Was Cena vs. Orton the most repeated match between two stars

[The Rick Jericho]

Every one is tired if Brock vs. Roman, but I believe it's only their 7th match. And we all know the ADR/Sheamus gag.

But how about Cena vs. Orton here. Is this the most run feud between two main event stars on WWE TV?

[canceled4truth]

Not WWE TV, but the title made me think; how many times did Naitch and Sting fight each other over the course of their careers?

Edit: According to Cagematch, Flair and Sting faced each other 54! times between 1987 and 2011, while Cena and Orton have had 22 singles matches against each other, with the first being at the Brian Pillman Memorial Show in 2001. Though, I don't think the Cena/Orton number includes house shows, so who knows.

[Germansuplex]

At this point I'd prefer Cena and Orton going at it again.

[The Rick Jericho]

Jun 19, 2022 14:53:28 GMT -5 canceled4truth said:

Not WWE TV, but the title made me think; how many times did Naitch and Sting fight each other over the course of their careers?

Edit: According to Cagematch, Flair and Sting faced each other 54! times between 1987 and 2011, while Cena and Orton have had 22 singles matches against each other, with the first being at the Brian Pillman Memorial Show in 2001. Though, I don't think the Cena/Orton number includes house shows, so who knows.

Hmm.. so judging by that, yes, Cena and Orton in WWE history are the most overused matchup on TV.

[Toates Madhackrviper]

Jun 19, 2022 14:53:28 GMT -5 canceled4truth said:

Not WWE TV, but the title made me think; how many times did Naitch and Sting fight each other over the course of their careers?

Edit: According to Cagematch, Flair and Sting faced each other 54! times between 1987 and 2011, while Cena and Orton have had 22 singles matches against each other, with the first being at the Brian Pillman Memorial Show in 2001. Though, I don't think the Cena/Orton number includes house shows, so who knows.

Damn I had no idea Sting and Ric had a match in TNA and I swear I was watching at the time.

[Mozenrath]

It's one of many reasons I think having the two as a Mega Powers-like tag team for a time would have been fun. Would at least make one of their feuds have a point when you do the breakup angle after a few months.

[The Rick Jericho]

Jun 19, 2022 15:11:45 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

It's one of many reasons I think having the two as a Mega Powers-like tag team for a time would have been fun. Would at least make one of their feuds have a point when you do the breakup angle after a few months.

Honestly, with the way it went down and Cena winning at Summerslam 2010 against Nexus anyways.

Cena and Orton vs. The Nexus would've been a much better match. The two mega powers have to combine in order to neutralize the Nexus.

[DiBiase is Good]

It’s hard to say without defining the “most matches” criteria. I can’t recall any two people having PPV singles matches against each other than Cena and Orton but as mentioned already, Flair and Sting (and Steamboat was another person he wrestled frequently) have wrestled each other dozens of times but how many were on PPV? Or televised? Or house shows? There’s also the factor that PPVs are now every month rather than every quarter.

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

To use a cooking show cliche, here’s one I prepared earlier…

Jun 18, 2022 2:33:29 GMT -5 EoE: Well There's Your Problem said:

Doing the stats for televised one-on-one matches between all these combinations, so this doesn’t include multi-man matches (so the WM31 match that technically is a triple threat after Rollins cashed in MITB isn’t counted for these stats):

———

Sheamus/Del Rio
Timeframe: 2011-2014
# of Matches: 13 (three on PPV)

Cena/Orton
Timeframe: 2005-2017
# of Matches: 21 (10 on PPV), 14 of them in 2007-2010 window

Kingston/Ziggler
Timeframe: 2009-2019
# of Matches: 29 (six on PPV), but only four after 2013

Lesnar/Reigns
Timeframe: 2015-2022
# of Matches: 5, soon 6 (all on PPV)

———

Each of them have their own unique quirks to them that make them feel stale in different ways. Sheamus and Del Rio didn’t have THAT many big matches, but it feels like it because it was booked multiple times otherwise but were then changed later, notably with two other PPVs. Kingston and Ziggler were the workrate pairing thrown out to fill TV time. Lesnar and Reigns have only had a handful of matches in a big timeframe, but it absorbs all the attention and hype of the company like a black hole. Cena and Orton seems to be the one that is the “average stale feud” in terms of number of matches relative to timeframe and push from the company.

[Celexa Bliss 54]

Triple H and Michaels faced off a lot between 2002 and 2005, but I'm not sure how many were singles matches. Off the top of my head, for straight one-on-one, I know there was SummerSlam 2002, Armageddon 2002, that Raw match in December 2003, Royal Rumble 2004, Bad Blood 2004, Taboo Tuesday 2004 and I think they had a match on Raw in 2005 or 2006. Plus tag team and multi-man matches, and maybe house shows?

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat probably fought each other a thousand times. And they were all 5 star classics.

[DrBackflipsHoffman]

Metal Maniac and Jimmy Snuka take this one I think

[Toates Madhackrviper]

Its difficult to impossible to compare the pre-televised era to the television era, with the "transition period" also complicating things. But it looks from EoE's stats that at the very least Dolph and Kofi fought more on television than Cena and Orton did.

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

Jun 19, 2022 15:32:46 GMT -5 Celexa Bliss 54 said:

Triple H and Michaels faced off a lot between 2002 and 2005, but I'm not sure how many were singles matches. Off the top of my head, for straight one-on-one, I know there was SummerSlam 2002, Armageddon 2002, that Raw match in December 2003, Royal Rumble 2004, Bad Blood 2004, Taboo Tuesday 2004 and I think they had a match on Raw in 2005 or 2006. Plus tag team and multi-man matches, and maybe house shows?

According to some quick research, they had 10 televised singles matches (five on PPV) against each other between 1996 and 2006. Two of them are before that unsanctioned match at SummerSlam 2002.

[Deleted]

I swear to God Cena and Orton had at least three matches that they said would be their last match ever together.

[Sparvid]

Jun 19, 2022 15:31:08 GMT -5 EoE: Well There's Your Problem said:

To use a cooking show cliche, here’s one I prepared earlier…

Jun 18, 2022 2:33:29 GMT -5 EoE: Well There's Your Problem said:

Doing the stats for televised one-on-one matches between all these combinations, so this doesn’t include multi-man matches (so the WM31 match that technically is a triple threat after Rollins cashed in MITB isn’t counted for these stats):

———

Sheamus/Del Rio
Timeframe: 2011-2014
# of Matches: 13 (three on PPV)

Cena/Orton
Timeframe: 2005-2017
# of Matches: 21 (10 on PPV), 14 of them in 2007-2010 window

Kingston/Ziggler
Timeframe: 2009-2019
# of Matches: 29 (six on PPV), but only four after 2013

Lesnar/Reigns
Timeframe: 2015-2022
# of Matches: 5, soon 6 (all on PPV)

———

Each of them have their own unique quirks to them that make them feel stale in different ways. Sheamus and Del Rio didn’t have THAT many big matches, but it feels like it because it was booked multiple times otherwise but were then changed later, notably with two other PPVs. Kingston and Ziggler were the workrate pairing thrown out to fill TV time. Lesnar and Reigns have only had a handful of matches in a big timeframe, but it absorbs all the attention and hype of the company like a black hole. Cena and Orton seems to be the one that is the “average stale feud” in terms of number of matches relative to timeframe and push from the company.

According to cagematch, Miz and Ziggler have had 23 singles matches (5 on PPV). 22 of them were between 2012-2016, then one in August 2019.
Miz and Kofi have 24 (3 on PPV) ranging from 2009-2021, but only four of them are since 2014.

[Ryushinku]

Some other numbers to throw in the mix...

Taker/Kane had 15 televised singles matches (10 on PPV) between 1998-2010.
Taker/Austin had 16 televised singles matches (7 on PPV) between 1996-2002.

Those were two matchups that sprang to mind, would be even more with triple threats and tags, but Taker fought those two a whole bunch even if not Cena-Orton level.

Ah! Thought of another.

The Rock/Triple H had 25 televised singles matches (10 on PPV) between 1997-2002. That's way up there.

[ThankGodForSidJustice]

Jun 19, 2022 17:04:03 GMT -5 Sparvid said:

Jun 19, 2022 15:31:08 GMT -5 EoE: Well There's Your Problem said:

To use a cooking show cliche, here’s one I prepared earlier…

According to cagematch, Miz and Ziggler have had 23 singles matches (5 on PPV). 22 of them were between 2012-2016, then one in August 2019.
Miz and Kofi have 24 (3 on PPV) ranging from 2009-2021, but only four of them are since 2014.

That's pretty astonishing as unlike Ziggler and Kofi who have been opposite alignments most of their runs with Rofi spending nearly all of it sans like eight months with heel New Day in 2015-16 and Ziggler spending most of his a heel; Ziggler and Miz it feels have been the same alignment for the majority of both of their super long careers. They were both heels from 2008 to 2012. Then were both faces from mid 2013 to mid 2014 when Miz switched back heel. Then were both heels through all of 2017 and 2018. Then after being opposite with Miz's shortish face run that was basically just the calendar year of 2019 have both been heels the last two years plus. I know they wrestled each other a lot in their IC title feuds in 2014 and 2016 but sheesh it must have been even more then I remember.

[Wieners=$$$]

Between two stars?

I'm really not a fan of either, but their matches weren't that bad.

[Dub H]

The forced rivalry that never was.