You can find the first part of this series here. 

Heading into 2007, you could see some of Cena’s popularity as a PPV draw begin to wane, but New Year’s Revolution brought some hope in the form of a title defense against Umaga. Cena’s PPV title defenses up until that point were against varying levels of stars, but Umaga was the first monster. In fact, since one can argue Cena was Vince’s attempt at recreating Hulkamania, Umaga looked like he was built in a laboratory to fill the shoes of monsters like Andre the Giant or King Kong Bundy, so the program looked promising on paper. 

The show did 225,000 buys, down just under thirty percent from the year prior. One should probably expect a drop due to the absence of an elimination chamber match, but that’s a significant drop. Their rematch at the Royal Rumble also drew only 525,000 buys, making it the second-lowest Rumble (after 2004) in the previous nine Royal Rumble events, dating back to 1999. The Umaga feud was not particularly financially successful, despite their excellent Rumble match. 

Cena helped headline No Way Out 2007, a SmackDown show, in a tag match pitting each brand’s Wrestlemania world title match against each other, with Cena & Shawn Michaels vs. Batista & Undertaker. The show only did 205,000 buys worldwide and 135,000 domestically. That 135,000 was the lowest the February PPV had ever done in the US since its inception in 1996, spanning twelve events. It’s fair to say that no one cared about the concept of people feuding with each other teaming in the main event, or the involvement of Raw, but Cena’s presence obviously didn’t contribute nearly enough, either. 

Cena went on last at Wrestlemania 23 against Shawn, but the draw for that show was Lashley vs. Umaga with Vince’s hair vs. Donald Trump’s hair on the line. Cena headlined Backlash, defending the WWE title against Shawn Michaels, Edge, and Randy Orton in a four-way match, only drawing 210,000 buys and 139,000 domestically. Like No Way Out, this was the lowest worldwide number since they started selling PPVs internationally, and the lowest domestic number for a post-Mania B show ever, dating back to 1995. Ouch. 

Judgment Day 2007, headlined by Cena vs. another monster, The Great Kahli, drew 240,000 PPV buys, the company’s lowest for that event since the 2003 event. A rematch between the two at the following month’s One Night Stand did an abysmal 188,000 buys. Aside from the mega-failure that was ECW December to Dismember, this was their lowest PPV total since Taboo Tuesday 2004, spanning thirty-eight PPVs. The company also ran an additional Cena vs. Kahli match on free TV on SNME the night before the show, which likely had a significant impact. 

June saw Cena defend in a five-way against Randy Orton, Lashley, Booker T, and a returning Mick Foley. Despite the wonky six-way match, the show achieved 250,000 PPV buys, ranking as the number two B-show of the year, behind No Mercy 2007, when the company was filling the vacant WWE title; more on that later. 

Cena worked Lashley in the WWE title main event, in a rare babyface vs. babyface match at Great American Bash 2007. Lashley was coming off winning the Trump vs. Vince hair vs. hair match at Mania and a run as ECW champion. The show sold 250,000 PPV buys, making it the third-highest B show of the year, behind the aforementioned No Mercy and Vengeance. That is a strong number, and it’s odd that they never really revisited this match in any capacity. 

SummerSlam 2007 did 545,000 buys, almost the same as 2006’s event, which featured Cena vs. Edge and DX vs. the McMahons (which drew 541,000 buys). This was the first major Cena singles match against Orton, also marking the return of Triple H from a second quad injury, and facing Booker. While not a significant number, it certainly overshadowed the Orton vs. Benoit match in 2003, which sold 340,000 buys. Not surprisingly, Cena appears to be a bigger draw than Chris Benoit. 

Unforgiven 2007 was down to 225,000 buys for Cena vs. Orton II, a significant decline from Summerslam. Not only that, but that was even down 25,000 buys from Cena vs. Angle at Unforgiven 2005. It should be noted that this was the eleventh out of the last twelve PPVs headlined by Cena in the previous nine months, so it does become harder to decipher his effect on business because he’s being crammed into a position no one ever had before. There was way too much John Cena at the top in a way that would make Hulk Hogan blush. Still, it is undoubtedly true that those shows would have done better if Cena were more popular. 

Cena tore his pec shortly after that match and ended up not working until a surprise appearance in the 2008 Royal Rumble. In the following show, No Way Out 2008, Cena worked Orton in the semi-main event for the WWE title, while the show closed with an elimination chamber for the WWE title match at WrestleMania. The show sold 365,000 buys, a considerable number, with the addition of the Chamber again, but Cena’s first announced title match on PPV also had to contribute. 

Wrestlemania XXIV is an odd show to quantify. The show sold 1,041,000 PPV buys, up from 22 with Hunter vs. Cena, but it was a peculiar show in terms of distinguishing the main event. The Hunter vs. Cena vs. Orton WWE title match was obviously hugely important, but probably less of a draw than either Undertaker vs. Edge in a world title match and battle of Wrestlemania undefeated streaks, as well as Ric Flair’s last WWE match. 

Backlash 2008, headlined by the same participants in the WWE title WrestleMania three-way match (Cena, Orton, and Hunter), only with JBL added to make it a four-way match, sold 210,000 PPV buys. Like Backlash with Cena the year prior, this was another record low for the post-Mania PPV in terms of worldwide buys; however, it did achieve 2,000 more buys domestically, making it the second-worst in the U.S. since the tradition began in April 1995. That’s a tiny feather in their cap, I suppose. Geez, they were getting beaten by Diesel vs. Sid. 

Cena worked underneath at One Night Stand 2008 against JBL in a first blood match, but was headlining again at Night of Champions 2008 when he challenged Triple H for the WWE title, where Hunter got his Mania win back. The show sold 286,000 PPV buys, making it the second-highest B show of the year, behind No Way Out. The reason why it’s important to discuss these things in context is that we’ve covered a lot of the disappointing business done when these men were on opposing sides. Still, Vengeance 2007 (also billed as Night of Champions) was also the second B show for that year, so it appears the NOC gimmick can be credited for the added interest, more than Hunter vs. Cena directly. 

Cena worked JBL underneath at the Great American Bash 2008, so again, it did seem like they were making an effort to mitigate the Cena fatigue. Summerslam 2008 was another interesting year because it was headlined by Undertaker vs. Edge in a Hell in the Cell match, but also featured John Cena vs. Batista for the first time in a singles match in the semi-main. Other than the Goldberg Elimination Chamber match in 2003 and the Orton vs. Benoit match in 2004, the 477,000 PPV buys the event garnered was the lowest Summerslam number since 1997. That’s not a good sign for the first match between the two megastars they built together in 2005.

Cena hurt his neck in the match and didn’t appear again until headlining Survivor Series 2008 against Chris Jericho. The show did 319,000 PPV buys, the lowest a Survivor Series scored since 1997. Jericho was also built up in a strong program with Shawn Michaels, but the show did not draw, which is also equally disappointing since it was Cena’s first match back on PPV in over three months. 

He worked Jericho again underneath at Armageddon 2008. While Edge, Jeff Hardy, and Hunter headlined, the show sold 193,000 buys, the second-lowest of the year, behind Cyber Sunday. Again, not a good sign for Cena’s drawing ability on PPV. 

We’ll cover future years in the next edition, but this doesn’t tell the best story of Cena’s effects on PPV thus far.