Top 5 greatest WWE Championship reigns of the last decade

The WWE Championship is the most prestigious prize any professional wrestler on the planet will dream of winning at least once in their career. Regardless of the emerging competition from NJPW and Impact Wrestling, the WWE Championship has not lost its relevance and probably never will.

The championship has a rich history of five decades since its inception, and has created many legends in the industry. 50 superstars have held the prestigious title, starting from Buddy Rogers to the current champion AJ Styles.

Over the course of the five decades of its existence, the 50 elite superstars have had decent runs with the WWE Championship, and a majority of those superstars had the privilege to have multiple reigns with the prestigious title.

21 superstars have held the WWE Championship over the last ten years, and every one of them went on to have entertaining reigns, let's look at the top 5 greatest WWE title reigns of the last decade.

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#5 Triple H (2009)

Triple H is one of the most decorated superstars in the history of the WWE, and is a 14 time world champion in the company. The fourteen world titles comprise an impressive nine reigns with the WWE Championship, and three of them came in the last ten years.

The most notable WWE title reign for Triple H came in 2009 when he won the title in an elimination chamber match at No Way Out. What made the title reign special was the feud with Randy Orton. WWE embedded everything a fan could ask for in the program and gave us one of the most entertaining storylines in the company's history.

The build-up towards their match at WrestleMania 25 and the fall out leading to their rematch at Backlash made Triple H's WWE title reign one of the greatest in the last decade.

Triple H is the current EVP of talents and live events in the WWE, and is working a limited schedule in the ring. He has turned his focus to creating the future superstars of the WWE.

#4 AJ Styles (2017-2018)

The current WWE Champion gets the fourth spot on this rundown. AJ Styles has been a part of the WWE for over two years and is already a two time WWE Champion and two time United States Champion.

Styles has won many championships all over the world, and it's safe to say he reached the pinnacle of his career when he won the WWE Championship. His current WWE title reign has to be one of the best title runs of all times and has found its rightful place on this rundown.

Styles has held the WWE Championship for 255+ days as of this writing, and is the only person aside CM Punk to have crossed 250 days with the WWE Championship in the last decade.

General Manager Paige will reveal AJ Styles' next challenger on this week's episode of SmackDown Live, and Samoa Joe is the person who is rumored to face Styles for the title at SummerSlam. We'll get the answer this Friday on SmackDown Live.

#3 Seth Rollins (2014)

Seth Rollins made history when he won the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 31 by cashing his MITB contract during the main event match between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns. WWE recognised this as the greatest MITB cash in ever by posting a video on YouTube.

No one expected Rollins to emerge as the first WWE Champion of the three Shield brothers. Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose overshadowed Rollins during the trio's run as The Shield, and it came off as a surprise when Rollins was chosen to be the one to betray the Hounds of Justice.

Rollins held the title for an impressive 220 days. The count would've been even higher if he didn't injure his knee at a house show and had to relinquish the title.

Seth Rollins had great matches against the likes of John Cena, Randy Orton, and Brock Lesnar during his run with the WWE Championship, and played the role of a cunning heel champion to perfection and deserves to be a part of this list.

#2 Randy Orton (2009)

Randy Orton was at the height of his notoriety during his program with Triple H in 2009. Orton started a feud with the McMahons when he attacked Vince McMahon and punted him in the head.

Orton followed it up by winning the Royal Rumble match to earn the opportunity to wrestle for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 25.

Orton drew Triple H into the feud after hitting Stephanie McMahon with an RKO after his match against Shane McMahon on Raw. Orton explained he did all of this to exact revenge on Triple H for kicking him out of Evolution.

Orton faced Triple H for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 25 in a failed attempt, but won the title a month later on BackLash. Though the title reign was short as he dropped the title to Batista at Extreme Rules, the entire build-up towards Orton's win and his heel antics made his reign one of the best in history.

#1 CM Punk (2011 - 2013)

When we speak about the greatest WWE Championship reigns of the last decade, the conversation begins with CM Punk's record breaking 434 days run with the WWE Title.

Punk began his run on a high note by winning the title from John Cena at MITB 2011. Punk held the title for an impressive 434 days until the point when he dropped it to The Rock at the 2013 Royal Rumble.

Brock Lesnar broke Punk's record when he crossed 435 days with the Universal Championship. But what makes Punk's reign more special than Lesnar's was the variety in Punk's character. He started his reign as a babyface and tuned heel midway.

His title reign was entertaining irrespective of him being a face or a heel, and that is what defines a true champion. Punk walked out of the WWE in 2014 and tried his luck inside the octagon in two unsuccessful attempts.

It's unclear if he'll ever return to the WWE after leaving on such bad terms. But time heals many wounds, and we can hope WWE and Punk decide to let bygones be bygones and work on the latter's return to the company.