John Cena is one of professional wrestling’s biggest stars, known for his “Never Give Up” attitude, charisma, and incredible success in WWE. A multiple-time world champion and longtime face of the company, known for his strength, resilience, and connection with fans, he became one of the most popular wrestlers of his generation.

Name: John Cena
Line: Ultimate Edition 31
Manufacturer: Mattel
Released: 2026
Price: $60 AUD
Scale: 1:12
Accessories: Various accessories  

It’s been a long time since I’ve reviewed a wrestling figure, not that I haven’t been buying any. Just not as many as I used to. My collection of wrestling figures is now mainly focused on WCW Ultimate Editions or Mattel’s Coliseum Collection line. 

So I’m not really buying as many as I used to. However, a trip to Kmart to try and pick up the recently released WCW/nWo Bash at the Beach set, I decided to pick up a John Cena figure as well, seeing he was available along with that box set. Having at least three figures to choose the best one was helpful and actually buying some toys from a store in person, in Australia for once was a little bit exciting.

So this is the “bad guy” or “heel turn” version of John Cena. Which is a bit controversial, not only for its factory mistakes (which we’ll cover in the review). It also for the perceived terrible handling of John Cena being a bad guy by WWE. Which in all honesty, the ball was really dropped on that one.

SCULPTING

Cena comes with at least one new head sculpt and a new upper torso. You get three head sculpts included in the box and I think that gives you a good amount of options for this figure. You have a neutral expression, a smiling head and the unhappy/bad guy Cena head. All are excellent sculpting and look great. The new torso looks great as well! I think it really suits the Cena figure. Everything else is good too, the shorts, arms, legs etc are done well and to a standard we except from Mattel. However, yes the heads do look slightly small on the body. It’s not as noticeable in person, but it’s still something to be aware of.

PAINT

Mattel has done a good job here with the paint applications in my opinion. The face printing technology has been used well and Cena looks great for all three head sculpts.

The socks are a little bit dodgy though and have a bit of paint scuffing straight out of the box. 

Otherwise everything else is fine and what you would expect from Mattel.

ARTICULATION

Cena comes with the usual Ultimate Edition figure articulation: ball jointed head, butterfly shoulders, double jointed pin-less arms, swivel/hinge wrists, ball jointed chest, swivel waist, ball jointed and drop down hips, double jointed knees and swivel/hinge ankles with a toe bend. 

You can pretty much get Cena in any wrestling pose you would want to with this amount of articulation. I honestly prefer Ultimate over elite because I think the torso looks so much better than Elite editions. That’s just my personal preference on what I want from my wrestling figures. 

All the joints were nice and tight and held the pose I put Cena in without any problems. Swapping out the hands was fine and hassle free too.

ACCESSORIES

Let’s start with the most obvious problem with Cena’s accessories: the watch isn’t painted. I really don’t know how a company like Mattel can get this so wrong. Hopefully it’s not a more common problem with their toys going forward.

Besides that, you get a good amount of accessories: plenty of hands and a cloth shirt as well. I really wish Mattel included a microphone and some better “you can’t see me” hands to use with Cena. I think that would have made it a bit more fun and better options for posing him.

Also, the hat included really sits quite badly on top of Cena’s head. They really should have just included an alternate head with a hat. At this stage Mattel should be including stuff like that. 

No problem with the T-Shirt or swapping it out. Just remove one arm and head and you won’t have too many problems putting the shirt on.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

Let’s cover everything that Mattel got wrong with this figure: most importantly: his legs are assembled incorrectly. Even though they have the correct Left and Right markings, they are around the wrong way and give Cena a bow legged look. 

Best method is to use hot water as the shorts plastic is very thick. Heat them up so they are soft and swap out the pins and reassemble them correctly. I will post a separate photo later, but he looks great after that. The watch accessory not being painted is absolutely ridiculous from a company like Mattel. How did this even happen?

The logo on towel is wrong, this one really isn’t a big deal for me. I’m not gonna use it. His socks are painted the wrong colour too. I’m less fazed by this one. But it’s just more problems on top of the problems at this point.

Apparently the shirt can tear (no problems with mine) and the ankles can be loose (mine are fine too) So the biggest problem is swapping the legs over which can be a little bit difficult. Otherwise you can ignore the smaller issues here.

PRICE

I bought mine from my local Kmart for $60 AUD. That’s not a bad price considering. I also had two other copies to look at and choose the best one and I am happy about that. Just pay a price close to retail and you shouldn’t feel like you paid too much.

OVERALL

This Cena figure does have a few flaws right out of the box. It’s definitely by no means perfect. However, if you can look past these flaws it’s still overall a great figure in its own right with a good amount of accessories and excellent choices for head sculpts. I would recommend picking it up if you are after Cena’s heel turn version as an Ultimate Edition. He’s definitely a great addition to your Ultimate Collection.

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