Who Else Could've Held The WWE Title From 06-07?

[Vincent Michaels]

Ok, first off I wasn't sure whether to put this here or in The Raw Section considering the fact that this was really only four to five years ago, so if it needs to be moved, fine.

Now anyway, one of the main criticisms of John Cena's time in WWE was he he held The WWE Championship from September of 2006 to I believe October of 2007 when he was injured and forced to vacate the title. During that time he faced the likes of Edge, Shawn Michaels, Umaga, The Great Khali, Bobby Lashley, Mick Foley, King Booker, and Randy Orton in various high stakes Championship matches and fueds. Now from what I understand is that he's mostly criticised because he "never put anyone over," "held people down," and "hoarded the spotlight." Now what I've always wondered is: if Cena were to lose the Title anywhere within that span of that year, who could it have been? So lets take a look:

Edge: Man he won the Title from. Seemed to start a fued with Randy Orton and maybe get back into the Title picture, before he had to head to SmackDown because Kennedy got injured.
Shawn Michaels: Only wanted to help elevate the young guys.
Umaga: No way it could happen considering how close it was to 'Mania at the time.
HHH: Now I know I never listed him, but I recall hearing that HHH was supposed to win the Title from him at 'Mania 23 before getting injured.
Great Khali: It was flat out never gonna happen. Just a filler fued.
Bobby Lashley: Now THIS is the guy I thought would do it at the time. Was fresh after a fued with The McMahons and took Cena to the limit at The GAB that year...but then got injured and was gone by 08 I believe.
Mick Foley: Flat out wasn't gonna happen.
King Booker: On his way out in late 07. Wasn't gonna happen.
Randy Orton: The man that ultimately got the Title after Cena was injured by Kennedy. Doesn't really fit the list bacuse he ultimately got the Title in the end, but whatever.

Now lets look at who he elevated during his time as champion:

Umaga: Cena ended his undefeated streak yes, but this fued showed that Umaga could hang with the big boys, and ultimately ended up in fueds against the likes of HHH and Jeff Hardy.
Great Khali: Eventhough it was only a filler fued, it made Khali look legit and gave him momentum when he had to head over to SmackDown to carry The World Title for a few months while Edge was gone.
Bobby Lashley: Again, a fued with Cena showed that Lashley could hang with the big boys in the main event. I just wish he hadn't gotten injured. His career easily could've taken off soon.
Randy Orton: As far as storylines go, Randy Orton was made to look like a legit badass by being the one to lay out John Cena on the announce table the night he got injured and put him on the shelf, which I think is how Randy Orton solidified himself as a mainstay in the main event.

So now that I've rambled on for so long, I would like you to answer me this:

Do you agree with WWE's decision to give him a year long title reign?

If not, who do you think should've taken the strap off him at some point in time(with valid reason of course)?

 

[RkoMachine]

I wouldn't have minded seeing Orton actually Beat Cena for the title in the last man standing match they were supposed to have at No Mercy

But i believe Cena was planned to go over Orton in that match and end their feud but he was injured the week before

 

[Ruthless-RKO]

Other than HHH being injured, I could only have seen HBK defeat Cena at WM23 after their great match! Would have been great for him to win the title at Mania one last time.. The ONLY thing is, he just never needed to hold a belt. His only job was to put on classic encounters everytime he stepped in the ring, and that he did very well..

Anyone else on the list was no were near as popular, or hated enough heel to hold the title at the time.. It was just superstars working their way up.. Orton was getting ready to finally stick it to the main event, Edge had just had a year long feud with Cena that ended.. Umaga, maybe because he was undefeated, he could have been like the Yokozuna of that era.. To sum up,if ANYONE, and I mean ANYONE had taken the title of Cena during that time, Cena would have just won it back the following month anyway.. I'm happy in that way that Cena had his year long reign because then we wouldn't have seen unnecessary superstars hold the belt for a month or less.

 

[Gavschenko]

i believe i read on wrestlezone before that orton was meant to beat cena at summerslam but vince didnt like the finish so he let cena retain and then planned on him losing at No mercy but other than that id have loved umaga to win the title of cena cause of the way he was built

 

[King Patrick Star]

There are a few Superstars who I think should have, could have and would have taken the WWE Title from Cena during his 3rd WWE Championship reign.

King Booker and Big Show. I think at Cyber Sunday 2006, the WWE Championship should have been the Title on the line. Booker and Show could have simultaneously pinned “The Champ” similar to when Undertaker and Kane both pinned Stone Cold to win the WWE Title to add a little controversy.

Umaga, The Great Khali, and Bobby Lashley. I think one of them could have won at least one of their matches to hold the WWE Title for at least a month.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

I for one believed Umaga should have been champion heading into WrestleMania 23. The man was undefeated heading into the year 2007 and personally I would have loved to see him hold the championship for a few months. WrestleMania 23 was originally slotted to have Cena vs. HHH II and Booker T vs. Shawn Michaels in the Hair vs. Hair match (according to the dirt sheets). Booker/Shawn is a match I would really have liked to go down, but unfortunately, Mr. Hunter Hearst Helmsley got crocked and Michaels was moved into the WWE Championship match. For me, rather than having Michaels there, simply have Umaga capture the championship. He holds the belt for a few months as Cena's strength and power are focused upon, leading to them feeding into the year's theme for WrestleMania; All Grown Up. Have Cena emulate the man he's been compared to so often in Hogan and have him do the iconic bodyslam moment leading to a big triumph at WrestleMania. It fit with the theme, it builds a credible foe for Cena, and it saves Michaels/Cena for another day when Shawn isn't doing the DX nostalgia trip.

 

[remyx]

In short. Nobody. I don't think anybody should have defeated Cena and luckily, they didn't. Now at the time it was happening I wanted SOO badly for anybody to take the belt from him (minus Lashley or Khali) because I just didn't like his character. But looking back at it now I am glad nobody beat him untill he got injured. That championship run was pretty awesome in the fact that John Cena knocked back a hell of a lot of good guys and gave 1) himself more credibility, 2) the belt more credibility and more importantly 3) gave all the guys who faced him more credibility. I've said it time and time again in regards to this run, and that is despite Cena being put against people that can't really work, people that weren't as good as they used to be or people on the way up (at the time anyways) there weren't any matches that didn't entertain me. Sure they weren't all classics to be remembered for the length of time. But they were alright.

Also I think if he didn't have that championship run his whole presence and aura would be greatly diminished as it is now. I may not think John Cena is the best guy in wrestling, but he does bring a lot to the table.

At a push, as purely a fan... I kinda wanted HBK to beat him at WM.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Cena's year long title reign helped legitimize him as THE face of the federation. It is good that they let him hold onto the belt that long because it made Cena himself look stronger, while making each of his challengers look good, and keep the fans interested in wondering who would finally end the reign in the process. Umaga and Khali were both filler feuds. They got built up as monsters but neither were going to win. Period. Edge was not going to win it back, they needed to use this to help establish someone new. Michaels could have won it at Wrestlemania 23 but once again it's best that things happened the way they did, Michaels made Cena look great that night and it was a Wrestlemania moment. Lashley had a chance, and could have won in a rematch if he had stuck around. Orton, I had a feeling by Summerslam that year that it would be him. Look what if did for Orton to be the man to end Cena's year long title reign. That turned him into a permanent main eventer. Long reigns are good and should be done more often. Honestly though, other than Lashley (if he had stuck around long enough for a rematch) I don't see how anyone other than Orton could have been the one to end Cena's reign. WWE did it right with that reign.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Based on the RAW roster at that time he was the best fit. Batista was on Smackdown by then wasn't he, and Flair joined him ? Flair wouldn't get it for the same reason as HBK, that part time "Legends" schedule where you do very few house shows and only certain PPV with multiple vacations/time off - Niether Flair nor HBK would have been anything but a short term champion, they wouldn't have survived the wear and tear of a 6 month reign. Bastista would have been good but he wasn't on the roster.

HHH injury and Edge moving back to Smackdown really took away from credible worthy champions. There were some good feuds in there, he always worked well with Orton, but I don't think Randy was ready for a long term run as champ either. His whole head hunting "Legend Killer" persona was still in grooming 06-07, when he finally did get the belt it was at his height of being over as a crazed but sinister bad guy, it was a good time, too much sooner it wouldn'thave worked as well.

As far as Cena "not putting over" other people usually you don't lose a lot of matches during a title run unless you are truly being scripted to look weak. Cena's marketability was his abillity to overcome great odds against larger and many times more rulebreaking foes. Cena has lost his share of matches, even on PPV.

 

[god-soldier]

There are only 2 people who deserved long reins as champions during this time and its RVD and Bobby Lashley.

Rob Van Dam should have been champion before Cena anyway he was more popular, a better wrestler, and held all the championships. Now I know he got caught driving smoking weed so what!!!!! They gave that crack heroin addict Jeff Hardy a million chances. They should of brushed that under the table RVD had the chance to take the WWE to new heights higher than HBK, HHH, or Cena could do at the time. Plus he would of gave ECW more credibility as a defending double champion for at least 6 months to a year. The WWE really dropped the ball with RVD because he had the total package plus he was insanely popular 2006 or 2007 should of been Rob Van Dam time to shine. He could of beat Cena twice and beat him again @ WM XXIII in an iron match or whatever plus a feud with HBK would have been more of a draw @ Mania to see 2 of the best in ring performers going at it in a real match for the WWE title would have been probably some of the best matches of the 2000's era. I am surprised nobody mentioned RVD

Bobby Lashley had the look decent wrestling skills and as a WWE champion would of been extremely popular and brought a whole new legion of fans to the WWE. Him being the first black WWE champion would have made perfect sense and defeating Cena to do it would have made it more memorable and Cena could of made an easy transition for Cena to be the top heel and a showdown between Batista and Bobby Lashley or the Undertaker would have been a huge draw for the WWE. Bobby Lashley had so much going plus him as a war a hero would have made him perfect to represent America against foreign wrestlers such as Khali, Hassan, etc the ball was dropped hard on Lashley because he could of been the next big thing. But instead we get the same old shit with Cena when he was champion and drafted to RAW I stopped watching Raw and Smackdown became the flagship show for me the World HeavyWeight Championship title picture and the talent overall was just better for me. But in the end the WWE missed out on a huge opportunity on RVD and Bobby Lashley.

The only other people I could of seen are Umaga, Booker T, and JBL getting one more reign and of course Kurt Angle who should of been champion any damn way.

 

[DeathClutch]

Cena's 13 month title run hurt the belt more than it helped, but his long run happened because the top guys were injured, HHH/Shawn had the DX thing going, we all know HHH was meant to face Cena at WrestleMania 23, but injury put that match on the back burner. So, Shawn in all honesty should have won the belt around then, even if only to give it to back to Cena the following month just to break his title reign up a little.

Orton in fairness probably should have gotten the belt at SummerSlam 2007, he didn't and look what happened his rematch ended in a dq so they had the No Mercy match and Cena was injured the week prior, for thus who don't know Orton was to go over and win the belt, hense why HHH won it and Orton won it back to make him look legit and not a "paper champion".

Personally I would have given Edge a longer run with the WWE Championship in his first reign, even if it was to RAW after No Way Out (which was still a Smackdown only PPV) and went down the Foley/Edge route. And Edge winning the belt back from RVD, I think that match would of been the SummerSlam 2006 main event, shame they never did the rematch, as it was one of the best matches in RAW history, but Edge dropping the belt in TLC, I would of had Edge win with help from Lita and had the final encounter on RAW in the cage match (that was the final encounter of that particular feud) with Cena winning the belt with help from DX, leading to Rated RKO/DX.

Just my two cents,