10 Forgotten WWE Upsets
Orlando Jordan defeats John Cena (March 3rd, 2005)
With the then-revered John Cena growing rapidly, it was soon apparent Cena was going to become the WWE champion, winning a WWE championship #1 contendership tournament – last defeating Kurt Angle at No Way Out. About to challenge JBL for the biggest prize on the SmackDown brand, he was also US champion so it was necessary for ‘The Champ’ to drop the strap before challenging John Bradshaw Layfield.
Having already defeated him quite decisively in the first round of the tournament, John Cena took on Orlando Jordan on the March 3rd, 2004 edition of SmackDown. Jordan took the belt after pinning Cena, with ‘The Doctors of Thuganomics’ being laid out by outside interference (a shot with the title belt) from JBL. This would be Jordan’s only title win in WWE.
His reign was surprisingly successful for a lower card talent as the member of The Cabinet held the belt for nearly 6 months. He even defended the title against the likes of Rey Mysterio, Hardcore Holly and William Regal. However, the end of his reign was less than gracious as he tapped out to Chris Benoit at SummerSlam in less than 30 seconds, before going on to lose more matches to Benoit in short-time, naturally recementing his status in the lower position of the roster.
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