Bubba Ray Dudley Knows Exactly How John Cena Should Break Ric Flair's Record

It may look like John Cena is transitioning out of WWE, but there's still one thing he has to do before he can officially become more actor than wrestler: break Ric Flair's World Championship record.

Now that we're officially on the road to WrestleMania, we can start taking whacks at what WM35 may look like. And Bubba Ray Dudley has a pretty savvy idea for Cena. During his regular appearance on Busted Open Radio, Dudley shared his own directive on how WWE can have Cena earn his 17th and record-breaking World Championship.

"There is going to be a large portion of wrestling fans who might not want to see John win since they don't want to see Ric Flair's record broken," reasoned Dudley. "Listen, it's tied right now, so the best way to get out of that is to have Flair endorse it. You have that final sit down between John Cena and Ric Flair where John is torn whether or not he really wants to do this. Does he really want to break the record out of respect for Ric?"

But Dudley has the final act ready, too; all the way down to the hallowed WrestleMania moment:

"Then Ric is the one who talks to him and smacks him in the face and tells him, 'You go out there and break that record.' When he wins, Ric Flair hands him the championship. That's a mega moment. That's a WrestleMania moment!"

When Cena won his 16th Championship at the 2017 Royal Rumble, WWE did involve Flair, but only slightly. However, Cena lost that title just two weeks later and has yet to sniff a championship opportunity since. Instead, Cena has been mostly absent from WWE. Following The Rock's precedent, Cena's WWE schedule getting increasingly thin, perhaps foreshadowing his ultimate exit from the company. But the 42-year-old has been adamant that he's committed to WWE for the long haul, making his pursuit for Flair's record an inevitable narrative.

Flair has actually been quoted in saying that Cena won't break his record due to him transitioning out of the sport, but with Cena still relatively young and in phenomenal shape, it's hard to imagine him not reaching the top of the wrestling world one more time.

There's a small chance Cena's quest for #17 begins with him winning the Royal Rumble but now doesn't seem like the time for WWE to uncork the Flair/Cena narrative. While that story will certainly be a good one, WWE will likely be more concerned with building WM35 around Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins, and Brock Lesnar. WWE is in a search for its new top star with Roman Reigns being out indefinitely. While using Cena and FLair story would certainly garner plenty of attention, WWE needs to invest in its future instead of giving us a history lesson.

Regardless, it's fair to expect Cena smashing this record at some point. But it may not happen until WrestleMania 40.