John Cena defeated AJ Styles to become WWE world heavyweight champion at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view (PPV) last night (Sun., Jan. 29, 2017) in San Antonio, Texas, and that gave him his 16th world title reign. That ties him with Ric Flair for the most all time in the official WWE record book.
Flair was in the building for it and, naturally, they did an interview with him to ask for his feelings on the matter:
"It's fabulous. I mean, I'm one of John's biggest fans, not only as a person, a human being, but as a wrestler. He's a great guy. He works incredibly hard. He's had an amazing career. He's been the flagship for this company for a long time. If someone is going to get that record or tie it or ultimately break it, I couldn't be happier for it to be John Cena. I love the guy. He's a great guy. And you have to know how hard he's worked to get that. It takes a lot of work and a lot of time to win 16 world titles. He's worked hard and I'm happy for him."
They could also make it into an angle later but it’s nice to see such a classy response from the old veteran.