John Cena is arguably WWE’s greatest superstar in the company's history, and he has a list of accolades that support this. In addition to Tag Team Championships, United States Championships, Royal Rumbles, a Money in the Bank, and multiple Wrestlemania main events, John Cena has won a sixteen World Championships, considered by WWE as to the most world championship reigns in pro wrestling history, equal only with Ric Flair. However, not all of these reigns were noteworthy, and it poses the question of how many of those reigns actually mattered?
Cena’s Early Reigns Made Him The Number One Guy
John Cena first became a world champion at Wrestlemania 21 in 2005, beating JBL to mark the beginning of a career as the number one guy in the company. This reign was a significant one, stretching 280 days, including the infamous draft when he moved to Raw – one of the biggest pops of all time. His title loss featured the legendary, first Money in the Bank cash-in by Edge, creating a moment which will always be remembered between two great rivals. Even in defeat, his first reign had big moments, and established Cena as a main eventer.
He would win the title back quickly, which would become a trend at times during his career. This second reign lasted a respectable 133 days, ending Edge’s short time as champion, and defeating Triple H clean in the main event of Wrestlemania 22. Cena’s loss of the belt was once again a huge one, losing to RVD at the memorable One Night Stand show in 2006.
He won it back promptly again, with this reign really setting the world on fire. He defeated Edge in a fantastic TLC match at Unforgiven, and Shawn Michaels in a top class Wrestlemania main event, with his reign reaching 380 days – the first time a WWE Championship reign had lasted longer than a year since the 1980s. Despite having to vacate the title due to injury, this was perhaps Cena’s most noteworthy reign.
Multiple Short Title Reigns Dampen His Record
It would be over a year until Cena’s next title win, gaining the World Heavyweight Championship from Chris Jericho at Survivor Series of 2008. This was significant if even just for the fact it was the first time Cena won this belt. The reign itself didn’t boast many moments, apart from Edge’s shocking win of the title inside the Elimination Chamber. It felt as though Cena only lost the belt to win it again at the following Wrestlemania. Both these reigns were short, with the second being just 21 days, dropping it back to Edge.
Later that same year, Cena and Randy Orton would play hot potato with the WWE Championship, with Cena’s two reigns of WWE’s grandest prize in 2009 being just 21 and 49 days, respectively. This period was a prime example of totting up reigns for the sake of it, and no truer than when he won it back at the start of 2010, holding the title for mere minutes before losing it to Batista in an impromptu match. This was yet again another excuse for Cena to lose, only to win at 'Mania. This reign took place during the Nexus feud, so it at least boasted some memorable moments, and a good trilogy of matches with Batista.
There was another year gap before his next title win, beating The Miz and John Morrison inside a steel cage at the 2011 Extreme Rules show. This reign was 77 days, but included CM Punk's rise to stardom, making it a historic reign in starting the ‘Summer of Punk’. When Punk beat Cena and left with the title, Cena picked it up again soon after, ending Rey Mysterio’s one night reign in a move which left a sour taste in the mouths of fans, before losing it again 20 days later, once more to Punk.
Just one month after this, Cena would pick the title up from Alberto Del Rio for a brief, two-week reign which felt pointless. He would then take another big gap – over a year – before winning the championship from The Rock at Wrestlemania, completing a three-year story, in a huge moment between two top names. This reign was his longest for some time, lasting 133 days, ending with a great match between Cena and Daniel Bryan. Later that year, Cena picked up the World Heavyweight Championship for the sole purpose of being a big name to hold it in the title unification against Randy Orton at the end of 2013.
His Most Recent Runs With The Belt Helped Him Equal Records
When Daniel Bryan was forced to vacate the WWE title in 2014 due to injury, Cena would be the one to win it, just for a short period before being squashed by Brock Lesnar. Cena’s reign didn’t do much for anyone, apart from filling a gap left by Bryan. Cena’s last reign came in 2017, defeating AJ Styles, completing a near-perfect trilogy of matches between the pair, winning his record-equalling 16th World Title. Though the reign lasted only two weeks, it cemented Cena as one of the most successful champions in history.
Over his career, many of his short reigns were meaningless, and needlessly short, involving no strong defenses. His earlier reigns put him on the map as the face of the company, with his three initial runs as champion being some of the best reigns in WWE full stop. Over the next few years, not many of his reigns mattered, but some were significant simply for historical context. Overall, it could be argued that well over half of his reigns actually mattered, with some very pointless, poor reigns in between.
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