Who is John Cena’s Opponent at WrestleMania 35?

John Cena will wrestle in the Royal Rumble match on Jan. 27, as announced on Raw this past Monday night. But, what’s on the docket for Cena at WrestleMania 35 in New York?

In the past, there have been obvious choices. But with Cena’s appearances becoming more and more sporadic, it’s important that WWE utilizes his appearances as best they can.

Here are the top-five choices for John Cena’s opponent at WrestleMania 35:

1) Samoa Joe

Joe and Cena have a history together. They broke in at almost the same time in Southern California, yet their paths in the wrestling business when in totally opposite directions until recently. While Cena signed with WWE early and began the company’s face, Joe went the route of Ring of Honor and then spent years in TNA before making it to WWE.

The match has a natural story, and at this stage of his career, Cena needs someone who can carry the match and Joe is certainly up to that task.

2) AJ Styles or Daniel Bryan

If Cena wins the Rumble he could challenge for the WWE Championship, going for what would be his record-setting 17th world title reign. Cena challenging for the WWE Championship makes the most sense if he wins the Rumble match. Cena-Lesnar and Cena-Strowman just won’t be able to stand up to the match quality that Cena against Bryan or Styles can offer.

3) Drew McIntyre

If WWE is serious about giving Drew McIntyre a push, giving him a spotlight win over Cena on the biggest show of the year would be a big boost of confidence.

4) Braun Strowman

It’s just a gut feeling, but I don’t think WWE would feed Lesnar to Cena at WrestleMania. Granted, Lesnar doesn’t seem to care about doing jobs and he’ll do what he’s told as long as the check clears, but Lesnar-Cena would require too much brutality and that’s not something a movie-making John Cena will be interested in.

But Strowman offers the unique size. If WWE wants Cena to go over and win the Universal Championship to set his record, Cena giving Strowman an AA could be a Hogan-Andre moment. The problem is, Cena’s not full time anymore.

5) Jeff Hardy

Have Hardy and Cena ever had a big featured match? I’m sure they’ve wrestled, it would be hard not to have touched given at one point, they were both top stars in the company. But Hard-Cena feels like the one big, featured match from the middle-00’s era that WWE never booked.