John Cena Refused to Lose WWE Title to One Money In The Bank Winner

The Money In The Bank briefcase is one of the most-prized possessions in all of WWE, with holders able to call their shot for a championship match at any time within 12 months of them winning it. John Cena played a crucial role in establishing the value of the briefcase, as he became the first Superstar it was cashed-in on when Edge defeated him for the WWE Championship in an impromptu match at the end of New Year’s Revolution 2006.

Cena would also be on the wrong end of the second Money In The Bank cash-in, losing to Rob Van Dam at ECW One Night Stand 2006. However, when WWE asked him to lose via cash-in for a third time several years later, the West Newbury native flat out refused.

While not known for frequently refusing to lose matches, Cena has rejected such plans in the past, such as when he reportedly refused to lose to Wade Barrett at SummerSlam 2010. Earlier that same year, he shut down a cash-in that would have seen him lose the WWE Championship to a man who had never held the promotion’s biggest prize.

Jack Swagger won the Money In The Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 26, defeating the likes of Drew McIntyre, Christian, Kane and Matt Hardy. The amateur wrestling standout looked destined to go on to become a world champion – as nobody to that point had ever been unsuccessful when cashing in the briefcase.

John Cena Forced WWE to Alter Plans For the Money In The Bank Briefcase

Swagger changed shows because of the controversy

As a Raw Superstar, it made most sense that Swagger would cash-in on Cena – the champion of the brand at the time. That was the direction that WWE wanted to go in, too, before John put a stop to the idea.

The company still had Swagger attack Cena on the 29th March 2010 edition of Raw. However, he only teased a cash-in, rather than going through with it and taking the championship as originally planned.

Forced to change plans, WWE instead had Swagger switch from Raw to SmackDown, where he ended up cashing in his Money In The Bank briefcase on World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho later in the same week.

Reliving the situation while chatting to Jericho on his podcast, Talk is Jericho, Swagger admitted:

“I had a little inclination, but I had no idea what was going to happen. The night before, I teased it on Raw. I hit Cena with the briefcase; I snuck up on him when he had one of his brilliant promo segments. Later, come to find out, he refused to do the job [lose] for me for the [WWE] Championship.”

Although Swagger still ended up winning a title, it’s clear that Cena’s snub as he went on to joke sarcastically,

“We won’t talk about that. Ugh. The most unselfish top man in the business!”

In response to various suggestions over the years that he hadn’t always acted in the best interests of emerging talent, Cena addressed the accusations during a promo battle with Cody Rhodes in March of this year. He stated:

“I’m not gonna cook you, I’m gonna bury you. They’ve been saying for years ‘John Cena buries talent’. I don’t bury talent, I bury mediocrity, I AM talent.”

Cena would ultimately go on to defeat Rhodes at WrestleMania 41. The win saw him cement himself in the history books as a 17-time world champion, surpassing the record of 16 previously held by WWE Hall of Famer, Ric Flair.

In fairness to Cena, he was arguably right to have doubts about Swagger’s potential as a world champion. His World Heavyweight Championship reign lasted only 82 days before he lost it to Rey Mysterio – and he never held the top prize again.