[Mr. Pike Central]

[SIZE="3"]#7:

John Cena vs. Umaga
Last Man Standing for the WWE Championship (Royal Rumble 2007)[/SIZE]

Full Match:

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This is one of my favorite John Cena matches. I remember watching this live and thought this brawl was INSANE. I never expected this out of Cena. I certainly didn't think much of Umaga. This match solidified both men's careers as important talent. It showed Cena was capable of having a classic and that Umaga was actually a pretty good brawler. He made the gimmick work with his insane style and had key opponents to have fun with.

2007 has been John Cena's best year so far. In 2007, he had such classics against Umaga, HBK, and Orton. Even got a surprisingly good match out of Bobby Lashley, who only a great worker like Finlay could've done that. Who knows whatever gems he would've left us had he not gotten injured? He hasn't been the same since.

You know this is a good match when all of Cena's haters are cheering for him by the end of the match. Not even HHH/Cena could've done that. I think, for what its worth, I enjoyed this match so much because I just didn't expect anything special. Kurt Angle couldn't even have a great match with Cena. When Kurt Angle, the best wrestler in the world, can't have a classic with you. Maybe it's you??

John Cena proved that wrong. He would go down to have many more classic matches. To be fair, he had a pretty awesome brawl with JBL before this match. He also has the TLC match against Edge which was another wild brawl. Cena just wasn't shining with great workers like Jericho and Angle. He was improving with his brawls against Umaga, JBL, and with hot heel Edge.

Umaga stands out as one of the greatest monster characters the WWE has ever created. How awesome is Armando Estrada? I almost forgot that WWE, at one point, had a male manager. He was so great in that role and he's so great in this match. Around the 11:50 mark, watch how Armando tells Umaga to relax until Cena stands up to attack again. This is easily the greatest man vs. monster match of all time.

This is the Cena that we need...

. 12:21
. 16:61
. 18:50
. 22:00
. 24:09
. 28:40