Examining Recent Trends in the Lengths of WWE Title Reigns

For some of its championships, WWE has taken a hurried approach in recent years. For others, titleholders have had reigns that offer the champs more time to savor their positions. 

The WWE World Heavyweight Championship and Intercontinental Championship have suffered from officials relying too much on the drama of new champions. With a few exceptions, those titles have felt more like turnstiles than hard-earned trophies.

The company has done a better job spreading things out with the Divas, United States and tag team titles.

As Night of Champions approaches and Cesaro, John Cena and Nikki Bella among the performers seeking to end their foes' reigns, the following is a look back at the length of various title reigns and how they affect the effectiveness of those championships.

We will only go as far back as 2011, eyeing trends in the early part of the decade.

High Turnover

Remove CM Punk's historic reign from the equation, and there's a clear pattern of quick turnarounds with the WWE title.

Examining the championship's history, one finds just two reigns of more than 100 days since 2011, not counting Punk of course. The title that should be the hardest to attain and be awarded to only the very best warriors fighting in the WWE world has surprisingly been treated like more of a midcard belt.

Champion	Date Won	Length of Reign (in days)
John Cena	5/1/11	77
CM Punk	7/17/11	28
Rey Mysterio	7/25/11	<1
John Cena	7/25/11	20
CM Punk	8/14/11	<1
Alberto Del Rio	8/14/11	35
John Cena	9/18/11	14
Alberto Del Rio	10/2/11	49
CM Punk	11/20/11	434
The Rock	1/27/13	70
John Cena	4/7/13	133
Daniel Bryan	8/18/13	<1
Randy Orton	8/18/13	28
Daniel Bryan	9/15/13	1
(Vacated)	9/16/13	N/A
Randy Orton	10/27/13	161
Daniel Bryan	4/6/14	64
(Vacated)	6/9/14	N/A
John Cena	6/29/14	49
Brock Lesnar	8/1714	30+ (ongoing)

In 2011, the title changed hands nine times. That includes five title changes from mid-July to mid-August alone.

After Punk's outlying year-plus reign, WWE returned to rapid-fire reigns in 2013. Fans saw a new WWE champ crowned seven times that year.

WWE is never going back to the days of Bruno Sammartino holding onto the strap for years at a time, but that much turnover devalues it.

That's especially true when there are cheap, forgettable reigns thrown in, as we saw with Mysterio in 2011 and with Bryan getting the belt taken away from him just one night after winning it last year.

Climbing the WWE mountaintop should be an odyssey, and once a wrestler reaches that peak, there shouldn't then be a chaotic scramble right away.

There's more drama in stretching out a champ's time in the throne.

Which reigns will fans remember 10 years from now—Punk's or Mysterio's? Hulk Hogan's dominance in 1984 or Batista's in-and-out reign in 2010?

It's less surprising that WWE has gone a similar route with the IC belt.

That championship hasn't felt important in years. A part of that is how much it's traded back and forth. Winning it hasn't been the great task that it once was.

The last three years are proof of that.

Champion	Date Won	Length of Reign (in days)
Kofi Kingston	1/4/11	77
Wade Barrett	3/22/11	89
Ezekiel Jackson	6/19/11	51
Cody Rhodes	8/19/11	236
Big Show	4/1/12	28
Cody Rhodes	4/29/12	21
Christian	5/20/12	64
The Miz	7/23/12	85
Kofi Kingston	10/16/12	74
Wade Barrett	12/29/12	94
The Miz	4/7/13	1
Wade Barrett	4/8/13	69
Curtis Axel	6/16/13	155
Big E	11/18/13	167
Bad News Barrett	5/4/14	57
(Vacated)	6/30/14	28
The Miz	7/2014	28
Dolph Ziggler	8/17/14	30

After Rhodes' 236-day reign, the IC belt changed hands six times in a single year. It wasn't until Axel and Big E's more recent runs with the title that a champ was given a true opportunity to be champ for a sustained amount of time.

Since 2011, there have been five IC title reigns that have lasted less than two months. A total of 17 reigns of taken place in that span. Look back at IC title history and compare that to the stretch from 1988 to 1991. 

This was a golden age for the title, when Hall of Famers Ultimate Warrior and Bret Hart won that belt.

During that span, there were zero IC reigns that went less than 60 days, and it only changed hands seven times. It'd be wise for WWE to circle back to that pattern, to aid the championship in feeling much more significant.

Longer Stretches

A blend of better timing, patience and inactivity have led to longer title reigns for the Divas, U.S. and tag championships.

Sheamus has surpassed the 130-day mark. The Usos are closing in on 200 days as the kings of the tag division.

And while 2014 has seen AJ Lee and Paige trade the Divas Championship back and forth, the majority of the reigns that preceded that were lengthy. Per WWE.com, six champs have held onto that title for more than 100 days, and two of them made it past 200 since 2011.

Champion	Date Won	Length of Reign (in days)
Eve Torres	1/30/11	71
Brie Bella	4/11/11	70
Kelly Kelly	6/20/11	104
Beth Phoenix	10/2/11	204
Nikki Bella	4/23/12	6
Layla	4/29/12	140
Eve Torres	9/16/12	120
Kaitlyn	1/14/13	153
AJ Lee	6/16/13	295
Paige	4/7/14	84
AJ Lee	6/30/14	48
Paige	8/17/14	30+ (ongoing)

There has been no overload of title wins in a short span, either. In 2014, four champions were crowned. In each year after that, there have been three, two and three title changes, respectively.

That's similar to what we've seen regarding the United States Championship, per WWE.com.

Number of U.S. Championship title changes from 2011-2014:

It's been true for the recent history of the tag belts as well.

Number of Tag Team Championship title changes from 2011-2014:

Take away the kookiness involving The Corre in 2011, and there has generally been significant runs for each teach that wins the gold.

That's allowed teams like Team Hell No, The Shield and Cody Rhodes and Goldust to make significant connections with the crowd. They had a number of opportunities to make an impression and fight off a variety of foes.

Those teams remained champs for 245, 148 and 104 days, respectively. That's a far cry from Cena holding onto the WWE title for just two weeks in 2011 or Rhodes' forgettable 21-day reign in 2012.

The result has been when these championships finally do change, it makes for a more powerful moment.

WWE certainly hasn't booked the U.S., tag and Divas belts perfectly, though. Dean Ambrose held the U.S. title for nearly a year, but too often he did so by not defending it.

Long reigns don't mean anything if the champs aren't challenged. Being able to take a nap on the top of the hill, as Ambrose did, is nowhere near as thrilling as having a champion ward off various gladiators to stay there.

Sheamus and The Usos are likely to be closing in on the end of their time as champions. Cesaro, Stardust and Goldust are charging up on them.

Here's hoping that if those challengers do win at Night of Champions that WWE doesn't rush to rip the gold away from them. Eras are more entertaining than blips.