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#5 John Cena
John Cena's record-equalling 16th WWE world championship reign only lasted for two weeks and not a lot happened during it. However, the only reason why this reign of his ranks in the middle of this list is because of the way it started, as well as the way it ended.
Cena defeated AJ Styles in a classic WWE Championship match at the 2017 Royal Rumble, a match that even topped their previous encounter at SummerSlam 2016. The significance of the match and the moment was perfectly exemplified by Mauro Ranallo in particular, who had a stellar performance at the commentary table.
Two weeks later saw the SmackDown-exclusive Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, where Cena defended his gold inside the menacing structure. Styles, Dean Ambrose, Baron Corbin, The Miz and Bray Wyatt all vied for the WWE Title and produced one of the greatest Chamber matches in history, despite the aesthetic change to the structure.
John Cena had the shortest WWE Championship reign during the SmackDown Live era, but it was by no means the worst. This may have been one of the greatest transitional championship reigns in recent history, simply because it was book-ended with some of the best WWE Title matches in the past few years.
