16 times John Cena failed to win the WWE Championship
John Cena is a 15-time WWE World Champion. He won the title for the first time all the way back at WrestleMania 21 in 2005 and has since gone on to win it on 14 more occasions, which puts him second only to Ric Flair (16-time champ) for the most World Title reigns of all time. That also means he lost the title 15 times.
At the most recent SmackDown Live, pay-per-view, No Mercy, Cena was unsuccessful in winning his first WWE Title since losing the belt to Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam 2014. In the spirit of Cena trying, and failing, to win the title for the 16th time at No Mercy, here are 16 times John Cena challenged for the World Title and failed to leave with the gold.
#16 John Cena vs. Edge - WWE Championship, SummerSlam 2006
At New Year’s Revolution in January 2006, Edge shocked the world by cashing in his Money in the Bank contract to defeat John Cena after the champion won a gruelling Elimination Chamber match.
It was the historic first ever MITB cash-in, and the Ultimate Opportunist took the title from a battered and bloody WWE Champion. Edge would go on to lose the title back to Cena only 3 weeks later at the Royal Rumble PPV.
Cena lost the title to Rob Van Dam in the second-ever Money in the Bank cash-in and received his title shot in a Triple Threat on RAW on July 3, 2006. He was unsuccessful in that attempt, but the big rematch was at SummerSlam the following month. Cena took on Edge in the main event at SummerSlam and lost.
This was the first time Cena had unsuccessfully challenged for the WWE Title in a one-on-one match. He ended up beating Edge the following month at Unforgiven in a TLC match.