How Unified Championship Would Impact John Cena and Randy Orton's Legacies

The winner of John Cena vs. Randy Orton in the Unified Championship match at WWE TLC 2013 will elevate an already-elevated legacy. One of those two men will place a crown atop his crown.

In terms of kayfabe, winning both the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship allows the victor to slide his name next to the greatest Superstars of all time. Beyond the storyline, the win would be the ultimate sign of confidence and respect from those in charge of WWE decisions.

Both Orton and Cena already command those things in surplus already, with Cena sitting just above Orton on the company ladder.

The term "face of the company" has been central to the recent narrative involving The Authority. It's an honor the man who outlasts his foe in the main event at TLC can claim as his.

Should Cena win, it won't feel as monumental of a moment as WWE likely hopes it will. The "face of the company" title has been his for years.

The world champ has such a triumph-rich resume that this win's impact won't be all that significant. It will be like Bill Russell's 11th NBA championship, or Ultimo Dragon slapping the WCW cruiserweight title onto a shoulder that already housed nine wrestling championships. 

Cena Owns a House on the Mountaintop

Cena's accomplishments are so plentiful that some get lost in the shadow of others. In just over a decade with WWE, Cena has won the WWE title 11 times, which is more than anyone in company history. That is in addition to the following robust resume.

• Money in the Bank winner in 2012
• Royal Rumble Winner in 2008 and 2013
• World Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
• WWE Tag Team Championship (twice)
• World Tag Team Championship (twice)
• United States Championship (3 times)
• Headlined WrestleMania in 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013

Adding the Unified Championship to that list won't have a major effect on his career.

How do you get higher than the highest? How do you get bigger than the biggest? Winning at TLC won't propel Cena forward, it will only strengthen his position as WWE's top star.

He already has very little left to accomplish. 

Cena is already bound for the WWE Hall of Fame. He's long been established as the company's franchise wrestler. Fans are so conditioned to expect success from Cena that a third Royal Rumble win or another world title isn't news, it's the status quo.

The same goes for beating Orton at TLC. The Unified Championship doesn't represent the mountaintop for a man who lives up there, it's just another reason for him to celebrate in a long line of celebrations.

Orton's Upward Step

Even if it wouldn't define or drastically change his career, winning the Unified Championship means more to him that it does for Cena.

Orton's resume looks a lot like Cena's, covered in gold and saturated with victories. The difference is that Orton has been second to Cena for most of his career.

Being in the main event of WWE's marquee event, WrestleMania, is a sign of the company's confidence in a Superstar. Hulk Hogan dominated that role during the '80s. Undertaker, Shawn Michaels and The Rock have all had multiple opportunities to end The Show of Shows.

Orton was in WrestleMania's final match only once, opposite Triple H.

It was Cena who WWE chose to face The Rock in his two recent WrestleMania bouts, not Orton. When Brock Lesnar returned in 2012, Cena was his first opponent.

For WWE to choose Orton over Cena to claim the historic Unified Championship, it would signify that the company truly believes him to be the current face of the franchise. 

Distinguishing how much a championship is earned through talent and how much is earned through politics is difficult, but being the man to walk away with two titles at TLC will be a mark of WWE's belief in Orton as a top guy.

That move, though, will not be a major one. Orton is an eight-time WWE champ and three-time world champ; this is no underdog story.

It's not a long jump from No. 2 to No. 1 and so the boost that Orton gets won't compare to what it would have been for a rising star instead.

Jetpacks Offered to Rising Stars

"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan won the first-ever Royal Rumble in 1988. That remains his peak WWE achievement, an honor the company could hand him while Hogan dominated the WWE title scene.

The King of the Ring tournament offered Superstars a major accomplishment that acted like jetpacks to their rising careers. Hogan never once won the King of the Ring and nor did Andre the Giant.

Instead it was a victory snatched up by men like Ted DiBiase and Tito Santana who could pad their resumes while Hogan held onto the WWE Championship. For Bret Hart, it was one of the ways to showcase him as a singles star after years as a tag team specialist.

For Steve Austin, it served as the ultimate catalyst to a run to the top that saw him become a Hall of Famer after years of running in place.

WWE wisely made Edge the first Money in the Bank winner, a move that catapulted his career forward.

He was not a multi-time world champ and shoo-in for the Hall of Fame like Orton was when he won that honor this year or like Cena when he won it in 2012. It was an historic accomplishment handed to someone who could benefit from it.

Chris Jericho earned a similar boost when he won the Undisputed Championship in 2001.

The Rock and Austin were in many ways the equivalent of Orton and Cena today, rivals who resided on top of the WWE hierarchy for years. Neither of them needed that glorious moment of holding up two major championships on a single night as their legacies were set.

Jericho's resume would look much different had he not won at Vengeance 2001.

King of the Ring helped make new stars in Hart and Austin. Royal Rumble victories often went to megastars, but rising stars came out on top several times over. 

It's hard to imagine where Edge's career would be without that Money in the Bank win and subsequent cash-in.

No one will be able to say the same about Orton or Cena once they come out of TLC with two title belts to their name.

They will add to the length of their Hall of Fame introduction by the time it takes to say "he is the man who unified the world championships in 2013." The win fill further prove how reliant WWE is on these two men and how much they trust them to be its top draws.

The story of the match at TLC will be about how much history will change, but for Orton and Cena, little will change beyond the total number of world titles in their increasingly large collection.