There have been dozens of championships in the WWE with countless champions holding those belts. Now, it is impossible to please every fan, so there have been plenty of title reigns that fans believe ended too soon and deserved more time. This problem has been happening since professional wrestling started and still happens every so often today.
Related
10 Biggest World Champion Flops In WWE History
While these wrestlers did win the WWE World Championship in their careers, they flopped as champions for several different reasons.
3
The common thread between most title reigns that ended rather soon; they are all faces. The heels tend to get a longer reign while the face is left chasing the title. Looking through every championship from WWE's long lineage, here is a good sample size of some title reigns that could have been better if they were just given a little bit more time.
Sasha Banks With The Raw Women's Championship
Her Five Reigns Lasted A Combined 116 Days
- Sasha held the title five times, one less than Charlotte at six with the record.
- Her longest single reign was 34 days.
- Every one of her reigns ended to the person she beat for the belt.
The Four Horsewomen of the WWE were typically always floating around the top of the card, being ready for a title reign whenever the time had to come. Bayley, Becky, and Charlotte all have lengthy title reigns to look back upon and are considered some of the greatest champions in modern WWE. Sasha Banks, on the other hand, never seemed to get that same treatment as a champion.
Her 167-day reign with the SmackDown Women's Championship was by far her only good reign on the main roster. Combining her five reigns as Raw Women's Champion doesn't even reach her single reign on SmackDown. Each reign would come to an end in just a few weeks (or less) by losing to the person she beat to capture the belt.
Mankind With The WWE Championship
Mick Foley Was Always Better At Chasing The Belt
- Had three reigns with the longest lasting 26 days.
- Mankind notably feuded with The Rock over the title.
- His third and final reign lasted one day.
Despite not being the most successful wrestler during the Attitude Era, it would be hard to find someone who didn't love Mick Foley. When he first captured the WWE Championship from The Rock on an episode of Monday Night Raw, the crowd freaked out, and it became one of the most touching moments of the era. That reign wouldn't last long due to his brutal "I Quit" match against The Rock at the 1999 Royal Rumble .
Mankind would get the belt back on Halftime Heat, before losing the belt again to The Rock just a couple of weeks later. It seemed that Mankind wasn't going to be champion again, until he beat Stone Cold and Triple H in a triple threat at SummerSlam 1999. Again, this reign wasn't made to last either, as he lost to Triple H the next night on Raw. So, across three reigns, Mankind couldn't even have a combined 50 days as champion.
Mankind & The Rock With The World Tag Team Championship
The Rock 'N' Sock Connection Didn't Find Success As Tag Team Champions
- The duo held the World Tag Team Championship three times, for a combined 15 days.
- All three reigns happened in 1999, which saw 15 title changes that year alone.
- None of those reigns went longer than a week.
Keeping on the subject of Mankind and championships in WWE, the combination of him and The Rock as The Rock 'n' Sock Connection couldn't find much success either. The two started teaming in 1999, a crazy time for the tag team division, and would capture the belts from The Unholy Alliance of The Big Show & The Undertaker that summer.
The belts would bounce around a few times before The Rock and Mankind captured them for a third and final time, with a reign that lasted only six days. Combining all three reigns reaches a total of 15 days, the second shortest for a team that had multiple reigns beside The Godwinns, who had two reigns for a combined nine days.
Ricky Steamboat With The Intercontinental Championship
He Was Punished For Being There For His Child's Birth
- Had one of the greatest WrestleMania matches against Randy Savage to capture the belt.
- Held the title for 65 days.
- Was planned to have a longer title reign.
It has been talked about to death how Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat went out for WrestleMania 3 and had arguably the best WrestleMania match in the history of the event that night. Steamboat earned a huge victory to capture his first singles title in the WWE, but the reign would end rather quickly for the time. For example, Savage before him held the belt for 414 days, while The Honky Tonk Man would have it for 454 days after him; Steamboat had it for 65.
Related
10 Former World Champions (Who Were Better As Midcard Champions)
While these pro wrestlers did reach the top of the mountain by becoming World Champions, they had better runs with midcard titles.
The plan was for Steamboat to have a much longer reign, but he asked to take some time off the road to support his wife who was pregnant and expecting to give birth to their first son . In turn, Steamboat wouldn't have any real feuds for the belt before dropping it to The Honky Tonk Man and shortly after departing from the WWE altogether.
Rey Mysterio With The WWE Championship
Won The Belt And Lost It The Same Day
- Won a tournament to crown a new champion after CM Punk "left" WWE.
- Was immediately challenged by John Cena.
- Mysterio was only champion for less than 2 hours.
The story between CM Punk and John Cena over the WWE Championship in 2011 is particularly loved due to the Pipebomb, the Money in the Bank match, and CM Punk leaving the company, but one person who suffered during this was Rey Mysterio. With Punk technically gone from the WWE, and the promotion needing to have a champion, a tournament was held to find a new one.
Rey Mysterio would be the guy to win it all and capture his first WWE Championship after years in the company. That reign wouldn't last as he was made to defend the belt against John Cena that very same night. Mysterio wouldn't ever hold the belt again, or even have a World Championship reign after that.
Dolph Ziggler With The World Heavyweight Championship
A Concussion Ended His Reign Prematurely
- Ziggler had one of the best Money in the Bank cash-ins of all time.
- Suffered a concussion and had to miss a month of television.
- Ziggler came back and dropped the gold to Alberto Del Rio at Payback.
This list is void of anyone who had to end a reign due to injury, as there isn't anything a promoter or a wrestler could do about that. In the case of Dolph Ziggler, he won the World Heavyweight Championship in a massive moment after WrestleMania 29, but suffered a concussion rather quickly and was forced to take some time off.
Now this only places here because he wasn't forced to vacate the belt or anything, but instead remained champion for the month he was gone and then dropped the title upon returning. If WWE allowed him to heal while holding the belt, it didn't seem necessary to have him lose it right after, as he was ready to compete, and he continued to do so as he feuded with Big E and AJ Lee afterward.
Kairi Sane With The NXT Women's Championship
Had A Short Reign In Between Shayna Baszler's Reigns
- Kairi Sane was hugely popular in NXT.
- Sane won the title at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 4 in 2018.
- Had the belt for 71 days, by far the shortest reign up to that point.
This entry isn't a ridiculously short one, but it deserved more nonetheless. The feud between Shayna Baszler and Kairi Sane over the NXT Women's Championship in 2018 was pretty great and saw the two trade the title a couple of times. Shayna has two reigns with the title lasting 133 and 416 days respectively, while Sane had one reign lasting 71 days.
Sane's time with the belt was the shortest in the championship's history, with Baszler's 133-day reign being the closest to it. It also marked, so far, the only time that Kairi has held a singles title in her WWE career, as she is most often found tagging alongside Iyo Sky or Asuka.
Zack Ryder With Any Singles Title
Was A Singles Champion In WWE For A Total Of 30 Days
- Captured the United States Championship at TLC 2011.
- Captured the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 32.
- Had much longer reigns with tag team gold.
WWE never got behind Zack Ryder. His insane level of popularity in 2011 was one of the first major examples of the audience being behind someone while the WWE did everything they could to ignore it. Eventually, the company gave in and had Ryder capture the United States Title from Dolph Ziggler at TLC 2011, a moment beloved by fans, before having him lose the title less than a month later.
Related
10 Best Star-Making Performances In WWE History
These all-time spectacular WWE matches and moments created major stars. Many of these wrestlers later became main eventers and World Champions.
WrestleMania 32 would be the next time Ryder captured a singles title in the WWE, as he was the replacement for Neville in the multi-man ladder match on the show. He would surprisingly win the Intercontinental Championship, but lost it to The Miz the following night on Raw. Now Ryder can be seen as Matt Cardona on the indy scene, where he has captured numerous singles titles, like the GCW World Championship , the TNA Digital Media Championship, and brought back his famous Internet Championship he created.
Rob Van Dam With The WWE & ECW Championship
Legal Issues Caused WWE To Lose Faith In Him
- Became a double champion as he held the WWE and ECW Championships.
- Dropped both titles less than a month after earning them.
- Was suspended for thirty days due to a drug possession arrest.
The revival of ECW was starting quite well due to the success of ECW One Night Stand and the face of the brand holding both the ECW and WWE Championship. Rob Van Dam seemed like he was going to be a major star after his Money in the Bank cash-in, but problems with the law caused that chance to dwindle.
Not even a month after winning the WWE Championship and being given the ECW Championship, Van Dam was arrested for marijuana possession. This would violate WWE's wellness policies and force RVD to lose both of his belts before serving a suspension of thirty days. Upon returning, he wouldn't be able to recapture the same success he had.
Daniel Bryan With The WWE Championship
His Original Time With The Belt Faced Many Problems
- Bryan's first reign lasted a few minutes as Randy Orton cashed in on him.
- His second reign lasted one night as he was stripped of the title by The Authority.
- Bryan's third reign ended because of a neck injury.
The Yes Movement swept the WWE in 2013 and saw Daniel Bryan skyrocket to the top of the card, having feuds with John Cena, Randy Orton, and The Authority over the WWE Championship. It was a special moment when he captured the belt for the first time after beating John Cena at SummerSlam 2013 , even though he lost it that same night.
Things would have been fine if the story was for Bryan to overcome the odds again before beating Orton to regain the belt, but that wouldn't happen as he had a single-day reign after Night of Champions, being forced to chase the title once more. Those are the reigns that could have been better, but his big moment finally came at WrestleMania 30 where he captured the WWE World Heavyweight Championship to end the show. Sadly, a neck injury caused that one to end before it was planned, so that was out of anyone's control.
