When we last left this series, Cena was facing some tricky business and hitting new lows for the company, especially in terms of B-show PPVs. 

At the Royal Rumble, Cena worked JBL underneath in a match that wasn’t even the last title match on the show, let alone the main event, as that honor went to Edge vs. Jeff Hardy. For the record, the show’s PPV buys were the lowest since the 1998 Rumble, and the 288,000 domestic buys were the weakest in the States since 1997 for Shawn vs. Sid in San Antonio. 

No Way Out 2009 was down to 272,000 buys, headlined by Cena defending the world title in an elimination chamber against Edge, Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, Mike Knox, and Kane. We’ve encountered some instances in this series where the Chamber proves to be a draw, but the 174,000 domestic PPV buys are the lowest for a Chamber all-time, except for the ECW December to Dismember debacle. 

Cena worked Edge and Big Show in a three-way for the title on the undercard at Wrestlemania 25 in a match I’ve almost completely forgotten. Another Cena vs. Edge match headlined Backlash 2009, this time Last Man Standing, drawing an awful 182,000 buys and 116,000 domestic. This was a recurring theme, as these were both record lows for post-Mania PPVs since the first In Your House event in May 1995. 

Cena worked with Big Show in a non-title semi-main at Judgment Day. It is worth noting that with Edge defending the world title against Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton defending the WWE title against Batista, the show was back up to 238,000 buys. There is indeed something to the John Cena fatigue, as even just being emphasized less seemed to help the business. He had a rematch against Show in a submission match at Extreme Rules 2009 and a singles match against The Miz at The Bash 2009, so they were giving him a break from the top. 

At Night of Champions 2009, Cena was back in the title mix against Triple H and Randy Orton in a WWE title match, but CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy was the main event. He also worked Orton in a Summerslam singles WWE title match underneath a CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy TLC match for the world title. Even in a semi-main event role, that year’s Summerslam was the lowest since 1997 with Bret vs. Undertaker. 

The September PPV, Turning Point 2009, hit a few alarming lows, doing 169,000 worldwide and 105,000 in the United States. That domestic number was the lowest amount of PPV buys since 1996’s It’s Time PPV, headlined by Sid defending the WWF title against Bret Hart, spanning well over a hundred shows. The show was headlined by CM Punk vs. Undertaker in a world title match, and Cena challenged Orton for the WWE title in an I Quit Match. 

The first-ever Hell in a Cell PPV was next, with three HIAC matches, including yet another Cena vs. Orton WWE title match. The show ended with DX vs. Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase Jr., but you have to think the Cena match and Taker vs. Punk HIAC were bigger matches on the show. The HIAC overkill provided a much-needed spike, drawing 283,000 buys. That was good for the highest B show since Night of Champions 2008, a period that spanned twelve B shows. The HIAC gimmick was a success on PPV. 

Bragging Rights 2009, main evented by Cena vs. Orton AGAIN, this time in an Ironman match for the WWE title, did more awful business with 181,000 buys and 105,000 in the U.S. It’s not entirely clear why they kept running the Cena vs. Orton match into the ground after lackluster business returns. Still, they did, and we got another show that saw lows not seen on PPV in the U.S. in almost thirteen years, back when the company was on the brink of bankruptcy. 

Survivor Series 2009, main evented by Cena defending the WWE title against each member of DX, Hunter and Shawn Michaels, set a record low for the twenty-three-year history of the event, only gaining 235,000 buys for the all-babyface three-way. 

TLC 2009 was yet another attempt to increase business with a gimmick-match themed show. Cena defended the WWE title against Sheamus in a tables match on the undercard. The new PPV concept got the buys back up to 225,000. It’s interesting to note at this point that special gimmick PPVs were outdrawing straight Cena matches as a whole. 

Cena didn’t headline the Royal Rumble 2010 in a singles match, but did win the Rumble match itself, last eliminating Edge. The February PPV was the first branded Elimination Chamber. Cena was in one of the two chambers, winning his match and the WWE title from Sheamus in a match also involving Triple H, Randg Orton, Kofi Kingston, and Ted DiBiase Jr. Cena defended the WWE title at Wrestlemania in another match against Batista on the undercard of Taker wrestling Shawn in his last match (before coming back in that Saudi Arabian debacle). That show did 885,000 buys, the lowest since Mania XIX with Brock vs. Angle on top. While Cena wasn’t in the main matches of these first shows in 2010, he was heavily featured in title programs, and business was not good. In fact, if you’ve noticed the trend in this article, it’s getting worse. 

April brought the first Extreme Rules post-Mania show, this time headlined by Cena vs. Batista in a Last Man Standing Match. The show did 201,000 buys, an improvement from the abysmal 2009 show with Cena vs. Edge in a LMS main event. However, 112,000 in the U.S. was yet another record-low for the post-Mania April show since its inception in 1995. 

Over the Limit 2010 featured another Cena vs. Batista stip match, this time an I Quit Match. There was a slight uptick to 218,000 worldwide, and the only explanation seemed to be the CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio match with Punk’s hair on the line. 

Fatal Four Way was the next PPV, headlined by Cena defending the WWE title against Sheamus, Orton, and Edge. The business was horrendous, drawing 158,000 PPV buys and only 88,000 domestic. Outside of ECW December to Dismember, that domestic number was the lowest in almost fifteen years, for In Your House 5, headlined by Undertaker vs.Mabel in a casket match. 

Money in the Bank 2010 was the first MITB PPV, and was headlined by Cena defending the WWE title in a cage against Sheamus. The results were disastrous, barely beating Fatal Four Way with 164,000 PPV buys. 

SummerSlam 2010 was an extremely interesting PPV because it featured the WWE vs. Nexus fourteen-man tag team elimination. match. Many on the internet were outraged by Cena winning and being the lone survivor. While we’re discussing some particularly unappealing PPV business in this feature, it’s not an invalid point. However, one thing to note is that despite all the talk, the Nexus beatdown angle on Raw leading up to Summerslam, the show only drew 349,000 buys. The 209,000 domestic buys were the lowest since Shawn vs. Vader in 1996, so the effectiveness of the angle may have been overstated. 

After the abysmal performance of the Fatal Four-Way PPV earlier in the year, they headlined Cena in another multi-man match. This time, it was a six-way match featuring the same three men he had defended against at Fatal Four-Way (Orton, Edge, and Sheamus), along with Wade Barrett and Chris Jericho. Did it work? Of course not. The show only did 165,000 PPV buys and under 100,000 again in the United States. What’s notable about this number is that the NOC gimmick was a marginal draw in the years leading up to this, but that was no longer the case by the 2010 version. 

It appears as if someone took the hint and felt Cena was overexposed at the very least by this point. He’s not working on the last match of the show until the December 2010 TLC PPV, where he worked with Wade Barrett in a chairs match. However, it should also be noted that a WWE title and world title match were also on this show. Without the shiny lure of a first TLC PPV, the show dropped over 14%% from the prior year’s version to 195,000 buys. 

You can expect a fourth part at the very least, and also something where we dig into specific feuds and metrics to take a really deep dive into context.