Ever since Paul 'Triple H' Levesque took over as Head of Creative from Vince McMahon, WWE has been on fire. The TKO stock price is through the roof, while every single Premium Live Event seems to shatter every possible metric from its previous editions. But if there is one complaint with the professional wrestling giant in recent years, it's that the world championship picture has gotten a little bit predictable.
Next month, MetLife Stadium will host the first-ever two-night SummerSlam, and for the first time in what feels like an eternity, there is a genuine 50/50 championship match that could go either way.
Cody Rhodes Finally Gets His Undisputed WWE Championship Rematch With John Cena
Back in February, John Cena - WWE's white knight for the better part of two decades - shockingly turned to the dark side when he viciously attacked then Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes at the Elimination Chamber event in Toronto. The heel turn led the Greatest of All Time all the way to a record-breaking 17th world championship when he defeated the American Nightmare at WrestleMania in Las Vegas in April. Now, the former champion finally gets his rematch.
With Cena announcing his intention to retire as champion this December and render all future champions irrelevant, many may have expected the Leader of the Cenation to be the favorite to leave the Big Apple still the champion. Interestingly, however, online sports betting platforms are likely to lean towards the challenger to shockingly regain the gold.
As the highly anticipated clash is still weeks away, some sportsbooks have yet to release their odds. When they do, however, those same sports betting sites are expected to price Rhodes as a 4/11 favorite, with Cena pushed out to somewhere near 2/1. As such, wrestling fans suddenly have a mouth-watering main event on their hands, which could go either way, as the head leans toward Cena retaining, but the betting odds suggest otherwise.
The bookies' pricing of the huge upcoming clash is certainly a welcome surprise as the world championship picture has been far too predictable in recent years. But when did such predictability become the norm?
Long-Term Booking Gone Wild
Many had slandered Vince McMahon throughout his later years in charge of WWE for his lack of perceived long-term booking. However, on his way out of the company, he ushered in the art of the lengthy championship reign via his golden boy, Roman Reigns.
Between August 2020 and April 2024, the Tribal Chief - fresh off a heel turn of his own - ruled over WWE for a whopping 1.316 days as world champion, the third-longest reign in company history. And while it felt like there had never been a bigger star in the wrestling world, his record-breaking reign certainly got predictable.
Throughout the nearly four-year run, there were only three occasions where it truly felt like the champion could be dethroned. Many thought that either Daniel Bryan or Edge could leave with the title at WrestleMania 37, while Drew McIntyre was fancied to emerge as champion at Clash at the Castle on home turf the following year. Fans thought that the reign surely had to come to an end at the hands of Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 39, but the Head of the Table retained once again, before Rhodes finally got the job done a full year later.
Once the American Nightmare was champion, though, once again, every title defense had a predictable result. Rhodes faced the likes of AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, and Solo Sikoa throughout his year-long title reign, but it never truly felt like he was in danger of losing the title. When he did ultimately lose to Cena at WrestleMania 41, the 17-time champ was a huge betting favorite, so even that result was predictable.
The Art of the One-Month Reign
Much of the reason for the recent predictability is that the fabled one-month title reigns have all but disappeared. In years gone by, WWE would throw in a curveball that nobody saw coming and rip the championship away from a long-time champion, with the decision being made with the sole purpose of leaving people's jaws on the flaws. Such creative decisions will have vanished entirely by 2025.
Back in 2006, Edge famously became the first man to cash in the Money in the Bank briefcase and successfully ended John Cena's year-plus title reign in shocking fashion. Three weeks later, the title was back around Cena's waist. Jeff Hardy waited over a decade to finally get his hands on the WWE title by the time December 2008 rolled around; however, 42 days later, his reign was over.
The short and shocking reign was still a thing as recently as 2022. Between then and 2020, Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, Bobby Lashley, and The Miz all embarked upon title reigns of one month or less. However, since Roman Reigns got his hands on the title at WrestleMania 38, it seems that it is only allowed to change hands on the grandest stage and for a prolonged amount of time.
So, with SummerSlam just around the corner and a title change rumored to be on the cards, will WWE finally surprise us for the first time in a while? Or will it be business as usual with the same safety-first approach? Only time will tell.
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