Interesting facts about some WWE titles from over the past year

Some titles are more prestigious with longer reigns while some are like hot potatoes
Some titles are more prestigious with longer reigns while some are like hot potatoes

While the Universal Championship became a fixture around Brock Lesnar's waist as did the WWE Championship around AJ Styles' waist, not every title in the WWE had one or two owners last year.

Since the beginning of 2018, several titles, including the Intercontinental Championship and United States Championship, have been passed around more than a hot potato.

A lot depends on who WWE wants to push at any given time, while others change hands simply because Vince McMahon wills it to happen.

While that is good for some championships at certain points, too many title changes often lead to a devaluation of a particular championship.

If a title has over double-digit holders in a calendar year, it only decreases the worth that title holds in WWE.

While some titles change hands faster than the Flash, others can often remain with one or two wrestlers a year.

Not all titles are treated the same, but some had some strange journeys over last year and beyond in the WWE.

Here are five interesting facts regarding some of the titles in the WWE that go to show us how WWE books some titles and how it treats others.


#5 Brock Lesnar defended his title at PPVs 7 times since the start of 2018, and 3 times against Roman Reigns

The Beast strangled the Universal Championship for most of 2018 and 2019.
The Beast strangled the Universal Championship for most of 2018 and 2019.

Depending on your stance regarding Brock Lesnar, you may love the guy or absolutely detest him and what he stands for.

Since Mr. McMahon wanted to keep Lesnar in the WWE and keep the Beast happy, he kept the red belt around the Beast's waist for nearly a year and a half the first time.

In 2018, he faced Roman Reigns for the title three times, defending it twice while ultimately losing it at SummerSlam last Summer.

His other defenses came against Braun Strowman (2 times) and Finn Balor at the Royal Rumble this year. He also defended it in a Triple Threat with Strowman and Kane at last year's Rumble.

Poor Strowman has challenged for the title on 6 occasions since the title's creation, only winning by disqualification once and obviously failing the other five times.

#4 The Bar lost the titles twice to gimmick teams

The Bar has lost the titles to some strange opponents not named the New Day or Usos
The Bar has lost the titles to some strange opponents not named the New Day or Usos

Along with the Usos and New Day, the Bar has been one of the top teams in all of WWE, whether on Raw or SmackDown.

At last year's WrestleMania, the Bar walked in as Raw Tag Team Champions slated to face Braun Strowman and a mystery partner.

Strowman had entered a battle royal before Mania in order to determine the challengers for the Bar at WrestleMania 34.

'The Monster Among Men' won and made everyone wait until the day of the show. What we got was Strowman and the 10-year old Nicholas challenging the Bar, with the Bar doing the job for Strowman and Nicholas.

Nicholas and Strowman relinquished the titles on the next night, but that wasn't the end of the strange losses the Bar would face with tag titles.

When they became SmackDown Tag Team Champions over the Fall, a storyline began between Shane McMahon and the Miz.

It was clearly to start a program for a potential match at WrestleMania 35, but it came at the expense of Sheamus and Cesaro when MizMahon won the titles at the Elimination Chamber from the Bar.

So instead of trading the titles with the Usos and the New Day, they did so with a monster and a kid and two guys with daddy issues.

#3 The Championship that changed hands the most times was... a three way tie with nine title changes each

The mid-card titles are treated a lot differently than the major titles in WWE
The mid-card titles are treated a lot differently than the major titles in WWE

Due to some strange booking and some strange pairings since the start of 2018, the US Championship, the Intercontinental Championship and the Raw Tag Team titles all changed hands on nine different occasions.

In contrast, the Universal Championship has only had three holders in that time span in Lesnar, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins.

The brand split really hurt Raw's tag teams, leaving the division full of teams comprised of singles stars (the B-Team, Deleters of Worlds, Ambrose/Rollins, McIntyre/Ziggler, Gable/Roode), the Revival and the Authors of Pain.

Since there weren't really many established teams to build the division around, they all had short runs with the titles to flesh out storylines.

The mid-card titles also had strange experiences since the start of 2018, each changing hands nine times.

Having the Superstar Shake Up right after Mania last year hurt the US Title as Randy Orton, Jinder Mahal and Jeff Hardy all held the title in the span of one week.

That didn't change much between Rusev, Shinsuke Nakamura and R-Truth earlier this year or the Intercontinental Title between Seth Rollins, the Miz and Dolph Ziggler in 2018 and Bobby Lashley and Finn Balor on the Road to WrestleMania.

#2 Charlotte Flair's roller-coaster ride with the SmackDown Women's Title

Her last reign was all of two whole weeks
Her last reign was all of two whole weeks

It's pretty apparent that WWE is booking Charlotte Flair to one day, and maybe in the next couple of years, surpass her father's 16 World Title reigns.

She's already an eight-time champion in only four plus years on the main roster. Since WrestleMania 34, Flair has defended, lost, regained, lost, regained and lost the SmackDown Women's Title between WrestleMania 34 and 35.

Flair started the roller coaster ride as SmackDown Champion at WrestleMania 34 where she retained her title after ending Asuka's undefeated streak.

It continued when she lost the title to Carmella on the SmackDown after Mania due to a Money in the Bank cash-in. She won it back at SummerSlam but then lost it again at Hell in a Cell to Becky Lynch.

While that would have been fine, booking wasn't having any of that as Lynch dropped the title to Asuka at TLC only for Flair to win it back from Asuka two weeks before Mania.

The ride ended when the Queen lost it again at WrestleMania 35 in the 'Winner Takes All' match with Lynch and Ronda Rousey.

A lot of people gave Sasha Banks flack for failing to defend the Raw Women's Title after winning it, but Flair has been just as bad on occasion.

#1 Samoa Joe is the only champion to walk into WrestleMania 35 and still hold the title to this day

Samoa Joe is somewhat lucky to be holding the US Title at the moment
Samoa Joe is somewhat lucky to be holding the US Title at the moment

As mentioned on slide #3, the United States Championship changed hands nine times since the beginning of 2018.

While it has had some shaky booking at various points over the last year and a half, and even before Mania, Samoa Joe captured his first taste of singles gold on the main roster when he won the title on the SmackDown before Fastlane.

He defended it again on the PPV and accomplished an impressive feat at WrestleMania 35 when he was the only singles champion to walk both in and out of the show as champion.

Brock Lesnar lost to Seth Rollins, Kofi Kingston defeated Daniel Bryan, and Becky Lynch walked out as dual Women's Champion.

In addition, Finn Balor won back the Intercontinental Championship, Buddy Murphy's awesome title reign ended with Tony Nese claiming the Cruiserweight Title and the Revival lost to Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder.

The first-ever Women's Tag Team Champs also dropped their titles to the IIconics in a Fatal Four Way.

And if that wasn't, even though the Usos walked in and out of Mania with their titles, they lost them to the Hardys on the ensuing episode of SmackDown.

For a title that wasn't really that well-regarded due to its booking and placement on PPVs, the fact that Joe was allowed to win it, keep it and still have it is astonishing after learning the fate of the other titles.

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