he will also star in the upcoming action-adventure comedy "Matchbox," which is based on the beloved toy car brand.

Action-adventure is a great genre for John Cena to show off the range of his acting abilities. After his many years in the ring, he is very capable of handling stunt-heavy roles. But rather than being relegated to only seriously action-packed movies, he's also gained excellent comedic timing. One recent entry on his IMDb where he gets to showcase both is "Jackpot!" alongside fellow rapper-turned-actor Awkwafina. (Yes, John Cena made actual rap music beyond his WWE entrance theme.)

This hit Prime Video exclusive from director Paul Feig features the "Nora From Queens" star as Katie, the 2030 winner of the Grand Lottery. But this isn't any regular lottery. This is a contest supported by the state of California that awards one lucky player a life-changing amount of money. The catch is that the losing players have until sundown to legally hunt and kill the winner (without using guns) in order to claim their prize. Cena plays freelance lottery protection agent Noel, who finds Katie and offers his services to get her to sundown unscathed.

If this movie were released in the 1990s, it would have been the perfect summer blockbuster to escape to the heat and enjoy the air conditioning for a while. It's simple, fun, and generally entertaining. The entire cast, which also includes Awkwafina's "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" co-star Simu Liu, really delivers the sort of good time that would have been perfect for a theatrical release. Instead, it went straight to Amazon's streamer, where subscribers can and should throw it on for a laid-back movie night.

Similar to "Jackpot!" on Prime Video, "Vacation Friends" hit Hulu in late August 2021 to little fanfare. However, as more people started to stream it, this buddy comedy about the crazy people you meet while on vacation picked up enough steam to score a sequel and a special place in Cena's filmography.

Prior to this film, the prolific pro wrestler had racked up his fair share of silly characters who meant well. But this time, the heart shines through a little bit more than, for example, his featured roles in "Trainwreck" or "Sisters." Despite being the polar opposite of Lil Rel Howery's Marcus, Cena's Ron manages to find their common ground and remains loyal to his new friend through every trial and tribulation they encounter while vacationing in Mexico, as well as each escalating challenge that arises on the road to the formal marriage of Marcus and Yvonne Orji's Emily.

The chemistry between Howard, Orji, Cena, and Meredith Hagner (who plays Ron's equally wild and carefree partner Kyla) is undeniable and simply a joy to watch onscreen. The farcical aspects of the plot may be textbook at times, but the execution makes it all worthwhile since things just continue to escalate in a most entertaining fashion. Well, not for Marcus or Emily at first, but fans of this type of comedy should certainly have a blast with "Vacation Friends."

When Oscar Wilde wrote "The Importance of Being Earnest," it's hard to imagine that he ever thought of someone like John Cena embracing the idea of bunburying. This is the notion of making up a person with the intent to bring them up whenever a believable excuse is needed to get out of a social obligation. However, he and his co-stars in "Ricky Stanicky" take this idea to entirely new levels of outrageous.

In this 2024 Prime Video release from legendary comedic filmmaker Peter Farrelly, a trio of young friends make up a fourth member of their group to take the blame for a Halloween prank gone wrong. Many fictional scenarios spread across 20 years later, their grown-up counterparts played by Zac Efron, Jermaine Fowler, and Andrew Santino continue the lie to get out of a baby shower. But when their partners finally start to get suspicious of the existence of Ricky Stanicky, they hire an actor to bring their creation to life.

If this movie were in anyone else's hands, it could have easily been a "Wedding Crashers" knockoff. However, thanks to a phenomenal cast and Farrelly's experience from beloved comedies such as "Dumb and Dumber," "Me, Myself, & Irene," and "There's Something About Mary," there was a level of sincerity that shone through the absurdity of "Ricky Stanicky." Plus, Cena really didn't hold anything back in this role. He really put every single weapon in his arsenal to good use to create what is probably one of his best performances to date.

Despite being as stressful as working in the kitchen of a real-life fine dining establishment, "The Bear" is one of the best television shows airing right now. The acclaimed FX series touts an extremely talented cast including Jeremy Allen White, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ayo Edebiri, and more. But as incredible as the regular cast is, the show created by Christopher Storer also features an impressive stable of recurring guest stars such as Jon Bernthal, Oliver Platt, Gillian Jacobs, and Sarah Paulson, among many others. But what happened when John Cena signed on to join this award-winning cast? Well, it's safe to say that no one really saw it coming.

In the world of "The Bear," the Faks are very close to Carmy and the Berzatto family. They all grew up together and continue to work together to this day. Matty Matheson's Neil Fak was introduced in the first season as a well-meaning yet eccentric handyman who does his best to help the restaurant run smoothly. Later, Neil enlists the help of Ricky Staffieri's Teddy Fak, who is just as eccentric and sweet as his brother. But as the Faks continue to spread themselves thin, they bring in yet another member of the family to back them up: their brother Sammy.

Though he may look very different than the other Faks, Cena's Sammy is very much a member of the family. This becomes obvious when he threatens to "haunt" Teddy over some missing SD cards. Not only did this character come out of nowhere, but the audience fell in love with him as much as they did upon meeting his equally endearing brothers. With the series renewed for a fourth season, hopefully we haven't seen the last of these very weird and lovely brothers. In fact, let's meet more Faks in the season(s) to come!

"Bumblebee" marked a number of firsts for the live-action "Transformers" franchise. This movie was the first spinoff and prequel, the first not directed by Michael Bay, and it was the first (and so far only) installment written by a woman. For John Cena, this was his first foray into a major IP, as he played Agent Jack Burns, a former US Army Colonel and Sector 7 operative tasked with assessing the threat of the titular Autobot. While this could have easily been yet another giant robots fighting movie, it turned out to be the best "Transformers" movie since the original one from 2007.

"Bumblebee" follows Hailee Steinfeld as Charlie Watson, an 18-year-old with an affinity for cars who is going through a tough time due to the loss of her father. Her life is upended when B-127 lands on Earth to establish a new base for the Autobots as they try to escape the ongoing war with the Decepticons on their home planet of Cybertron. When the two meet in a junkyard while he's disguised as a 967 yellow Volkswagen Beetle, Charlie dubs him Bumblebee after she learns that her new car/friend suffered damage to his voice box and memory core. But their meet-cute is short-lived as they're soon pursued by the nefarious Decepticons and peacekeeping agency Sector 7.

Despite the backdrop of a huge summer blockbuster, "Bumblebee" delivers a much more focused and intimate character-driven story about loss, resilience, and the origins of a hero. To this day, this film remains one of the best overall productions that Cena has been a part of. It's definitely worth a rewatch if you haven't seen it in a while.

Like "Bumblebee," John Cena is only one piece of the puzzle that makes "Blockers" such a great movie. This coming-of-age sex comedy casts the WWE Superstar as a concerned father who is having trouble accepting that his daughter (played by Geraldine Viswanathan of "Miracle Workers" and the upcoming Marvel movie "Thunderbolts*") is becoming a woman. So when he and fellow parents played by Leslie Mann and Ike Barinholtz uncover their daughters' pact to lose their virginity on their prom night, they decide to do everything they can to block that from happening.

Historically, teen sex comedies have been a male-dominated genre. But "Blockers" successfully flips the story to not only give the female perspective a proper spotlight, but it also brings the parents' point of view front and center as well. The film should be ranked among "Fast Times At Ridgemont High," "American Pie," "Superbad," and other raunchy teen comedies as a rite of passage viewing. Like its predecessors, it's incredibly funny, even to the point of absurd at times. However, there's also a ton of heart at the film's core and it offers a healthy and logical approach to a time in a person's life that can be filled with self-doubt and peer pressure. Plus, in addition to becoming a signature role for Cena, it also served as a great vehicle for the young trio of Viswanathan, Gideon Adlon, and Kathryn Newton, who have all gone on to do awesome things since starring in "Pitch Perfect" writer Kay Cannon's directorial debut.

It's obvious from looking at him that John Cena was always going to be cast as a superhero. But despite being dubbed "Super Cena" by the WWE Universe for years, he wasn't chosen as the next Man of Steel. Instead, James Gunn had a much more obscure DC character in mind for him: Peacemaker.

Created in the 1960s by created by writer Joe Gill and artist Pat Boyette for Charlton Comics, the modern version of Christopher Smith's vigilante antihero debuted in the pages of DC Comics in 1988. Then, just as he did with the Guardians of the Galaxy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Gunn put his own spin on the character for his big screen debut in 2021's "The Suicide Squad," which made audiences just fall in love with the character. In fact, Peacemaker was originally meant to stay dead at the end of that film, but his popularity grew so much that the filmmaker developed a Max original series that revived Smith and dove deeper into his story.

Who would have thought that viewers would flock towards a ruthless, jingoistic mercenary who is looking to establish peace by any means necessary, no matter how many people he has to kill in order to do it? Well, it turns out that the douchey Captain America who says and does some of the most out of pocket stuff in the DC Universe has some trauma to confront, and we love to see how he deals with it. Or maybe Smith's pet sidekick Eagly endears him to the masses. Either way, John Cena was the perfect choice for this role, and we're counting down the days until his return in the highly anticipated second season of his acclaimed Max series.

As great as so many of his film and television roles have been over the years, John Cena's entertainment career all started in the squared circle. Professional wrestling gave him the experience of performing live on television and in front of legions of rabid fans on a nightly basis for decades. His experience in the WWE was invaluable for his development as an actor for so many reasons, so we have to acknowledge all the great work that he did on both "Raw" and "Smackdown" as he became the global superstar we know today.

Since both series under the WWE umbrella are among the longest-running episodic shows in history and have produced over a thousand episodes each, Cena's involvement might be a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things. However, he has been part of several storylines over the past 25 years that caused his character to evolve and grow. His rivalries with Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar, Edge, Triple H, JBL, and others really put him on the map, as he went from The Prototype of a professional wrestler to the rapping and trash-talking Doctor of Thuganomics, as well as the family friendly superhero to the jaded, fed up, and motivated gatekeeper currently feuding with Cody Rhodes.

Although, if you were to go back and revisit some of his greatest moments in the WWE, you'd see Cena on the losing end more often than not. His feuds with CM Punk, The Miz, and "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt show that his character is just as strong in dealing with a loss as when he's on top of the mountain. But no matter which highlights you're viewing, Cena will carry the lessons he learned in the WWE into his Hollywood career and beyond.