WWE: 4 Reasons Why Cena-Punk Is the Modern Flair-Rhodes (and 1 Reason Why Not)

WWE’s modern era of professional wrestling is one of rapid change and accelerated evolution. More than 12 pay-per-view events are promoted each year. The WWE and TNA present brand-new, live wrestling every single week, making rematches the norm and causing storylines to be rushed.

In the old days—the territorial era—professional wrestling stories were told in dimly-lit areas on Saturday morning television and in newsstand magazines. Feuds ran across multiple territories, giving time for the performers to sell a true hatred for one another.

Now, the wrestling business is pushed through live television and pay-per-view events versus house shows. Back then, there were no “house shows;” they were all big events.

Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes was one of the most legendary feuds of the territorial era. They sold out every major city on the National Wrestling Alliance’s circuit and did it multiple times. The promotion had one or two marquee events each year. Despite having more than 12 marquee events in 2012 alone, John Cena vs. CM Punk is developing into this era’s Flair-Rhodes.

Want to know why? Read on.

Reason 1: The Biggest Names in the Business

In 2012, the two biggest names in the WWE are John Cena and CM Punk. And no wrestling promotion matches the firepower of the WWE. Since winning his first world championship in 2005, John Cena has amassed a combined 12 WWE and World Heavyweight Championship reigns.

CM Punk first cashed in his Money in the Bank contract in 2008, winning the World Heavyweight Championship. He would cash in a second time and has since compiled a combined five WWE and World Heavyweight Championship reigns.

Dusty Rhodes won his first NWA World’s Championship from Harley Race in 1979 and would capture his third (and final) world championship in from Ric Flair in 1986—seven years later.

And Ric Flair is simply the most decorated world champion of all-time. Flair boasts 16 officially recognized reigns, although Flair himself puts that number at 21.

In the early 80s, there were no bigger names than Dusty Rhodes. In 2012, no WWE Superstars are more recognizable than CM Punk and John Cena.

Reason 2: Feud Length

Ric Flair defeated Dusty Rhodes to capture his first world championship in 1981. In 1985, The Four Horsemen were formed, and an early target was Dusty Rhodes. Rhodes and Flair traded the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship again in 1986, a full five years after Flair’s first title win over Rhodes.

CM Punk first attacked John Cena in December 2010, causing him to abandon his post at the commentary table. The men would briefly feud through the Royal Rumble, where Cena exacted his revenge by eliminating the Straight Edge Superstar.

Their issue was rekindled in the build to Money in the Bank 2011 and continued through the Hell in a Cell event of the same year. Both men would stay separated as the top faces in the WWE until CM Punk’s heel turn at Raw 1,000. The feud continued through the 2012 Night of Champions and is showing no signs of slowing down until 2013’s Road to WrestleMania.

Reason 3: Signature Wins

Ric Flair is officially recognized as a 16-time world champion, but the most important reign is the first. On September 17, 1981, Flair defeated Dusty Rhodes for the NWA World's Heavyweight Championship, the first page of a legendary legacy.

Flair would hold the title through 1983, but Rhodes wouldn’t see the gold again until 1986, when he beat Ric Flair inside a steel cage in Greensboro, NC as part of the Great American Bash tour.

While CM Punk entered the match a three-time world champion, his victory over John Cena at WWE’s 2011 Money in the Bank pay-per-view event in Chicago remains CM Punk’s signature win. John Cena was pegged as the man representing the WWE against CM Punk, the man who was going to walk out of the company with the championship if he won. Punk’s win started his ascension, one that allows Punk to join John Cena as one of the two most recognizable superstars in the WWE today.

Reason 4: Polarizing Figures

For a feud to have longevity, the fans need to feel divided among the competitors. When Ric Flair formed the Four Horsemen with Tully Blanchard and Arn and Ole Anderson, there was a segment of fans that immediately sided with the heel stable.

Among those sold-out arenas, Flair had his own fans right alongside Dusty’s supporters. While Ric Flair was a heel, he was a man that some fans hated, some loved and some loved to hate.

John Cena and CM Punk are not two of the most polarizing figures in wrestling today, but in history. From city to city, John Cena might be met with a rousing ovation or a chorus of boos. Many cities greet him with a mixture of both. Dueling chants of “Let’s Go Cena!” and “Cena Sucks!” are heard on over half of the Monday Night Raw broadcasts each year, and the WWE has begun to capitalize on that phenomenon over the past twelve months.

CM Punk has been a magnetic superstar since the early days of career. The manner in which he speaks, wrestles and carries himself draws fans in, and they get hooked on his character. He was treated as a hero by the fans while walking out on them, taking the most prized championship with him. He turned heel on Raw 1,000, and the fans still cheered.

At Night of Champions, CM Punk wore New York Yankee-inspired gear in Boston to face local hero John Cena and only received a mixed reaction.

The Other Side

John Cena vs. CM Punk is the hottest feud in professional wrestling today. In the early-to-mid-80s, no feud could capture the imagination of fans quite like Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes.

Today, Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes find their in-ring days behind them. They established themselves as legends in a very tough business and did so before the days of multi-million dollar marketing pushes and multiple channels of distribution.

John Cena and CM Punk have benefited by what is often termed “the WWE machine.” With this machine behind them, they are marketed into social icons, not just wrestling icons. Their faces appear in television commercials and on digital billboards in the country’s largest cities on a regular basis. They make mainstream television and radio appearances. Their climb to prominence has been an easier one.

But will we remember it? Time has given us the opportunity to remember Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes. We have the ability to look back 25 years and recount the many actions each man took during their heated feud.

Can we say the same for CM Punk and John Cena? Or in 25 years, will the very same machine that pushed them to the forefront be the cause of our lack of attachment to the magic they are creating today?