Forbes Looks at Which WWE Champion Is Best for Business

On July 1, Forbes.com posted a very intriguing article in regards to recent WWE Champions. Following John Cena claiming the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at “Money in the Bank,” Chris Smith of the website wanted to find out if John Cena being champion, is indeed best for business.

Smith compares four of Cena’s title reigns with the most recent reigns of Randy Orton and CM Punk. Smith found out that only one of Cena’s four reigns was during a period of rising revenue. The other three saw WWE’s quarterly revenue in a downfall. On the other hand, during Orton’s reigns, revenue usually increased.

He also noticed that during CM Punk’s 434 day title reign, WWE revenue was all over the place. He believes that Punk’s reign,”may be the only proof we need that WWE’s in-ring champion doesn’t actually have much impact on the company’s revenue.”

In the piece, he did admit that the piece was “far from a scientific study.” Though, he did have an interesting chart, which provided a visual of the reigns of Punk, Orton and Cena.

Below is the chart (click to enlarge:)

Be sure to read the entire piece, here.

Editor’s Note

This is a very interesting and timely read. I also think the little impact that the champion has on revenue is another reason why it wouldn’t hurt WWE to have Brock Lesnar remain champion past “Night of Champions,” assuming he becomes the champ at “SummerSlam.”