Quality of opponents
Another facet to look at is the quality of opponent each man faced during their runs. This may not be as cut and dried as your father and grandfather may want to believe. Ric Flair squared off against a gauntlet of hall-of-famers in his heyday.
While longtime rivals Harley Race, Ricky Steamboat and “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes spring immediately to mind, Flair was a global figure and a “true” World Champion, defending the championship around the world against Carlos Colon, Tatsumi Fujinami and Jack Veneno.
In the meantime, Cena has Hall of Fame notches in his belt as well in the likes of Edge and Shawn Michaels. Legendary figures such as Triple H, JBL and The Rock have all fallen by the wayside to Cena at some point in their careers. In an odd twist, outside of Royal Rumble matches, the only time the men shared the ring on television was as tag team partners.
Both men can say they beat the best of their respective generations and there really is no definitive way of saying which generation had the better competitors. No choice but to call this category a draw.
