5 most booked singles matches in WWE
How many times have we watched Randy Orton vs John Cena? So many that it has become an essential reference among the fans regarding the most overbooked matches in recent memory.
However, you will probably be surprised to find out there are four rivals that have faced one another more than these two.
Without further ado, let's take a look at the most (over) booked singles matches of all time in WWE TV.
#5 John Cena vs Randy Orton
Number of TV matches: 21
First match: Raw Nov. 14, 2005 - Last match: SmackDown Feb. 7, 2017
Record: 13-1-7
The first clash between these decorated multi-champions happened on a historical night. The Raw of November 14th, 2005, was dedicated to the beloved Eddie Guerrero, who tragically passed away a day earlier. The WWE Champion John Cena faced the heel Randy Orton on the main event of the night, with "Cowboy" Bob Orton as his son's manager.
It was a short and rather mediocre match (nowhere near the fantastic Rey Mysterio vs Shawn Michaels that took place earlier that night), that ended in a DQ when Cena was attacked from behind by Bob Orton while attempting an 'FU'.
Cena managed to overcome a simultaneous attack by the Ortons; he floored Randy with an FU and then paid tribute to Latino Heat: he took his "I'm Your Papi!" T-Shirt off, placed it in the middle of the ring and left his championship belt on top of it, concluding one of the most emotional and memorable nights in WWE history.
At the 2017 Royal Rumble, John Cena won his 16th WWE Championship and Randy Orton won the Royal Rumble match. February 7, 2017, an episode of SmackDown opened with a retrospective of their parallel paths to greatness, announcing they would collide that night for the first time under the SmackDown brand. The Viper was under Bray Wyatt's influence and walked out led by the New Face of Fear.
The two men had a one-on-one televised match, on January 16, 2002. It was for the OVW, then-developmental territory for the WWE. John Cena was still wrestling as The Prototype, while Randy Orton was always fighting under his real name.
The winner was The Prototype, and if we consider OVW a WWE related show and we count this match in, we have 22 matches and a 14-1-7 record for those two iconic wrestlers.