I just discovered how this Cena storyline shakes out. This is unreal.
• Cena gets a title shot in 2025, and in the buildup, Flair feigns happiness for him at first but is quickly shown to not want the record to fall. He admits as much and is antagonistic towards Cena.
• Even though Flair is managing Cena’s opponent and interferes in the match, Cena overcomes the odds and wins to break the record. ESPN and all major outlets have covered the build and the record getting broken.
• Cena gets in a couple of token successful defenses and goes calls back to his history by issuing an open challenge storyline to anyone. Remember, he did this as an undercard champion previously, and he was also an open challenger to Angle when he debuted.
• Flair and his previous champion come out for the challenge. Flair is running Cena down on the mic before the bell rings when the other wrestler attacks Cena. Flair joins in and they beat him down. Flair tells the ref to ring the bell, but when the bell rings Flair is revealed as the challenger. Even with the pre-match beatdown, Cena kicks out and makes a comeback. Cheating catches up in an extremely short match though, and Flair gets a knocked out (from the other wrestler) Cena in the Figure Four and the ref calls for the bell when Cena is not responsive to three arm raises.
• Flair retires as the champ with final match being a record-tying 17th world title victory in a WWE ring.
• WWE gets massive media coverage on Cena chasing and breaking the record with Flair involved. They get again when Flair breaks the record and retires. Cena gets to break the record, but Flair ends up with the record again even if it is a tie.