Did megastars John Cena & Cody Rhodes have a common love interest in WWE?

John Cena and Cody Rhodes are considered two of the biggest stars in WWE history. Cena had been the posterboy for the company for years, while Rhodes has currently taken over that role to lead WWE into the next generation. At the height of Cena's major success in the mid-2010s, Rhodes was a mid-card talent. However, it was during that time that The American Nightmare developed an alliance which later on became a point of commonality with the Never Seen 17.

During his run with Damian Sandow as The Rhodes Scholars in the early 2010s, The Bella Twins were seemingly romantically aligned with them, with Cody Rhodes being paired with Nikki Bella. The duo were a regular presence on WWE television programming, however, they were potrayed as a couple in storyline and not in real-life. Around 2012-2013, Bella's real-life relationship with John Cena became public, which lasted until 2017 before the duo went their separate ways.

John Cena and Cody Rhodes had an epic rivarly in WWE in 2025

As John Cena began his farewell tour in January 2025, Cody Rhodes was the reigning Undisputed WWE Champion. Cena won the Elimination Chamber match a month later and became the No.1 contender for the title. However that night, Cena shocked the world and turned heel, igniting his feud with Rhodes on the road to WrestleMania 41. Cena defeated Rhodes using underhanded tactics to win his record-setting 17th World Championship.

Around the summer, Rhodes became the King of the Ring and earned a title shot against Cena at SummerSlam 2025. In a surprising turn of events, Cena reverted back to becoming a babyface on the go-home edition of SmackDown before SummerSlam. At the event, the two WWE megastar delivered a highly captivating and blockbuster showdown, after their WrestleMania match was heavily panned by critics and fans alike. As it came to its conclusion, Rhodes defeated Cena to regain the title and Cena endorsed him in a classic passing of the torch moment.

While The American Nightmare is still holding to the title, John Cena wrestled his final match against Gunther at WWE Saturday Night's Main Event in December in a losing effort. With one of the greatest in-ring careers of all time over, it remains to be seen what is next for The Cenation Leader.

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