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Wrestling, like any other fighting competition, features title belts of various nature that wrestlers of the promotions will aim for. While some promotions will only have one or two belts, bigger promotions often have larger amounts of belts covering a variety of different stipulations. Due to the scripted nature of wrestling, champions are decided by the promoter or booker of the show, and these don't always go down well with the audience and fans.
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Countless wrestling promotions have devalued their titles by placing it in the hands of the wrong person. Unfortunately for some promotions, these titles don't always recover and sometimes the promotion will scrap the title and start again, others will try and make up for their mistake by trying to put the title around a more worthy holder.
Honorable Mention - WWE Cruiserweight Title
When the WWE purchased WCW one of the things that it got was WCW's Cruiserweight belt, with a legacy of holders such as Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko, and Eddie Guerrero. When it was bought over to the WWE product, it was held by Shane Helms. After the title was bounced around some technically gifted wrestlers, the title landed on Hornswoggle and was subsequently discontinued.
The Cruiserweight Championship was resurrected via the WWE Cruiserweight Classic 8 years after the original title was shelved. With participants such as Indie darlings like Zack Sabre Jr, Kota Ibushi, Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano, the Cruiserweight Classic went over extremely well with many wrestling fans, and as a result, several of the participants signed with the WWE.
However, the Cruiserweight Championship was soon back relegated to pre-show and 5-minute matches once it was brought to the main show. The belt is also responsible for the walkouts of Austin Aries and Neville from the WWE. There seemed to be a glimmer of hope when Cedric Alexander and Mustafa Ali competed for the belt at Wrestlemania, but in the months following the show 205 live has returned to it's falling popularity, the Cruiserweight title may once again find itself shelved.
#5 WWE Intercontinental Title
The WWE Intercontinental Title has a long and storied history, first awarded to legendary wrestler Pat Patterson. The Intercontinental Title was typically used as a mid-card title, with some great names holding reigns of the belt before going on to hold the main belt of the company. During the Attitude Era, such future stars like the Rock, Stone Cold and Triple H all had reigned with the belt, before that it was held by Hall of Famers like Brett Hart, Razor Ramon, Diesel and Shawn Micheals.
However, in a period between 2011-2014, the title was swapped between a list of wrestlers who were never able to make the next step up from the belt. This seemed to start with the title reign of Ezekiel Jackson and seemed to carry on the curse to the wrestlers that followed him for a period of time.
The Recovery
While Kevin Owen's reign with the belt was entertaining, the gleam of the Intercontinental title didn't properly seem to return until it was won by The Miz. The Miz vowed to bring the title back to the prominence it once had, and following an average feud with Dolph Ziggler, the Miz would then defend the title against genuine main event talent in the likes of Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Finn Balor.
#4 WWE Title
The WWE title is the main title of WWE programming, sharing top billing with the World Heavyweight title and now the WWE Universal Title. Held by the likes of Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, the Undertaker, Brett Hart, The Rock, Stone Cold, and John Cena to name a few that have held the belt in their time. The title has a history that stems back to the days of the WWWF, with the inaugural championship being held by the original Nature Boy Buddy Rogers.
However, in a completely cynical move, the WWE decided to put the belt on Indian-Canadian wrestler Jinder Mahal. In an effort to promote their product in India, WWE made the choice to put the belt on their most prominent under contract Indian wrestler. Mahal held the belt for a period of 170 days from taking the belt off Randy Orton to the day he dropped the title to AJ Styles.
The Recovery
Since winning the title, AJ Styles has made the WWE title the most coveted title in the promotion. While this was helped by the fact that the main belt on Raw was barely defended on PPVs during AJ's reign. However, since taking the belt, AJ has had feuds with Kevin Owens, Shinsuke Nakamura and is currently in a highly enjoyable feud with Samoa Joe. What is truly remarkable about this recovery is that during Mahal's reign with the Belt, AJ Styles was the US Champion. Leading fans to wish that the roles were reversed. Shortly after AJ won the belt, Jinder would go on to challenge and capture the US title.
#3 WCW World Heavyweight Title
Possibly one of the most prominent belts in the industry which had an unfortunate history of being tarnished due to a mix of poor booking failed promotions and just generally bad executions and bookings. The WCW title had originally been held by superstars like Sting, Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Randy Savage, and Hulk Hogan. The main title for the Georgia based WCW promotion was unified with the NWA belt until 1993 when WCW left the NWA.
The most notable cases of the WCW belt being devalued include when it was put on celebrity wrestling fan, David Arquette, to promote a movie and by having it change several times in screw finishers such as the "Poke of Death" between Kevin Nash and Hulk Hogan or the Bash at the Beach Incident. Not only did these events devalue the main title of World Championship Wrestling, but it also led to the slow decline of the promotion itself.
The Recovery
Unfortunately the title and brand suffered greatly throughout the multiple issues that the booking of the belt had towards the end of WCW's existence as a promotion. However, the last feuds of the company between Booker T and Scott Steiner did go some way to restore the prestige of the belt, unifying Steiner's World Heavyweight title with Booker T's US Title on the last episode of Nitro as a classic way to wrap up the promotion.
When the belt was in the hands of the WWE, it was given a greater significance by put on wrestlers like the Rock, Kurt Angle, and Chris Jericho and elevated to the same status as the WWF Championship.
#2 WWE Universal Title
Most of the titles on this list have a long and storied history, so it makes sense that in such a long history there will be booking mistakes along the way. This one isn't as excusable. Despite the look of the title being universally panned when it was revealed on Raw back on July the 25th 2016.
After a great start with Finn Balor defeating Seth Rollins at Summerslam, but was injured. This opened the title up to a 4 man elimination match, that was won by Kevin Owens. Owens played the role of heel champion to great effect, holding off challenges from Rollins and Reigns before dropping the title to Goldberg.
However, after Goldberg dropped the title to Brock Lesnar, the title started to lose its shine. Lesnar would go on to hold the title from Wrestlemania 33 to Summerslam 2018. In his 504 day reign, Lesnar defended the belt a grand total of 7 title defenses during his reign.
The Recovery
It's only just begun, but Reigns has finally managed to wrench the title away from Lesnar and the belt can once again become relevant to WWE programming again. Reigns' title defense got off to the best start, with a fight against Finn Balor on the Raw following his victory at Summerslam. Reigns will also set to defend the belt against Braun Strowman at Hell in a Cell.
#1 NWA World Heavyweight Title
At one time the most coveted belt in the wrestling world, the belt fell on hard times after the downfall of WCW and then a failed association with TNA. The reputation of the belt fell badly after the disassociation with TNA, as the belt failed to have a big name attached to it for a long period of time. The only recognizable name on the list of title holders since 2007 was Colt Cabana.
Considering the pedigree of the belt includes the likes of Ric Flair, Harley Race, and Lou Thesz, among others, the belt was lost in the shuffle as independent promotions pushed their own main titles above that of the NWA World Heavyweight title.
The Recovery
On the 1st of September 2018, Cody Rhodes faced off against the reigning NWA Heavyweight Champion, Nick Aldis at All In, the Bullet Club PPV. In the lead up to the event, Aldis and Rhodes battled in promos across a multitude of promotions. Even before Rhodes captured the title at the event, the lead-up to the event made the belt both relevant and prestigious again.
The belt is now held by Cody, famously the son of former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Dusty Rhodes, and one of the most famous wrestlers on the independent scene.
