The Complete History of the WWE Championship - Part 12

John Cena (April 3, 2005 - January 8, 2006)

The Champ is here! John Cena won his first World Title at WrestleMania 21

WWE decided to go all the way with rising star John Cena at WrestleMania 21, which also saw Batista lift the World Heavyweight crown from Triple H.

WrestleMania 21, held on April 3, 2005, was the beginning of a new era with two brand new champions at the heart of it.

Cena would soon become the poster boy for the next decade.

It was an inauspicious start to his reign when he defeated JBL in a mediocre ten-minute match, which was instantly forgettable at 'Mania. However, Cena showed he did possess headliner credentials in a truly exciting 'I Quit' war with the same opponent at Judgment Day the following month.

Cena's reign would be another lengthy one. He held the belt for 280 days, the exact same number of days as his predecessor, JBL.

The Doctor of Thuganomics was drafted to RAW during the summer draft lottery and was quickly exposed on the live show versus the pre-taped SmackDown. Cena's in-ring performances were no longer edited. His clumsy offense and loud spot calling caused him to fall out of favor with the adult male audience who had once supported him. Also, Cena stopped performing his rapper gimmick and began marketing himself to children which further alienated his core fan-base.

Boos first became audible in his feud with Chris Jericho, which Cena won decisively at SummerSlam in a match which forced Jericho to leave the company for several years.

Cena would never win back the fans that abandoned him. His subsequent feud with Kurt Angle in the Autumn highlighted these issues in stereo. Fans simply refused to boo the respected Angle against Cena, even when the odds were stacked against the champion.

WWE wanted to persevere with Cena as a face and thus decided to relieve him of the title earlier than planned in a bid to see off the troublesome boos.

After defending the title successfully in an Elimination Chamber bout at New Year's Revolution on January 8, 2006, Cena dropped the title in an impromptu defense versus the inaugural Money in the Bank holder, The Rated R Superstar, Edge.