John Cena's top 5 WWE title reigns

John Cena is easily one of, if not the most decorated superstar in WWE history. He has 25 WWE title reigns to his name, which includes a record 16 world title reigns. Cena is currently at level with the legendary Ric Flair for the most number of World title wins and it may well only be a matter of time before he surpasses 'The Nature Boy' to officially become the superstar with the most World title reigns.

He also held the United States championship five times and wielded World Tag Team Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship two times each. The 41-year-old is also a multiple time Royal Rumble winner and also won the Money in the Bank briefcase in 2012.

The list focuses on his 16 year WWE career and ranks his top five championship reigns. The ranking is not exclusively dependent on the length of the reign but factors like overall quality also played a huge role.

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5) Survivor Series (2008): World Heavyweight Championship (reign #1)

Earlier that year, John Cena suffered a neck injury during his match against Batista at Summerslam pay per view. However, he recovered in less than 3 months to challenge Chris Jericho at Survivor Series for the World Heavyweight championship. Cena would eventually win the title to wrap the big gold belt around his waist for the first time.

He would go on to have successful title defenses against Jericho and his longtime rival JBL, before losing it to Edge, in what would be one of the epic heists of the year.

4) Extreme Rules (2011): WWE Championship (reign #8)

This reign will always be remembered for how it ended. Cena captured his eighth WWE World title from The Miz at Extreme Rules (2011) in a triple threat steel cage match also featuring John Morrison. Cena defended his title successfully at Over the Limit (2011) against The Miz as well as at Capitol Punishment (2011) against R-Truth. However, what happened next is what makes this reign memorable.

CM Punk defeated Rey Mysterio and Alberto Del Rio in a triple threat match to earn the title opportunity at Money in the Bank (2011). In the weeks leading up, CM Punk would cut an absolutely brilliant promo, later referred to by everyone as "the pipe bomb". Punk's contract was to expire on the night of Money in the Bank 2011 and he refused to sign an extension. The stakes were high for this match and this was the hottest angle in Pro Wrestling at that time. John Cena eventually lost his title to Punk, who left the company in kayfabe for a few weeks.

3) Royal Rumble (2017): WWE championship (reign #13)

These events were bound to happen. John Cena defeated AJ Styles at Royal Rumble (2017) to become a 16-time world champion, tying with Ric Flair. The match, however, was an absolute barn burner. AJ Styles and Cena always had a brilliant in-ring chemistry and this was the absolute pinnacle of it. There were so many close calls, multiple finisher kickouts but in the end, Cena hit the double AA and won his 13th WWE championship.

This was one of Cena's shortest runs as the champion, as he dropped his title within two weeks to Bray Wyatt at Elimination Chamber 2017, which was another brilliant match. However, the quality of matches involved and the overall significance of this reign was too good to ignore.

2) Unforgiven (2006): WWE championship (reign #3)

This was Cena's longest title reign in his career. He held on to the title for a mammoth 380 days. He defeated Edge in one of the best Tables, Ladders, and Chairs matches of all time to clinch his third world title reign. That match included a memorable spot where Cena AA'ed Edge from top of a ladder through a stacked table.

He defended his title against the likes of Umaga, Randy Orton, Edge, Shawn Michaels, Great Khali, and Mick Foley. One of the most memorable matches in the list was his Wrestlemania 23 bout against Shawn Michaels which, to this day, arguably remains Cena's best Wrestlemania match.

However, before his title defense against Randy Orton at No Mercy (2007), he tore his right pectoral muscle, causing him to relinquish the title.

1) Wrestlemania 31 (2015) : WWE United States Championship (reign #4)

Undoubtedly, this was Cena's best run as a champion in his WWE career. He carried the US championship with pride and elevated it into something really big. His open challenges were outstanding and produced some world-class matches, giving exposure to some of the best-untapped talents in the WWE. Calling this a great run would be an understatement.

To summarize this reign, Cena won his 4th United States championship from Rusev at Wrestlemania 31. He issued open challenges on Monday Night RAW, producing some outstanding matches with the likes of Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Cesaro and Neville. At Summerslam 2015, he lost it to Seth Rollins in a winner-takes-all match due to an interference from John Stewart.