Hate him or love him — there's no doubting John Cena's place as one of the toughest competitors the WWE Universe has ever seen.
Cena reinforced that notion once again during the main event of Monday Night Raw on July 27, defeating Seth Rollins in a United States championship match, despite sustaining a grotesquely broken nose.
As the match went back and forth, Rollins nailed Cena in the face with a flying right knee. Cena immediately crashed down to the canvas under the bottom turnbuckle, clutching his face. When he arose off the mat, Cena's nose was noticeably crooked and swollen with blooding dripping out of it. A slow-motion instant replay – at the 1:13 mark below – shows that Rollins' knee connected squarely with Cena's nose, fracturing it instantly.
But a broken nose wasn't going to stop Cena from finishing the match, especially against the reigning world heavyweight champion on the main event of Raw. After Rollins missed big on his Phoenix Splash attempt, Cena locked in the STF, and when The Architect managed to slip out of the submission hold, Cena only dragged him into the center of the ring, applying it with more pressure to get the tap-out victory.
Afterward, WWE.com confirmed what thousands of fans tuning in had already witnessed.
"As you can see on television tonight, John suffered from a nasal fraction," confirmed WWE physician Dr. Steve Daquino. "He's got quite a bit of displacement, so we sent him over to the local emergency room so he can be evaluated by the ears, nose and throat doctor who's on call tonight and see what can be done to properly repair it."
Fighting with a broken nose not only impressed fans on social media, but also caught the eye of WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley, who called Cena "Superman" via a Facebook post.
"Whatever you do, please don't disregard what I say about John Cena - WWE Universe by mentioning that I finished a match with a tooth in my nose, or without an ear. I did those things. But after watching Cena continue a great match with #WWE champion Seth Rollins, despite a nose broken so badly that it looked like it had been applied by a Hollywood FX master, does anyone out there believe that John Cena, if placed in a situation where his tooth was stuck in his nose, or an ear was lost along the way WOULDN'T continue wrestling?" Foley asked WWE fans.
"A week ago, I named my mid-season WWE all-star team. Today — for consistently having great matches and going above and beyond the call of duty to entertain the #WWEUniverse, I name John Cena [as] my mid-season MVP."
He just might be ours, too.
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