John Cena might break an impressive 17-year streak at WWE TLC

Unless the WWE pulls the ultimate swerve and it's John Cena (plus a partner of his choosing) that answers The Viking Raiders open challenge at TLC, then an impressive 17-year streak will come to an end. All the way back in July of 2002 Cena made his PPV debut in a match against Chris Jericho at WWE Vengeance. Ever since then, he has wrestled at least one PPV match every year. That will likely come to an end when 2019 draws to a close.

Cena's last PPV match was in October 2018 at WWE Super Show-Down. His last match period was on the January 14th episode of Monday Night RAW. As Cena's Hollywood career continues to take off, his appearances in a WWE ring have continued to become less frequent.

The 16-time World Champion sat down with Sports Illustrated earlier this year and discussed his in-ring future. He told reporters that he's “very eager” to return to competition and that fans can expect to see him make an appearance at his 17th consecutive WrestleMania.

“On the subject of WrestleMania, I can tell you this—I haven’t missed a WrestleMania since my first appearance at WrestleMania 19, and I do not plan to miss a WrestleMania for decades to come.”

The keyword there for Cena there is appearance. He was at WrestleMania 35, but he did not have a match. This year the "Dr. of Thuganomics" made his surprise return to interrupt Elias' live concert.

Cena had wrestled at 15 consecutive WrestleMania PPVs before this year, so it appears as though two lengthy streaks will come to an end in 2019. Cena's inactivity this year has also cost him one spot on the all-time WWE PPV match list. He now sits at #5 all-time, one match behind Randy Orton.

1. Kane - 174
2. Undertaker - 171
3. Triple H - 169
4. Randy Orton - 161
5. John Cena - 160

Orton is very likely headed for the top spot. The Viper signed a lengthy contract extension with the WWE earlier this year. He now has 5 more years to wrestle at 14 PPV events and pass the Big Red Machine for #1 all-time. That is unless Mayor Kane decides to come back for one last run. Either way, Orton still has a pretty decent shot to catch up.