Posted July 30, 201510 yr comment_5688865 This might be insane, but WWE now is more obsessed with history and records in its kayfabe than at any time I can recall. Cena is on 15 titles. Obviously, Flair is on 16. I think it's the sort of weird thing they really care about now. Flair's retirement deal has been made a big thing in WWE lore. Flair as a legend in general has become part of its canon version of history, ratified forever with the "I Love You" from WWE Canon History Golden Boy HBK. Cena equalling Flair's record can't be a small thing. If, that is, they ever let it happen. Cena is currently: 15 x World Champ 4 x US Champ 4 x Tag Champ 23 major titles WWE recognises. In WWE-land, Flair is renognised as having 27: 16 x World Champ 5 x US Champ 5 x Tag Champ 1 x IC Champ Note that Cena is 1 title away from equalling Flair each for World, US, Tag. And, surprisingly, he's never held the IC. I think that someone in the WWE higher ups has worked out how long Cena has left probably and how long they can slow burn his march towards breaking Flair's over-all title record while equalling him in the secondary titles. Cena is 38 right now and doesn't look old. So the time to pull the trigger on the 16th title wouldn't be until after he was 40. And then the long-dream chasing the 17th title which he can do towards his eventual retirement. I wouldn't be surprised to see 5th US and Tag title runs and an IC run en route to that either over the next few years. The thought crossed my mind before when I saw that Cena was US champ, but now I've become convinced that this -- bizarre as it may seem -- is the real reason he's carrying that belt. This is so that kids can look in the history books and see that Cena held almost exactly the same amount of belts as Flair, only one more world title. So he HAS to be the "man" for all time. Or something like that.
July 30, 201510 yr comment_5688868 Which is odd considering how little Triple H respects Cena as an in ring performer and how much he loves himself some Nature Boy. If Vince steps aside anytime soon I am willing to bet Cena will all of sudden find himself struggle to get to that exalted number.
July 30, 201510 yr comment_5688869 Which is odd considering how little Triple H respects Cena as an in ring performer and how much he loves himself some Nature Boy. If Vince steps aside anytime soon I am willing to bet Cena will all of sudden find himself struggle to get to that exalted number. HHH doesn't respect Cena? That's news to me.
July 30, 201510 yr comment_5688894 This makes some sense. I often assume that the WWE books around history to make sure they have control over what is considered greatness. It is clearly what they did when Orton became the youngest champ. It is clearly what they are doing with Nikki Bella right now. That said, Vince and HHH love them some Flair. Even if Vince's relationship with Flair has been rocky, I have always heard he is a pretty big mark for Flair. If any non-WWE made guy's legacy can be left alone, it is Flair's. On the other hand, having Steen nab the U.S. Title for a month and having Cena win it back would be pretty classic WWE booking and would give Cena an extra title with very few people noticing. In some way's Cena's title run oddly feels refreshing, a long and consistent way to rebuild a belt (odd, because this isn't really an E belt and they are not really building it in an E way). In short, I wouldn't be surprised if this were the case. I wouldn't be surprised if just a few people are thinking this way under the radar. I also wouldn't be surprised if they really are just focusing on giving Cena a slightly new position in the company letting him build the mid card belts, which was probably their plan for the IC belt before it became an injury curse.
July 30, 201510 yr comment_5688929 Also keep in mind Edge's 30 total titles held record for WWWF/WWF/WWE history. Good bet that's a number they'd love to put on Cena as well.
July 30, 201510 yr comment_5688931 Which is odd considering how little Triple H respects Cena as an in ring performer and how much he loves himself some Nature Boy. If Vince steps aside anytime soon I am willing to bet Cena will all of sudden find himself struggle to get to that exalted number. HHH doesn't respect Cena? That's news to me. I'll assume that's a reference to the kayfabe build to their WM 22 match.
July 30, 201510 yr comment_5688939 No Triple H doesn't think Cena is a very good wrestler. There has been tidbits over the years that reflects on this. But that doesn't mean he doesn't see the immense value in Cena as the ace. Maybe he has softened on this stance in recent years though.
July 30, 201510 yr comment_5688972 Don't really buy that theory. If that hadn't unified the titles, he'd have the record by now anyway but reigns will just be fewer and further between now.
July 30, 201510 yr comment_5689021 No Triple H doesn't think Cena is a very good wrestler. There has been tidbits over the years that reflects on this. But that doesn't mean he doesn't see the immense value in Cena as the ace. Maybe he has softened on this stance in recent years though. lol ok
July 31, 201510 yr comment_5689097 I actually do think that there's a discussion to have about what Trips really thinks of Cena, beyond "he makes us a lot of money". I think that there's a lot of coincidental stuff, like the reformation of DX right as Cena was taking off, and arguably the entirety of the booking that Cena's seen since becoming the true ace that has rarely ever cast him in the best of lights.
July 31, 201510 yr comment_5689123 Plus Triple H has made a career out of latching on to the hottest or rising acts in his last few years as an active roster member. So the fact he has barely had any real interactions or feuds with Cena says a lot about how he sees him as a viable partner. It isn't like he fears Cena's backstage stroke that he couldn't manipulate results in his favor. He just didn't care to work with the guy beyond what...two singles matches on PPV and a few multi-man matches.
July 31, 201510 yr comment_5689165 Parv in terms of your theory I think you're half right. I 100% agree that moving Cena down to the US Title is a deliberate move to get him away from the world title picture for the foreseeable future, while still giving him a title to defend. When Cena wins world title #16 it is going to be a big deal, or at least it should be, and I think WWE know that, and will be planning on making hay out of it when he does so. But at the moment, it's not in their plans to feature Cena in that way, and not making his 16th win a big deal would be a waste, so they have to just keep him away from the title until they're ready to go there. On the other hand, I don't think the number of overall titles he has has anything to do with it. It's not something that is really ever mentioned on TV, not something that the average fan would be conscious of. Everyone knows about Flair's 16 world titles. And they constantly call Cena a 15-time world champ. I don't think they have ever called Cena a 23-time champion. If they have it is only as the most aside-iest of asides, because it's not something they've ever pushed on telly. Not just with Cena, but anyone. Edge is the only guy off-hand that I can recall them using "X-time champion in WWE" as a real talking point, because he had a bajillion of them (and by the by I can't even remember how many he had, even after they repeated it a hundred times). The only other time they'd say something like that would be to pad someone's resume if they were going into the HOF or something ("Booker T, a 57-time champion!"). It's just not a record that they really care about, or that the general fanbase would care about either, because they've never been told to. I honestly don't think they give the slightest thought to how many total titles Cena has when deciding what to do with him. Just the world titles, because that's a record that people notice and care about.
July 31, 201510 yr comment_5689247 I 100% agree that moving Cena down to the US Title is a deliberate move to get him away from the world title picture for the foreseeable future, while still giving him a title to defend. It also gives them the ability to book him during the second hour on PPVs, which came out as being their new big idea after he lost to Lesnar because they wanted him to feature earlier so they'd have a better chance of the kid fanbase seeing him but stretches to even before then. Since his return from the arm injury in 2013, he's worked 23 real PPVs (counting EC this year but not Beast in the East when it wouldn't have mattered anyway) and only seven of them have been the main event. Assuming that he's good to go for SummerSlam, it's 7/24.
August 1, 201510 yr comment_5689371 Right now, we were supposed to have Roman Reigns as the champ everyone loved with Cena lower on the card as the 1A babyface and Daniel Bryan making the IC title important. Best laid plans and all of that.
August 24, 201510 yr comment_5694392 I could not remember even one of Cena's four tag title wins. Not the match, not the partner, not the opponent, not even the general time period. And I was watching the shows weekly during all of them.
August 24, 201510 yr comment_5694394 Maybe because all four of them were quick reigns with guys he was feuding with at the time to add juice to a feud. It's a shame he never had a real tag team run, because with the way he works the apron he's one of the lost great tag workers.
September 21, 201510 yr Author comment_5699692 I'd just like to point out that every single part of this theory continues to hold up, even down to the fine details. JvK understands Vince.
September 21, 201510 yr comment_5699705 WWE's recognizing Flair as 6x US Champ, as the original post lists 5 so I guess Cena's now 1 behind in each title. I wouldn't imagine he'd do another drop and regain with the US but it's always possible. Did find it interesting they acknowledged Flair's US reigns vs Cena's tonight.
September 21, 201510 yr comment_5699719 I do think Cena is staying in the US title division for at least 6 months longer if not a year so yeah I would imagine he drops and gets it back again one or two more times before he moves away from that belt.
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