10 WWE Champions You Didn't Care To Hate

5. John Cena

The Miz Wwe Title
WWE.com

For what felt like a lifetime, John Cena was inescapable. The defining WWE star of the 21st century (so far, at least) was everywhere, embellished by in-your-face merchandise and a win/loss record that inspired international eye-rolling. LOL CENA WINZ is a thing for a reason, you know. From the moment he won his first World Championship in 2005 all the way until, well, CM Punk split him a new one in 2011, WWE was John Cena's world.

Sure, it was creatively more interesting than the current dross, but it was plenty boring at the time. The perpetual viewing experience of Cena finishing pay-per-views with his arm raised turned plenty of long-time viewers off. Cena was a merchandise-moving machine but the predictability of his success made for mighty boring television. His neverending feuds with Randy Orton didn't help, either.

John Cena has grown into a hardened veteran that fans look forward to seeing. He is a megastar who clearly loves the business and everything it has given him, and he is wildly respected for that. If you'd told fans 15 years ago that that would be the case, you'd have been laughed at. LOL CENA WINZ has never felt more ironic than in Big Match John's ultimate victory over the fans.

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Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.