Ric Flair Comments On John Cena Breaking World Title Record

The face that runs the place will be returning to action soon, and when John Cena does come back, he'll have his eyes set on a championship belt opportunity. If he succeeds, he would officially break the long-held title record set by the legendary Ric Flair, and the Nature Boy did have a few thoughts to share on the matter.

Flair recently appeared on Busted Open with Doug Mortman and Dave LaGreca (via StillRealToUs), and during his conversation, the topic of Cena possibly breaking his record came up, a record that sits at 16. The good news is that Flair happens to really like John Cena, but he does dispute the number.

"Sixteen's not the real number anyway. They just plain won't recognize two of them, so that's 18, and then there were three more. No, but, I think the world of John [Cena] and I would have no problem with that happening."

Cena has a legitimate shot at breaking that record, though that does depend on whether WWE wants to insert him back into the Smackdown Live title picture. This is where the real fun begins, though, as Flair's title numbers fluctuate between 16 and 25 depending on who you talk to. Flair himself seems to think 18 is the true number, but he then adds three more to the list, and there are multiple reasons why the number varies.

Many of the disputes come from title changes that either weren't honored due to storylines or changes made on the fly at live events. Take an earlier NWA title change for instance (via PWInsider). On February 9, 1982, Flair was defeated by "The Midnight Rider", who turned out to be Dusty Rhodes in disguise, though no one knew that at the time. He was disguised because he had been previously suspended, and so was wrestling under a new alias. He won the world heavyweight title that night, but later in the program he was asked to unmask, and because he wouldn't the title was then given back to Flair. He still lost the title in an official match, but because of the angle the NWA does not recognize this as an official title change

When you look back at the history of Flair, there are many of these disputed incidents, with some having more validity than others. Overall the number is probably more than 16 but is also less than 25. Either way, it won't stop the WWE from celebrating Cena's eventual passing of the record with floods of merchandise with 16 emblazoned on every piece.