Oly Crap, Cena's been Champ HOW Long?!

[Corkscrewed]

Okay, we all know that Cena's been overbooked like crazy, and he's been champ forever. But sometimes, things don't really hit home until you see numbers.

I was just randomly wondering when, over the past two years, has John Cena NOT been champ, and I totally drew a blank after last year's Wrestlemania (turns out I totally forgot about RVD's reign and subsequent burial after getting busted for drugs).

Well, I decided to do some number crunching (since I'm a nerd).

John Cena won the WWE Championship for the first time on April 3rd, 2005. Since then, he has been champion three times, including his current reign. As of today, it has been 660 days since his first reign began. During that time, he has held the title for a whopping 541 days. The remaining 119 days of title reign have been comprised of Edge twice and Rob Van Dam once.

Lets break this down a bit:

541/660 = 81.96...%
John Cena has been champion for 82% of the past year and almost ten months.

Assuming that Cena keeps the title going into Wrestlemania, he will have been champ for 608/727 = 83.63% of the past two years. That's unbelievable! That's the equivalent of 20 out of the past 24 months.


Lets play this against the last champ people got sick and tired of: none other than Triple H.

Between September 2, 2002, when he was hand-awarded the World Championship Title by Eric Bischoff, and April 3, 2005, when Batista beat him for the same belt, Triple H held the title for 649 out of 943 days, over the span of five title reigns (I know the belt was vacant for about three weeks at the end of 2004, but since HHH was stripped of the title and won it back, we can effectively say he was champ during those three weeks anyway; we're being generous). That translates to 68.82% of under three years. WELL below Cena's current domination.

We can scrutinize even further by examining the period where EVERYONE was bitching over how HHH was holding everyone down and hogging the World Title.

Between September 2, 2002, and September 21, 2003, Triple H was champion for 272 out of 384 days, which translates to 70.83...% of the time. Still nowhere near Cena's mark.




Basically, even in HHH's most "title hogging" days, he was champ for "only" 71% of the time. Cena's streak has Trips beat by a clear 10% and is growing by the day. When you look at it that way, Cena's overbooking becomes even more ridiculously mind-boggling.

What does this tell us? Nothing we've known before. But sometimes, just looking at the numbers can bring a fresh perspective on a familiar face. Plus I thought it'd be fun to show how Cena's been even more "title hogging" than one of the most famous backstage politickers in the wrestling history.

Makes you wonder whether Cena's been playing us, because although most people are sick of Cena, no one has ever really accused him of playing backstage politics. The consensus still seems to be that he's a truly nice and honorable guy who's been horribly book. But since wrestling is a cynical business, I present to you the above evidence as food for thought. ;)

[Corkscrewed]

BTW, I'm too lazy to recheck the calendar addition, so I *might* have said HHH was champ for more days than he really was. Which actually helps my case. Either way, dayam, Cena's accomplished something even HHH couldn't do. :D

[DAMN iNATOR]

Lets break this down a bit:

541/660 = 81.96...%
John Cena has been champion for 82% of the past year and almost ten months.

Assuming that Cena keeps the title going into Wrestlemania, he will have been champ for 608/727 = 83.63% of the past two years. That's unbelievable! That's the equivalent of 20 out of the past 24 months.


Lets play this against the last champ people got sick and tired of: none other than Triple H.

Between September 2, 2002, when he was hand-awarded the World Championship Title by Eric Bischoff, and April 3, 2005, when Batista beat him for the same belt, Triple H held the title for 649 out of 943 days, over the span of five title reigns (I know the belt was vacant for about three weeks at the end of 2004, but since HHH was stripped of the title and won it back, we can effectively say he was champ during those three weeks anyway; we're being generous). That translates to 68.82% of under three years. WELL below Cena's current domination.

We can scrutinize even further by examining the period where EVERYONE was bitching over how HHH was holding everyone down and hogging the World Title.

Between September 2, 2002, and September 21, 2003, Triple H was champion for 272 out of 384 days, which translates to 70.83...% of the time. Still nowhere near Cena's mark.

Basically, even in HHH's most "title hogging" days, he was champ for "only" 71% of the time. Cena's streak has Trips beat by a clear 10% and is growing by the day. When you look at it that way, Cena's overbooking becomes even more ridiculously mind-boggling.

Also, in relation to SmackDown! and championship streaks, Gregory Helms has been Cruiserweight Champion for 359 out of the past 365 days, for a total of 98.35% of the last year (btw, if he happens to make it past this Monday, he will have achieved a full year without losing the Cruiserweight Championship once...amazing...simply amazing:nono:

And the WWE Tag Team Champions (Paul London & Brian Kendrick) are no slouches, either. When it comes to their record over the past year, they've held the belts for 247 out of the past 365 days, for a not astounding (yet), but nonetheless impressive 67.67% of the last year with which both men have held the WWE Tag Team Championship gold.

How long any of these streaks will last is anyone's guess, but when it comes right down to it, at least you now no longer have any excuse for not knowing who some of the most talented men in professional wrestling today are.

[Rammsteinmad]

Congratulations. :y:

But seriously, I'm fed up with Cena being at the top as much as any of you, but I believe one thing to be true, which is that at least Cena worked his way up to the top. Sure, he may suck now and only use five moves, but we all agree on how awesome he was in 2003... 2007 is mainstream celebrity Cena.

Cena has basically done what he's told. Jobbed when told to and put over when required. He's done his parts in the company for publicity. He made that movie. Like him or not he worked his way to the top.

Triple H's run... sure, he worked his way up in 2000... but 2002? Come on, we all know he had as much pull as he wanted. Not saying that he wasn't working as hard as people like Cena, but Triple H didn't have to "earn" any of his title runs since 2002. All he had to do was click his fingers and that belt would be polished for him.

Good job working out those statistics though. :y:

[Testicle]

Also, in relation to SmackDown! and championship streaks, Gregory Helms has been Cruiserweight Champion for 359 out of the past 365 days, for a total of 98.35% of the last year (btw, if he happens to make it past this Monday, he will have achieved a full year without losing the Cruiserweight Championship once...amazing...simply amazing:nono:

And the WWE Tag Team Champions (Paul London & Brian Kendrick) are no slouches, either. When it comes to their record over the past year, they've held the belts for 247 out of the past 365 days, for a not astounding (yet), but nonetheless impressive 67.67% of the last year with which both men have held the WWE Tag Team Championship gold.

How long any of these streaks will last is anyone's guess, but when it comes right down to it, at least you now no longer have any excuse for not knowing who some of the most talented men in professional wrestling today are.

The difference is that those guys are the best in their divisions.

[Sting Fan]

I dunno, without a doubt his reign has been long and at times (a lot of them) laborious to watcc but in this day and age if he was playing politics surely someone would have said something.

It just strikes me as odd that in this computer age where Mc Mahon cant take a dump without the IWC knowing Cena as a politician would be mighty hard to hide.

And also a little point to ponder in regards to that comparison is how many guys has Cena buried in that time? I cant think of anyone tbh, although my memry is a bit hazy and I havent seen a PPV since Mania. However HHH over his time buried off the top of my head, Booker at Mania, Kane with the whole Katie vick and Mask thing, RVD various times, and im pretty sure Jericho was made to look like a punk too.

Cena on the other hand has pretty much made his reigns out of an Edge feud that we could go back to at any time, and that arguably pushed Edge that last little bit from upper mid carder to legitmate main venter. RVDs run which he wasnt at fault for ending, and guys like Umaga who was no star to start with (again I think I am forgetting someone).

While theres no doubting he has been Mc Mahons champ of choice I cant see him as a politician and at least he isnt doing as much damage as HHH did over his time as champ.

[Kane Knight]

And people wonder why Triple H seems preferable to John Cena.

Vince: When Triple H had the title more than half of the course of 3 years, it pissed off the fans. You know what will raise ratings?

Heyman: A champion who isn't unstoppable?

Vince: You're fired. Oh, and just for that, let's have Cena reign for about 98% of his career.

[Kane Knight]

Also, I don't think Cena's politicking. I don't think he needs to. Vince loves him, and honestly, I think that's enough. Vince thinks Cena on top = ratings.

[Stickman]

What happned to the boobirds and yousuck chants at Cena?

[Testicle]

Also, I don't think Cena's politicking. I don't think he needs to. Vince loves him, and honestly, I think that's enough. Vince thinks Cena on top = ratings.

In a way vince is right. He does draw stupid, white, women and children.

[Corkscrewed]

I honestly don't believe Cena's politicking either, but I thought it was just interesting stuff. He's definitely earned his rise to the top, and he's paid his dues as much as a wrestler in today's WWE can do (I say today's WWE because everything is fast forwarded, so paying your dues for five years two decades ago is akin to doing it for one or two today).

The CW and Tag Team stats are intriguing, except that we all know the writers don't care about them. How many actual feuds have each champ been in? They're more of a product of writer apathy than something that was built intentionally.

I subjectively maintain it's different with the WWE title because it's the main title, and by default, the writers must address it.



Anyway, back to the whole John Cena devil's advocate argument (which is just for fun, btw): what you hear on the internet isn't always true, but that doesn't mean what you don't here on the internet is never true. ;)

The other thing that had me thinking was whether or not Wrestlemania 23 will be the end of Cena as WWE champ for a long while. We saw that pattern with HHH (albeit it was in two parts, and he really didn't step out of the title picture until four years after he started). The Rock had a flurry of reigns and then left. Lesnar did something similar. JBL had that nine monther and is now retired...

So if you're a fan of deciphering patterns, there's more stuff to chew on. :D

[Skippord]

What happned to the boobirds and yousuck chants at Cena?
They stopped watching

[Kane Knight]

Yup. They were driven off.

[the Illusionist]

But he's always the fucking underdog in virtually every feud!!!why is he always booked like that? from Edgde, to Y2J, to Angle, to RVD, to the Big Show...you name it, Cena's the one battling the odds and getting outsmarted 3 quarters of the time. the problem is D-X and Rated RKO...all four of whom could take the belt from Cena but are too busy with eachother right now.fuck. HBK is the only face worth seeing as champ other than Cena...and remember,Cena draws merchandise. yep; mr. badass rebel is a corperate shill.what the fuck happened?!

[V]

I like how we think the same way corkscrewed

http://tpww.net/forums/showthread.php?t=24057

[Kane Knight]

Loose Cannon has also done something with the TNA title.

[Dave Youell]

The reason I think most people hated Trips was the fact he was keeping everyone else down and we all thought he was using polical power to keep the title on him.

Whilst Cena comes across as someone who is working hard and is being given a ball to run with, I don't think he has any sway and even though I don't think he fully deserves the push he's got, he's working hard with the tools he's got, which is more than Trips was doing around his reign(s)

I do think it's time for some freshness after mania though, an Orton run would be nice with a HBK feud directly after a Cena re-match. Then leading onto Orton taking on a face Edge around Summerslam and finally jobbing the title back to HHH around November time.

[Kane Knight]

People hated Trips because he was the worst thing to happen to the roster in terms of overall effect.

Cena has trumped him by far. Even with Triple H's post-injury ego trip, Cena is the biggest space hog on Raw, whether he means to be or not.