10 DUMB WWE Title Changes (We Didn't Want To Admit Were GENIUS!)
7. John Cena (2017)
Remember this: A lot of the fans cheering for John Cena's retirement tour in 2025 would've rolled their eyes and dismissed his "Super Cena" guise in 2017. In fact, a fair few would've been angry that WWE put Cena over workhorse champ AJ Styles at the Royal Rumble that year at all. What were they thinking?!
History. That's what they were thinking.
Did John need another title reign? No, not really, but this win tied him with Ric Flair's almost-mythical 16-time World Champion brag. Being a 16-time champ has added some extra juice to John's coming retirement jaunt too. Keep in mind he was clearly winding down as a WWE full-timer at the time, so this win was a neat way to hammer home his legendary status.
Hardcore fans did not like it at the time though. They'd been enjoying a breath of fresh air like Styles, and fancied seeing him hold the gold for a long time to come. Christ knows what they thought of soon-to-be experiment Jinder Mahal then!