Ranking EVERY WWE Champion From Worst To Best
4. John Cena
A contemporary and unique entry in that he was never universally liked during any of his 13 reigns at WWE Champion, John Cena broke then reshaped the mold of what it meant to be WWE's top star during the most chaotic creative period in company history.
Lots of fans found themselves alienated by 'The Champ', or at very least the version of the company that persisted with him at the top of the pile for so long. But crucially, younger fans adored him. As loud fume enveloped the majority of his matches, children found their first hero and were suddenly bound for life to World Wrestling Entertainment and pretty much anything Cena said or did. Upon rewatch, many of the matches and promos hold up precisely as terribly as you'd imagine them to, but he was walking, talking and working for the youngest baby in the building and never once strayed from the path.
Having put in almost 15 years of full-time work before phasing himself into a part-time role, generations of fans were bled into pro wrestling through his peak years, no matter how many older ones were also chased towards alternatives. Cena put his stamp on WWE in a way almost nobody else on this list was able to, and for almost as long as an era-defining New York megastar that couldn't have been anymore different in substance and style...