10 WWE Champions That Completely Buried Their Challengers

6. John Cena (Challenger: The Miz)

Undertaker CM Punk
WWE Network

Taking far too much joy in burying The Miz, John Cena's latent insecurities with the 'A-Lister' matched a former rival's own hhhang-ups with another 'Ruthless Aggression' survivor, so keen as he's been over the years to put his contemporary in his place.

Ironically, The Miz has never managed to ascend to Cena's level anyway, though 'Big Match John's performances in their contests certainly set him back years at a time.

It's perhaps due to Miz' workrate outside of the ring as well as his willingness to constantly improve within it. Cena loves noting how few in the industry graft like he does, but the former reality star-turned-WWE Champion has walked his lofty talk too.

It's that that's assured his continued employment regardless of position on the card over the last decade, but his willingness to give everything to the company regrettably saw him decimated by 'The Champ' in a hideously elongated squash match in reverse at Over The Limit 2011.

Cena had already made light work out of taking the title a month prior, before putting a pin in his opponent's push with the most ridiculous of submission finishes. Miz only stopped short of putting a literal bullet in Cena's head in their 'I Quit' match, before 'The Champ' made one return and crushed him with the STF. Miz hasn't got near the title since, and has only returned to headline conversation since Cena's stepped away from it.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett