On Mondays episode of Raw, John Cena told the audience that in his twelve-year WWE career, hes competed in over 3,500 matches. I call Saint Paddys Day Shenanigans. Even including his Mexican alter-ego Juan Cena and his time-travelling persona The Prototype, the documented evidence points to about 1,800 WWE matches. Now, thats an extremely respectable number. The only active full-time wrestlers that are ahead of him career-wise would be Big Show (2,150) and Goldust (1,925). Even compared part-timers hes still only lagging behind Kane (2,500), Undertaker (2,175), Triple H (1,900) and Rey Mysterio (1,200 in WWE, 350 in WCW and hundreds more in AAA). (Who knows how many matches Mexican stars such as Dos Caras Jr/Alberto Del Rio or Mistico might truly have?!) Cena has already surpassed Hulk Hogan in televised matches (565 vs 462) and if he stays healthy, he could even end up with more documented WWE matches than legends like Bret Hart (2,200+) or Shawn Michaels (1,700+). John Cena in WWE 2002 91 matches (29 televised) 2003 138 matches (42 televised) 2004 117 matches (44 televised) 2005 144 matches (43 televised) 2006 164 matches (62 televised) 2007 113 matches (46 televised) 2008 82 matches (42 televised) 2009 166 matches (58 televised) 2010 178 matches (57 televised) 2011 202 matches (53 televised) 2012 184 matches (48 televised) 2013 142 matches (34 televised) 2014 33 matches (7 televised) In general about one-third of Cenas matches have been on TV or PPV. (He worked less house shows when he got injured in 2008.) According to WWE annual filings, from May 2002 to December 2013 (the timeframe Cena has been in WWE), they ran 3,779 shows. (Keep in mind, this dates back to when WWE was running split branded shows.) Cena wasnt on over 90% of shows. Consider that in the last seven years, Cena wrestled 1,068 matches and the WWE held 2,252 shows. He appeared on between a quarter (2008) to two-thirds (2011) of the shows, but never anywhere near 90%. John Cena is certainly the most in-demand active superstar for WWE. I wouldnt doubt that with all of the other media and appearances he does that hes been on the road for nearly 3,000 days. However, he certainly has not had 3,500 matches. I think that hangin and bangin alongside Hulk Hogan last week might have brought out the uber-carny in John Cena.
I'm a professional wrestling analyst, an improviser and an avid NES gamer. I live in Saint Paul, Minnesota and I'm working on my first book (#wrestlenomics). You can contact me at chris.harrington@gmail.com or on twitter (@mookieghana)
