10 worst championship reigns in WWE from the 2010s

Not everyone can be a champion in the WWE, and even then, not every champion is guaranteed to have a successful title reign. If you want proof of that then all you need to do is go back over the last seven years and look at some of the reigns we’ve been forced to sit through, because trust us, they were brutal.

From 2010 onwards there’s obviously been a great deal of change in the company, but that still doesn’t justify some of the decisions that we’re about to run down. In terms of the criteria we’ve used, all 10 of these champions either weren’t given the respect they deserved from the writers or just didn’t deserve to be champion at all.

Before we get started we’ll let you all know that 24 hour/48 hour reigns don’t feature on this list, because while they were indeed bad, we’d be here all night listing them.

With that being said, here are our 10 worst championship reigns in WWE from the 2010s.

#10) Natalya – SD Live Women’s Championship

Nattie just never really clicked as champion

We’ve heard a great deal about how Natalya is one of the most underrated members of the main roster for years now, and in the present day, it’s time for her fans to realise that it’s just not true anymore. While we all understand that she’s an incredibly capable in-ring performer, she just doesn’t have the personality or character necessary to thrive at the top of the women’s division.

A perfect example of that would be her reign as SD Live Women’s Champion, which astonishingly lasted for almost three months. In that time she just sort of felt like a placeholder who was waiting for Charlotte Flair to come along and claim the belt, and because of that, she’s earned herself a spot on this list.

#9) Alberto Del Rio – World Heavyweight Championship

Alberto's fall from grace hasn't been subtle

Alberto Del Rio has fallen off the face of the earth in terms of star power in recent years, with his troubles outside of the ring casting a shadow over some of his work since joining WWE back in 2010. You see, when he originally came into the fold, he seemed destined to become the World Heavyweight Champion over on the blue brand.

But for one reason or another WWE decided to wait another two and a half years before putting the strap on him, and as a result, he lost about 85-90% of his momentum. Del Rio was clearly just holding onto the belt for a few months before it was unified alongside the WWE Championship, and while we didn’t know that at the time, his feuds weren’t exactly awe-inspiring.

#8) Kofi Kingston – Intercontinental Championship

Kingston has come a long way in the last few years

Kofi Kingston has come a long way over the last few years, with his original role within the company seemingly being ‘the guy we give the mid-card titles to when we don’t know what else to do’. Thankfully he’s moved onto bigger and better things with The New Day, but it’s always important to give a nod back to the past.

In this instance, we’re referring to one of Kofi’s many irrelevant IC title reigns, and to be honest, we could’ve thrown all of them together in one list of its own. It was October 2012 and Kingston had defeated The Miz for the belt on Main Event of all things, before inevitably losing the championship back to Wade Barrett just two months later.

#7) Sasha Banks – Raw Women’s Championship

In terms of title reigns, Sasha Banks has been incredibly unlucky over the last few years despite being arguably the most popular female in professional wrestling. She has personified what it means to be a hot potato champion, with the perfect example being her SummerSlam title victory that occurred just a few short months ago.

After finally dethroning the seemingly unstoppable Alexa Bliss, Sasha proceeded to lose the belt back to her just eight days later on a random episode of Monday Night Raw. At least when she had her series with Charlotte Flair there was a storyline in place, but all this did was make her seem like a weak champion for what felt like the 100th time.

#6) Nikki Bella – Divas Championship

We’re sticking with the women for our next entry, with this one taking place back in April 2012. Now while some fans may choose to hate on Nikki Bella we actually think she’s had a few solid tenures as champion, but this wasn’t one of them with one of the main points of contention being that she captured the belt from the dominant Beth Phoenix.

Plus, she held onto the title for less than a week before Layla of all people won it from her. Look, we all know that this was a bad time for the women in WWE as they clearly weren’t getting much respect, but this kind of title change may well have been the cherry on top.

Side note: we’d honestly love it if either one of these women returned in the upcoming 30-woman Royal Rumble match.

#5) Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov – Tag Team Championships

The tag titles shouldn't be seen as a joke

The Tag Team Championships are supposed to represent the magnificence of tag team wrestling, but on too many occasions over the years it’s been used as nothing more than a prop. Case in point: Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov were both great characters in their prime, but giving them the chance to hold onto the tag titles was a joke of a decision.

The two won the belts in late 2010 by defeating The Nexus, which is a crime against wrestling in itself. Bizarrely enough they wound up losing the titles to The Corre just a few months later, ending one of the most embarrassing chapters of the tag title lineage in recent memory.

At least Slater & Rhyno had a fun story.

#4) John Cena – WWE Championship

Much like Kofi Kingston, there are plenty of John Cena world title reigns that we could’ve put on this list. After all, you don’t get to be a 16-time world champion without having some seriously inadequate reigns – and for John, we’ve managed to pick one that truly was a slap in the face of the WWE Championship’s prestige.

Not only did he defeat Del Rio who had only recently captured the belt at SummerSlam, but he also proceeded to drop it back to him just 14 days later at Hell in a Cell. Why not just have Alberto retain through shenanigans at Night of Champions before having him do the same thing in the gimmick match?

We’re thankful for what John has done for this business, but this was a huge waste of Del Rio’s potential.

#3) Dean Ambrose – United States Championship

Ambrose should never hold a midcard title again

You may have noticed that the majority of these title reigns didn’t actually last very long, but for this entry, we’re picking a United States Championship tenure that went on for almost a full year. In fact, not only did it go on for so long, but it was held by a man who many fans consider to be one of the most popular stars in the entire company.

Dean Ambrose was always going to be a breakout star in WWE, but do you know what doesn’t help his cause? Giving him the US title as a prop before having him defend it as little as he possibly can. It was clear to everyone that this was being done so that every member of The Shield had a piece of gold around their waist, and that’s just not right.

#2) Enzo Amore – Cruiserweight Championship

The King of the Cruiserweights Neville made 205 Live relevant over the course of an iconic title reign, and all it took was one night of madness for Enzo Amore to destroy all of that hard work. Sure, Enzo is a recognisable face, but having him win the championship from Neville was such a huge, huge insult.

During his time as champion, Enzo made the belt feel like nothing more than a toy, and you could just feel the disrespect pouring out of him. Amore is someone who clearly thinks he’s one of the biggest stars in the company when in reality, he’s one of the primary reasons why 205 Live is in such a poor state right now.

P.S: we’re specifically referring to his first tenure as champion when he lost the belt to Kalisto almost immediately.

#1) Bray Wyatt – WWE Championship

It doesn’t take a genius to realise that Bray Wyatt is by far the most interesting character in WWE, and after three and a half years of not booking him correctly, it seemed as if the higher-ups were finally ready to take Wyatt to the next level by crowning him as the new WWE Champion at the Elimination Chamber pay per view.

What we didn’t know at the time, however, was that this was all being done as a way to put the belt back on Randy Orton. Bray was being set up to fail from the word go and the lacklustre nature of their WrestleMania 33 showdown made this all the more painful to watch.

Wyatt has taken some serious knocks during his main roster career, but this is by far the worst of them all.