WWE News: John Cena has only wrestled 44 matches this year
One of the reasons why John Cena is known as the WWE’s franchise player is due to his near-inhuman work ethic. Apart from serving as the company’s face of marketing, Cena also works a gruelling schedule in terms of the number of matches that he wrestles per year.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Total | |
| 2011 | 11 | 18 | 17 | 17 | 22 | 18 | 17 | 14 | 16 | 21 | 17 | 14 | 202 |
| 2012 | 14 | 12 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 25 | 21 | 20 | 6 | 1 | 17 | 18 | 184 |
| 2013 | 14 | 11 | 19 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 16 | 142 |
| 2014 | 16 | 11 | 16 | 11 | 20 | 15 | 10 | 7 | 18 | 14 | 15 | 11 | 164 |
| 2015 | 16 | 10 | 17 | 14 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 6 | 14 | 12 | 0 | 5 | 136 |
| 2016 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 44 | ||
| Total | 71 | 62 | 85 | 73 | 89 | 90 | 89 | 62 | 63 | 59 | 65 | 64 | 872 |
(table credit: cagesideseats.com)
One look at the table above shows us the number of matches John Cena has wrestled in every month of the year, right from 2011. It is also noticeable how his numbers in each month that he has wrestled in, despite being on the shelf due to injury for the first 5 months of the year, are still low in comparison to previous years.
From May of 2016, John Cena has only wrestled in a grand total of 44 matches (or 47 depending on differing records). This marks a span of 4 consecutive months in which his numbers have dipped lower than they have ever been from 2011. (Excepting when he was out with a broken nose in 2015)
The list has been compiled taking into account pay-per-view matches, televised appearances on Raw or SmackDown, live events and even dark matches after shows.
While this statistic isn’t definitive proof of anything, it does point to the trend of John Cena being eased out of the load that he carries in the company and branching out into furthering his own fledgeling career in Hollywood.
Even in the storylines, it is noteworthy that AJ Styles picked up 2 unanswered victories over Cena and even deigned to assume the mantle of the “Face that runs the Place” when he was away filming.
That coupled with the considerably lesser number of matches that he has wrestled in the calendar year could be a sign of things to come in the WWE. Cena is a 15-time World Champion who is on the cusp of the record-equalling 16th reign.
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