How long will Cena hold the title?

[Dylanis]

Wrestlezone wrote how Orton now moved into 10th most days with a WWE title around his belt. Here’s the top 5:

5. John Cena at 947 days.
4. Pedro Morales at 1,027 days.
3. Bob Backlund at 2,138 days.
2. Hulk Hogan at 2,184 days.
1. Bruno Sammartino at 4,040 days.

Unsurprisingly, the top 4 are not going to be holding a title anytime soon. Cena can, with one more title reign, jump ahead of Morales. But, with so many years ahead of him, how long do you think Cena can hold the title? Is it possible that he can catch up to Backlund (and, by extension, Hogan, who is not far ahead)? Jumping over Sammartino isn’t going to happen – that’s for sure.

 

[The Raven's Epitaph]

The last time I checked, Cena was unemployed. So none of these guys are ever going to hold a Championship again.

Common logic set aside, I think John Cena can overtake Pedro Morales if he ever had another title reign. I don't think he'll take over anybody else though. Believe it or not, John Cena is 33 years old. It's hard to be a movie star and a professional wrestler at the same time. Just look at The Rock.

Cena's best days have come and gone now. He's still got some in-ring years ahead of him, but his best days have deffenitly come and gone. He was in his prime during the 2006-2007 era. His character has completely died down now, and people have become bored of him.

John Cena, given another title reign, would easily knock Pedro Morales off of the Number 4 spot and take his place, but could he overtake Bob Backlund or Hulk Hogan? No, not by a long shot.

 

[Coco]

I think Cena could easily overtake Backlund and Hogan. While some say his best days are behind him, that's debatable and only holds weight if we're talking about his current run as a face. However, his steam as a face has to run out eventually and when he turns heel, does anybody doubt that he'll be a long-reigning dominant force? Heel Cena is the key to making John-boy the second longest reigning champion in history.

 

[WWTNA]

TBH, I am a John Cena fan but he is going to stay where he is. With so much talent coming to WWE, I don't think he will hold the WWE Title long enough to even take Pedro Morales' spot. Just saying.

 

[King_of_Swing1520]

cena could wrestler for another ten years if he and the wwe wanted him to. hell he could easily pass Morales and maybe even Buckland and Hogan. i'd say cena has alot of years left. once he's done with this face run he'll turn heel, then has to go back to a face again before he retires. he's got atleast 5 more title reigns left in him

5. John Cena at 947 days.
4. Pedro Morales at 1,027 days.
3. Bob Backlund at 2,138 days.
2. Hulk Hogan at 2,184 days.
1. Bruno Sammartino at 4,040 days.

 

[drobs85]

The last time I checked, Cena was unemployed. So none of these guys are ever going to hold a Championship again.

Common logic set aside, I think John Cena can overtake Pedro Morales if he ever had another title reign. I don't think he'll take over anybody else though. Believe it or not, John Cena is 33 years old. It's hard to be a movie star and a professional wrestler at the same time. Just look at The Rock.

Cena's best days have come and gone now. He's still got some in-ring years ahead of him, but his best days have deffenitly come and gone. He was in his prime during the 2006-2007 era. His character has completely died down now, and people have become bored of him.

John Cena, given another title reign, would easily knock Pedro Morales off of the Number 4 spot and take his place, but could he overtake Bob Backlund or Hulk Hogan? No, not by a long shot.

I don't no what prime your talking about. But Cena is still in his prime now. He's better in the ring now then he was as the 2006-07 years, he still gets insane crowd reaction, and insane merchandise sells. His body is in insane shape more now than it ever has been. The only thing not prime about Cena is his character/gimmick. So if you meant "prime" as in character, i will agree with that. Him being only 33 he could pass anyone on the list if he stays around long enough but in actuality i don't think he cares about stuff like that.

 

[wushady]

The last time I checked, Cena was unemployed. So none of these guys are ever going to hold a Championship again.

Common logic set aside, I think John Cena can overtake Pedro Morales if he ever had another title reign. I don't think he'll take over anybody else though. Believe it or not, John Cena is 33 years old. It's hard to be a movie star and a professional wrestler at the same time. Just look at The Rock.

Cena's best days have come and gone now. He's still got some in-ring years ahead of him, but his best days have deffenitly come and gone. He was in his prime during the 2006-2007 era. His character has completely died down now, and people have become bored of him.

John Cena, given another title reign, would easily knock Pedro Morales off of the Number 4 spot and take his place, but could he overtake Bob Backlund or Hulk Hogan? No, not by a long shot.

I agree with you on almost everything you wrote. I think Cena will most likely overtake Morales. The chance that he could pass Backlund and Hogan are unlikely. More so for the fact that it's a different era, and long title reigns just don't happen anymore. Cena being 33 doesn't mean much Hogan was older than that when he one his first title, and Ric Flair was 35 when he one his first world title. I definitely agree he or no one else will pass Sammartino.

 

[Tech N9ne]

Morales is a given. One more half way decent title reign of around 3 months, and he will pass him.

I wouldn't exactly be shocked if he passed Backlund or Hogan. But to me, it is highly unlikely. With the talks of unifying the World Titles and other people in the company that will deserve the strap, I don't see him holding the title a total of 3 or 4 years in days, between now till the day he retires.

You have guys like Orton, Edge, Undertaker, HHH, (Jericho), CM Punk- They will all have something to say about having The WWE Championship around their waists.

Plus, guys like The Miz, Sheamus, Del Rio, Morrison, Barrett, McIntyre, Rhodes- They will all be in the mix and looking to be Champion.

So, I just don't see it is something that will happen. I do believe he will end up relatively close. In shouting distance to the neighborhood of Hulk Hogan and Bob Backlund, but not passing them.

 

[Dave]

There is no way on this green Earth that Cena is passing Bruno Sammartino, that is a given as everyone has pointed out.

However, I can actually see him passing Hulk Hogan if the WWE are that way inclined to push him that far. Let's face it, the WWE can do whatever they want with their Championship belt and as long as they make it interesting enough that people still want to watch it, then there is no harm done. There are ways that people can hold the Championship for sustained periods of time, whilst still being the interesting figures that we know they can be.

Look no further than JBL for proof of this. He held the WWE Championship for almost a year and I thought that Smackdown was absolutely brilliant during that time. The trick is to keep things fresh and interesting and fans wont mind about the same person holding the Championship for a long time. I dare say that John Cena held the Championship for over a year at one point and there was absolutely nothing wrong with that reign whatsoever.

That being said, I really think that Coco has nailed it today. Turning Cena heel would be the best move on the part of the WWE, if they were trying to get him onto that sort of level with the greats of yesteryear. Having him turn heel would add a scary new dimension to his character and he would decimate the competition for a long time. Turning him heel could be the ideal way of getting him a lengthy WWE Championship reign and as long as people were interested in seeing it, it would be one for the history books. Definitely enough to get him past Morales and possibly past Hogan.

 

[Coco]

I sort of roll my eyes at the notion that Cena can't reach this goal because the belt needs to be free for others. Who on the roster is a better choice as champion than Cena? Triple H is winding down and Taker is even closer to the end. Edge has long since run stale. Punk is an over-achieving midcarder. Same with Jericho. Same with Miz. Orton is a ratings killer. Why are we assuming Cena will be pushed aside in favor of these men or midcarders who haven't even broken through yet?

This logic gets especially silly when you consider that there are two big belts at the moment. These justifications for why Cena can't get past Hogan don't ring true to me.

 

[StraightEdge for Life]

5. John Cena at 947 days.
4. Pedro Morales at 1,027 days.
3. Bob Backlund at 2,138 days.
2. Hulk Hogan at 2,184 days.
1. Bruno Sammartino at 4,040 days

Cena to Morales: 80 days (just under 3 months)
Cena will sometime in his career will pass Morales as he will most likely be around for another 10 years(probably a lot more) so I'm pretty sure that WWE will have him be champ for at least another 3 months.

Cena to Backlund: 1,191 days (3 years and 96 days)
Cena could end up passing Backlund, but if he does, it will not be anytime soon as his current amount of days add up to 2 years and 217 days and again though since Cena is gonna be around for a while it is at this point still a possibility.

Cena to Hogan: 1,237 days (3 years and 142 days)
If and I mean if Cena passes Backlund, then he is sure to pass Hogan as there is a 46 day difference between Backlund and Hogan.

Obviously, Cena is not gonna end passing Bruno Sammartino so at best he could end up being no. 2.

 

[DiscipleofWrestling]

Well, Cena had a monster run in September 2006- October 2007 and a 9 month first title reign. It's almost unheard of in today's wrestling environment to hold the World Championship of any promotion for that long. Cena's going to have the world championship again in WWE. It's only a matter of time (probably months). Cena only needs an 80 day run as champion to meet Morales' run. However, Cena would have to have multiple long runs (or the longest reign in modern history) at the top in order to meet either Backlund or Hogan's overall days as champion. In today's market, I don't think that's a realistic possibility. Fans, and people in general, have problems with people being at top for so long. After a while, people will turn off.

Another factor to consider is how long Cena's career will last. Cena's 33 right now. Not a bad age at all. Hogan was about 30 when he won his first world championship and look at how many days he got as WWE Champion. The only problem was that Hogan was so over as the company's main attraction, the WWE never bothered to take the championship off of him for 4 years. The company never had any reason to take the championship off of him. Hogan was the star attraction and had very few people that could logistically run with the title and maintain that audience. Cena has a much more competitive and free-flowing main event roster to work with that many people can come in and run with the championship at any moment, especially on Raw. Cena, too, is WWE's star attraction. Cena is always at the forefront, despite not having the championship. Cena exists in a much different era than those that came before him. If Cena ever reaches the record of Hogan or Backlund, he's probably going to have to stay in WWE until his 40s or have a similar track record of world title victories as he had in the last five years.

If Cena stays on Raw and/or decides to move on to something else, he won't come close to Backlund or Hogan. If he ever moves back to Smackdown, that would be different as Smackdown is an environment where someone could have many months as world champion. All things being what they are, Cena will definitely move into number 4 on the list, which is a major accomplishment and honor for anyone.

 

[LSN80]

In this day and era, its so hard to say. Titles are passed around like hot potatoes and a 4 month(120 day) title reign) is considered to be long. Then we hear the classic whining and moaning that someone is a title hog. Imagine if we had lived back in the days of Sammartino! The IWC would be up in arms.

That being said, I could realistically seeing him passing Backlund. Cena held the title for over a year once, back in 06-07, so it wasnt that long ago. He's shown to have more longevity with the title then any other champion, so I could see another title reign, or possibly two, of such proportions.

That being said, I see it as highly unlikely. WWE seems to like to book "in the moment", which means they give the title to whoever is garnering the hottest crowd reaction at the time. Cena may emerge from the Nexus storyline as a beloved sympathetic face, but a few months with the title would change that, and in a hurry. So I see him passing Morales, but that's all.

 

[MizFit]

I'd say 2,250 days or something around there when Cena is done for good.

The man's WWE's greatest asset, there is no way he'll be pushed aside for up and comers like Miz or Barrett. He still has multiple reigns left in him as he's only 33. In this business, that is considered pretty young for a multiple time world champ. He still has at least good three or four years in total time for holding the WWE title. I'd say over 3,000 days is pretty far fetched though. Long reigns just aren't as common these days as they used to be. No doubt he'll pass Morales and Backlund, and probably Hogan. But there is no way in hell he'll pass Sammartino, but no one probably will. When all things are said and done, Cena will firmly hold the #2 spot in total time as WWE champ.

 

[MMSoldier]

I doubt that cena will pass morales, even if he was given another title reign. The reason is that other superstars are acually challenging to be the head of wwe. Look at Del Rio. Move him to raw, give him a year, and he could be a major contenter.