Matt Hardy Weighs In On John Cena's Potential To Break WWE World Title Record

During an episode of "The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy," the titular tag team specialist named some of his industry predictions for 2025, including the likelihood of John Cena winning a record-breaking 17th World Championship. The "Broken One" said it only made sense for WWE to include that accolade as part of Cena's year-long retirement tour.

"John Cena is a WWE lifer," Hardy said. "He's never taken his ball and went home, as 'Stone Cold' did. He never went to WCW as Hulk Hogan did. He's been loyal the whole while. The epitome of the company employee that you want. A top guy. Did all the Make-a-Wish stuff. Such a great representation of the company on all levels."

Currently tied with "Nature Boy" Ric Flair at 16 World Title reigns, Cena shares the distinction of being pro wrestling's winning-est top champion. But Flair amassed his total wrestling for multiple promotions, whereas Cena's wins all came under the WWE umbrella. This exclusivity might motivate WWE to tie itself directly to the milestone by having Cena win one more. Hardy said it's a sensible move, considering Cena's unwavering loyalty to WWE over the years.    

"Just looking back at that, they go, 'Hey, if we're gonna give somebody this designation and make him have the most reigns as a World Champion in all of history, we want a guy who's WWE through and through," Hardy said.

Hardy, a former WWE ECW Champion, doesn't think Cena's reign would last long, however, predicting it would probably last a month or so. WWE is promoting Cena for tonight's "WWE Raw" debut on Netflix, where he will formally kick off his year-long send-off in some form or fashion.