10 WWE Matches John Cena Should Have Lost
6. Vs. Randy Orton (Bragging Rights 2009)
The long, monotonous feud between perennial dance partners John Cena and Randy Orton had neared its “peak” in 2009. After playing hot potato with the WWE Championship in an assortment of gimmick matches, the feud was set to conclude at the inaugural Bragging Rights PPV in a No Disqualification, No Countout, 60-Minute Iron Man Match. The stipulations were added that if the Champion Orton lost, he would relinquish his rematch clause, whilst a loss for Cena meant a departure from Raw, likely to join SmackDown.
After a long and admittedly decent clash between the prominent faces of the franchise, Cena emerged victorious by a score of 6-5. In hindsight, however, it would’ve made more sense for Orton to retain and for Cena to go to the blue brand. Orton could’ve taken the title into his feud with Kofi Kingston, and then into a feud with Legacy stablemates Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr, elevating the importance of each feud and giving these young stars a rich taste of the Raw main event scene. All three are wrestlers that are either off our screens today, or stuck in the midcard, and could’ve been more prominent if they had that sort of exposure.
Cena, on the other hand, was heading for a WrestleMania feud with Batista, who had to transfer from SmackDown to Raw for the angle to work. Instead, have Cena go to Batista, and have the feud be over the World Heavyweight Championship instead.
As it happened, the result was short sighted, and could’ve worked a lot better had Cena been on the losing end.