WWE Champions: Looking at the Current Title Reigns

Carrying a championship in WWE means you are the best, or at least one of the best.  You have faced more than your share of challengers, and the gold around your waist or over your shoulder proves you have defeated many an opponent who dared to say they were better than you.

There are currently six championship belts in the WWE, and this article is going to take a look at their current owners, how long they have held them and where they will or could go from here.  I will leave my readers to delve into whether or not they have been good or bad champions in the comment section below.

Speaking of readers, I would like to thank the B/R contributor who suggested this idea for a list to me.  I must apologize for not remembering your user name, but let this be an example of me always listening to everyone who reads my articles here.  I deeply appreciate it!

Now, on to the show!

Title reign lengths are accurate as of August 6, 2012.

The Miz: Intercontinental Champion for 14 Days

Michael Cole has brought up The Miz's new status as a Triple Crown winner several times since he won the Intercontinental Championship from Christian at Raw 1000.  He beat Christian again to retain the title four days later on Smackdown.  With this, there is only one championship left in WWE that he has not captured. 

It will be interesting to see what happens here.  Cody Rhodes spent a total of almost nine months as the Intercontinental Champion and has been wrestling on Superstars since he lost the Money in the Bank match. 

Is The Miz going to give glory back to the belt, or is he being put in position for someone to steal a big victory from him for the title?

R-Truth and Kofi Kingston: Tag Team Champions for 98 Days

Some people have said tag-team wrestling has not been the greatest in a few years, specifically in WWE.  Others will tell you it has been that way for decades.  It does look like the championships are beginning to share some spotlight again with the continued feuding of Truth and Kofi (they really need a team name) and the Prime Time Players.

Titus O'Neil and Darren Young lost their championship match on Raw the night after Money in the Bank, but that hasn't deterred Abraham Washington from continuing to pursue the gold to put around his clients' waists.  I enjoy Kofi and Truth, but the Players seem to me like a "real" tag team, and if they win the titles, I can see a long run for them, provided AW's gaffe on the microphone didn't indirectly put his team in the doghouse.

Layla: Divas Champion for 99 Days

From the moment Nikki Bella was ordered into a match with a mystery opponent at Extreme Rules, just about everyone expected Kharma to come through the curtain and destroy the twins. 

Instead, Layla returned after a year of recovering from a knee injury and has managed to defeat just about every Diva on the roster, while Kharma is no longer with WWE.

While the roster is thin and I cannot see a Kelly Kelly heel turn happening, the developmental roster has a bunch of potential Divas waiting for their opportunity.  Couple this with the fact that Sara Del Rey is eventually joining the company, and we just might see the Divas in the spotlight again after the retooling that is taking place right now.

Sheamus: World Heavyweight Champion for 127 Days

With one Brogue Kick, Sheamus set the world on fire and won the World Heavyweight Championship from Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania.  Sheamus has pounded the competition since then and has only been "defeated" twice since, dropping one of three falls to Bryan at Extreme Rules and getting disqualified against Alberto Del Rio a few nights after WrestleMania.

Sheamus is set to face Del Rio once again at SummerSlam, but the competition for him should be heating up.  Randy Orton is back, Dolph Ziggler has a briefcase and Wade Barrett will be returning from injury very soon.  If I had to choose, I would say the World Heavyweight Championship has the most uncertain future out of any on the list.

Santino Marella: United States Champion for 154 Days

What started as a two-minute fluke has become the second-longest reign in WWE.  Santino Marella, despite only defending the United States Championship on a handful of occasions, has held fast to the title for months after he rolled up Jack Swagger.

Santino's days might be numbered, though.  Antonio Cesaro has pinned him in the middle of the ring twice on Smackdown, with the most recent victory coming after Santino apparently forgot that your pinned opponent's foot on a rope breaks up the fall. 

Cesaro undoubtedly has a United States Championship opportunity in the near future, and when he gets it, expect the Cobra to fail.

CM Punk: WWE Champion for 260 Days

Let's talk numbers.

CM Punk has been WWE Champion since Survivor Series.  By the time SummerSlam gets here, he will have passed Billy Graham, The Ultimate Warrior, Kurt Angle and The Rock in combined days as champion.  When you consider the fact that he has already moved past Ric Flair, Edge and The Undertaker on that same list, in a WWE where John Cena is still very much alive and well, the history we are seeing being written by Punk every week is nothing short of amazing.

More than any other champion, and especially now that he is no longer a full-fledged good guy, the question on everyone's mind is: Who is going to beat CM Punk for the WWE Championship? 

Will he walk out of SummerSlam as champion?  What will happen between him and John Cena at Night of Champions, which will take place in Boston?  Will CM Punk end up defending the WWE Title against The Rock at the Royal Rumble?

I actually have my own answers for those questions, but I will save them for my next article on Tuesday.  For now, I would like to hear what everyone thinks about the championships and what could happen next for them. 

Thank you, as always, for reading!