It goes without saying that the WWE Championship is the biggest championship in the history of the WWE as well as professional wrestling. Whether called the WWE World Heavyweight Championship or the Undisputed WWE Championship, that title has an illustrious history with a myriad of different athletes having held the belt.
This belt has been held by the biggest names in professional wrestling, from legends Bruno Sammartino and Superstar Billy Graham to the modern-day giants in the sport like John Cena and Brock Lesnar.
There have been men who weren’t as capable from an athletic standpoint like Andre the Giant and Kevin Nash, and there have been phenomenal athletes and great technical wrestlers to hold that belt like the late, great Eddie Guerrero and Daniel Bryan.
Each year only a select group of individuals hold this title, and their Championship reigns are heavily criticised and analysed by fans and viewed as a microcosm of the WWE product.
This year, only five men held the WWE Championship, and each one had something unique about their title reigns. The longest reign between these men will exceed 100 days and possibly more while the shortest reign has been less than 10 minutes.
These men were deemed worthy to hold the biggest title in professional wrestling, and their reigns have had a great influence on the WWE product this past year. With that in mind, this article will be ranking the best WWE Championship reigns between these five men over the past year from the worst to the best.
#5 Seth Rollins
This isn’t really Seth Rollins’ fault because the crowd was more than willing to accept him as the WWE Champion, but the fact that it lasted less than a day is why it has to be ranked dead last.
Rollins returned to the WWE at the Extreme Rules PPV, attacked Roman Reigns, and made his intention to pursue the WWE Championship known. His mantra of redesign, rebuild, and reclaim was based on his severe knee injury that forced Rollins to vacate the title without losing it in a match and laid the foundation for his inevitable return to the world title picture.
Rollins and Reigns went to war over this Championship and put on a fantastic match worthy of any professional wrestling award. Rollins’ reign as champion began when he defeated Reigns for the title and ended swiftly when Dean Ambrose cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase.
With only minutes as the reigning, defending WWE Champion, his reign can be described as nothing more than transitional.
#4 Dean Ambrose
When Dean Ambrose cashed in his Money in the Bank Briefcase, fans rejoiced as the Lunatic Fringe finally joined his former brothers of The Shield as a WWE Champion. His cash-in not only erased doubt as to whether he would ever hold the title, but it also made all three members of The Shield WWE Champions in one night.
Sadly, his Championship reign would slowly start to decline from this point.
He had some good matches like the two against Seth Rollins heading into Battleground and the long-awaited Shield Triple Threat match at Battleground, but nothing ever really stood out. His reign did little to make him feel like a legit main eventer and more like a midcard guy who was lucky enough to cash in successfully.
He would fight The Miz in a Champion vs. Champion match and even fought Dolph Ziggler, but none of these actions moved the needle at all. His last great moment as the WWE Champion was putting over AJ Styles and losing the belt.
The fans were clamouring for Ambrose to win the belt, but once he won the title, his reign changed a lot of fans’ perspective of him and cost him some of his crowd support.
#3 Triple H
Triple H’s 14th reign as the WWE Champion was not well-received by fans, but it was good considering how short it was. Triple H won the belt in the Royal Rumble match after eliminating Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose. He wouldn’t defend the belt again until Roadblock, but he had some memorable moments as the Champion.
His attacks on Ambrose and Reigns established him as a badass heel with an axe to grind and his promos about not needing the title, but wanting it blurred reality and kayfabe perfectly. His match against Dean Ambrose at Roadblock was one of the best matches of the year, though the ending was a bit anti-climactic.
He would then have a decent nontitle match against Dolph Ziggler before engaging Reigns in a few more brawls. His title reign came to an end in the main event of WrestleMania 32 in front of more than 100,000 people when he lost it to Reigns. Overall, a decent championship reign with an ending we all saw coming.
#2 AJ Styles
By the time AJ Styles won the WWE Championship, he already had some of his best feuds. His matches with Chris Jericho, Roman Reigns, and John Cena were some of the best matches all year, and they helped to establish Styles as a main event player in WWE to the fans who never watched the indies.
Once Styles won the WWE Championship, he established himself as one of the all-time greats with a lot of great matches and world championships galore on his resume. Unfortunately, his Championship reign has been a mixed bag.
While Styles has managed to put on some good matches with Dean Ambrose and Cena as Champion, there have also been the overbearing comedy angles with James Ellsworth that take away from his first run with the belt. He has been the Champion for the past four months, yet his feuds have been more about comedy with Ellsworth than the rivalry he has with Ambrose.
He is the current WWE Champion and appears to be moving on from Ambrose as an opponent so that may help, but if his level of opponents doesn’t change, the Phenomenal One’s WWE Championship Reign will be in danger of being remembered as average at best.
#1 Roman Reigns
Roman Reigns may not be the most popular WWE Superstar on the roster, but he definitely had one of the best Championship reigns all year. His second title reign that led us into 2016 began when he won the title from Sheamus, after finally overcoming The League of Nations and Vince McMahon.
That Championship reign would come to an end at the Royal Rumble along with his support from the crowd, but Reigns best work as Champion was yet to come.
Reigns regained the WWE Championship at WrestleMania after beating Triple H in the main event. The next night on Raw, he came out and showed off a new cocky, arrogant side of himself that hadn’t been seen since NXT. His promos after that point weren’t any better, but the buildup and matches he engaged in were some of the best.
His rivalry with AJ Styles intensified heading into Extreme Rules and saw both men go back and forth with hard hitting attacks; both in the match and out of it. His last match as the WWE Champion was his match with Seth Rollins, where he lost clean after a great match that saw both men fight with everything they had, and some innovative moves from both of them.
His title reign wasn’t the longest, but the buildup and match quality of his title reign exceeded all the men on this list.
His character and persona still need work, but his championship reign was exactly was the best all year. Love him or hate him, the Big Dog’s Championship reigns was the best of 2016.
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