By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

For WWE fans who feel that no matter how good an effort Randy Orton and John Cena when wrestling each other, it feels stale and too familiar to be as exciting as it should be, here are the stats to back that up. Cena and Orton have wrestled each other in a PPV match 11 times in the past few years, according to PWTorch columnist (and resident statistician Pat McNeill). That's about one-third of all WWE PPVs.

- Backlash 2007
- Vengeance 2007
- SummerSlam 2007
- Unforgiven 2007
- No Way Out 2008
- WrestleMania 24
- Backlash 2008
- Night of Champions 2009
- SummerSlam 2009
- Breaking Point 2009
- Hell in A Cell 2009

WWE's way of "freshening" up Orton vs. Cena is to move Triple H into the mix against one or the other or both. PWTorch VIP member Luke Fleeman posted these stats in the PWTorch VIP Forum today.

In the last four years, whenever two of these three were on the same brand, at least two of the three have wrestled more than 50 percent of the time. In the time frame referenced, there were 51 PPV events with at least two of them on the PPV, and some combination of the three wrestled 28 times on those 51 PPVs. Even worse, during that time , the three of the have missed a combined three years of ring time (I count at least 13 months for Orton, 14 for Triple H, and 7 for Cena), and only two of the three have been on the same brand for three of those five years, and the alternating brand PPVs. So you can imagine what would have happened if they had all been available more, we would have seen more matches between the three.

It's stunning that Orton, Cena, and Triple H have been healthy, they've been matched against one another in some format well over 50 percent of the time considering how often they've been injured.

Keller's Analysis: WWE keeps wondering why PPV buys are dropping, and certainly the economy, competition from UFC (and to a much lesser extent TNA), and the expansion of free PPV-caliber matches on TV (WWE Superstars is like a weekly dose of a typical opening hour of a PPV, and ECW usually offers one main event a week, too), but perhaps the lack of fresh match-ups among three of the top stars in the company is as much a reason as anything.

The argument within WWE by Vince McMahon, veteran wrestlers, agents, and writers would be that there aren't enough top stars worthy of PPV main events to move into the mix. I would argue that moving someone potentially prematurely into a PPV main event against Cena, Orton, or Hunter is better than yet another rematch between two of those three. WWE had something with Miz vs. Cena, which they blew off on TV. WWE could have elevated Matt Hardy into a top feud with Cena or Triple H when Hardy was on Raw, and they could still do so if they got Orton and Hardy on the same brand now that Hardy is a babyface again. Instead, they dwelled on Hardy's shortcomings and wrote him back to the mid-card when fans were wiling to embrace him in a top spot.

Just to freshen things up, in recent years other wrestlers could have been elevated, even if just for two months or so, into a short-term singles feud with Cena, Orton, or Triple H, such as William Regal, Mr. Kennedy, Mike Knox, Hardcore Holly, and others. Sure, some of them were their own worst enemy at times, but WWE has to start making exceptions and let more stars past the red rope at the door to the main event nightclub. Heck, they had a chance with Christian's return to let go of the grudge that he dared spent time in TNA and move him into a top feud against Cena, Orton, or Triple H, but they didn't. They had their reasons, and the fans have suffered as a result. Hopefully the Bragging Rights PPV presents an opportunity for WWE to present some unfamiliar, novel match-ups. The PPV buy total for that will be worth watching closely.

[John Cena art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch]

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