Randy Orton and the 25 Worst WWE Champs of All Time

The Miz's shocking Money in the Bank cash-in has led to a new WWE Champion. The Miz now begins just the 102nd WWE title reign in history. I thought that this would be as good a time as any to list the 25 worst WWE championship reigns in history.

Before I go any further, anyone who objects to the list and asks where King Booker or The Great Khali is, they were only World Heavyweight Champions and, therefore, do not qualify for the list.

Keep in mind that because I am doing the 25 worst reigns, three men have popped up twice on this list.

Edge's Third Reign

Date: November 23, 2008

Length of Reign: 21 days

We will start off with the Ultimate Opportunist. While I have been a fan of Edge and think he is one of the best wrestlers that this decade has to offer, his nine world championships are not only unfair at the time, but cheap wins historically.

At the 2008 Survivor Series, Jeff Hardy was scheduled to face Triple H and Vladamir Kozlov in a triple threat match for the WWE Championship. Hardy was a no-show, citing an attack Hardy endured in his hotel earlier in the day. Vickie Guererro named Edge as the surprise replacement for Hardy. Edge came down at the end of the match and speared himself to his third WWE Championship win.

Batista's First Reign

Date: July 7, 2009

Length of Reign: 2 days

Batista is more known for holding the World Heavyweight Championship, but it was his first time holding the WWE Championship that gets him on this list. After a steel cage match at Extreme Rules 2009, The Animal defeated Randy Orton and walked away with the championship. Two days later, it was announced that the champ had suffered a torn left bicep and would have to vacate the championship. Six days later, Orton would reclaim his title.

This isn't Batista's fault, but did he suffer the injury within the match? Would the creative team have scrambled to have Orton retain the belt in the match, and not give the belt to Batista?

John Cena's Sixth Reign

Date: February 21, 2010

Length of Reign: 0

This is one of the few pictures of John Cena's sixth WWE Championship reign. That is because just moments after Cena survived an Elimination Chamber match, Vince McMahon came out and gave Batista a title match right on the spot. Batista squashed the exhausted Cena.

This would have been higher on the list if it hadn't been at a time where it established two WrestleMania matches. Cena would get a rematch against Batista for the title, while Sheamus faced Triple H, who pinned him in the chamber.

Hulk Hogan's Sixth Reign

Date: April 21, 2002

Length of Reign: 28 days

Hulk Hogan will forever be linked to the WWE Championship, but we could have easily have stayed at five championship reigns. Having Hogan away from the world championship would have been a good idea. However, WWE had bad ideas instead.

They, instead, took the other route. The "let's make a bad decision" route. They gave Hogan the belt for one more go-around with it. He would lose it to The Undertaker, even bringing in Vince McMahon to screw Hogan. Right before the end of this reign, the World Wrestling Federation became World Wrestling Entertainment. I'm not blaming this title reign for the reason that WWE will never be the same as WWF, but this didn't do the argument any favors.

The Big Show's First Reign

Date: November 14, 1999

Length of Reign: 50 days

Big Show has one of the longer reigns of the 25 on this list. There have been shorter ones since, so how come he belongs here?

Take Stone Cold Steve Austin, run him over with a car and fill his spot in a match with The Rock and Triple H with a guy who started with the company nine months ago. Somehow, they managed to pull Big Show away from his high-profile feud with...The Big Boss Man? The feud continued, but brought in the championship. Somehow, Triple H and The Rock watch idly by for the rest of the millenium?

You do the math.

Sycho Sid's Second Reign

Date: February 17, 1997

Length of Reign: 34 days

Sycho Sid...Psycho Sid...Whatever the heck you want to spell his name like is considered by many to be one of the worst WWE Champions ever. Why, you might ask? After all, he is a two-time champion.

While that is all well and good, the back story shows that he was never destined for greatness. In fact, if not for Shawn Michaels, Sid would likely have never held the belt. His first reign began so that Michaels could regain the belt at Royal Rumble in his hometown of San Antonio.

As for this reign, this was because HBK chose to avoid an altercation with Bret Hart, the champion at the time, at WrestleMania. Sid continued the long-standing tradition of Hart family members losing at Survivor Series by dethroning Bret and going to WrestleMania, only to lose the championship to feed The Undertaker's WresleMania streak, which stood at 6-0 after that match.

Sheamus's First Reign

Date: December 13, 2009

Length of Reign: 70 days

Sheamus and his 70 days as champion are forgettable. He hops from ECW to RAW out of nowhere, wins a battle royal for a title match against Cena and nudges him through the table to become champion.

Is that all? Nope.

He then retains via DQ at Royal Rumble and loses in an Elimination Chamber match. Nice going, fella...

JBL's First Reign

Date: June 27, 2004

Length of Reign: 280 days

This was a LONG reign. JBL's only world championship was so long that no other reign by anyone not named John Cena has been longer since Diesel in 1994.

However, it just seems too unlikely. This wasn't a debuting superstar. This was a 37-year-old man who had been a tag team wrestler for what seemed like ages. Suddenly wearing a suit and a cowboy hat led to a 10-month reign full of controversial finishes and disqualifications?

Chris Jericho's First Reign

Date: December 9, 2001

Length of Reign: 98 days

I'll explain this one. Jericho is clearly not a bad champion and never has been one. In fact, it is a rather easy argument to say that Jericho is one of the greatest champions of the past two decades. However, it just seemed like Jericho stuck out in a four-man tournament to crown the first Undisputed Champion. In one night, Jericho defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, literally one after the other.

It just felt as if that fourth spot at the time belonged to someone else. It would be the same as if you had seen a guy like John Cena in 2003 or 2004 defeat Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle in the same night. Not that it wasn't going to happen or that he wasn't capable of it at the time, but it all put us on notice. Given the placement of his breakout, it was hard to not notice.

Eddie Guerrero's First Reign

Date: February 15, 2004

Length of Reign: 133 days

Take a lifetime mid-card wrestler, build him up with the idea of lying, cheating and stealing, and somehow get the crowd to get behind him. Then, make sure that this guy is 37 years old and has had demons within from alcohol and drug abuse. Finally, have a dominant young man who is viewed by many as the future of the business and have him lose to this man. This was the scene at No Way Out in 2004, when Brock Lesnar lost his championship to Eddie Guererro.

Listen, I will never say that Eddie Guererro didn't deserve the WWE Championship, but it just didn't make sense to give it to him at that point in his life. Eddie was a fantastic champion and, if not for his untimely death, Guererro would have been a two-time world champion, which would alleviate the pressure from this lone reign.

Edge's First Reign

Date: January 8, 2006

Length of Reign: 21 days

The birth of the Money in the Bank cash-in.

All that hate on The Miz for what he did can be blamed on Edge. This was the first time that a vulnerable champion was preyed upon by a man in a briefcase, and it has happened so many times since.

Not two minutes after surviving an Elimination Chamber match, John Cena was subjected to a spear and a loss of his championship (sound familiar?).

I won't knock this way of winning the title, as I have always been a fan of Money in the Bank and the way that it is successfully used. However, it was a chance to elevate a young man who was finally getting a world championship and main event matches. Edge went into Royal Rumble three weeks later and gave the belt right back to John Cena. This would set the standard for most of Edge's title reigns.

Stan Stasiak's First Reign

Date: December 1, 1973

Length of Reign: 9 days

At a live event in Philadelphia, Stasiak won the championship from Pedro Morales, who had held the championship for 1,027 days. Nine days later, he lost it to Bruno Sammartino, who would hold the title for 1,237 days. I guess Stasiak did something wrong.

Jeff Hardy's First Reign

Date: December 14, 2008

Length of Reign: 42 days

That's right, people. He held the belt only once for six weeks. It felt more like six months. In one celebration, Hardy is given practically two months worth of pyrotechnics. From a historical perspective, this reign meant nothing. It is easily one of the most overrated reigns in wrestling history.

Sheamus's Second Reign

Date: June 20, 2010

Length of Reign: 91 days

Look who decided to come back. A mistake so nice that they made it twice, Sheamus became champion once again during the Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view. With distractions from Nexus, Sheamus slipped in for the quick pin. He followed that stellar performance up with a steel cage match victory at Money In The Bank after Nexus prevented Cena from touching his feet on the floor.

After some other things that we all forgot about, including a short title match with Zack Ryder (woo woo woo?), Sheamus lost his title in a Six-Pack Challenge to Randy Orton. Orton held it until The Miz cashed in last night. Ever since, Sheamus has been reeling and now can't even win meaningless pay-per-view matches.

Antonio Inoki's First Reign (?)

Date: November 30, 1979

Length of Reign: 6 days*

The reason for the asterisk is the fact that WWE doesn't officially recognize this reign. It was mentioned just once and Inoki was given a spot in the Hall of Fame for his troubles, but his defeat of Bob Backlund is mostly unspoken of in WWE circles. Six days later, the two wrestled to a no-contest and Inoki vacated the belt.

Rob Van Dam's First Reign

Date: June 11, 2006

Length of Reign: 22 days

Van Dam had announced that he would cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase at ECW One Night Stand. With the home-field advantage and some help from a disguised Edge, RVD won the WWE Championship. He also began carrying around the ECW Championship in the same breath. For some reason, he decided to pull a Chris Jericho by carrying around two belts and calling it one championship. Must have been high...

Edge would win the WWE Championship on a Raw episode three weeks later. Edge didn't want the other belt. Nobody wanted the other belt.

The Rock's Second Reign

Date: January 24, 1999

Length of Reign: 2 days

I could easily have also put The Rock's first reign, where he won a tournament at Survivor Series and showed his colors of joining the Corporation. However, I feel that this one speaks to me as being even worse. The Rock won this championship in an "I Quit" at the 1999 Royal Rumble over Mankind.

However, Mankind was knocked out and the words were actually recorded from him saying the phrase out of context earlier in the night. Two days later, they would film Halftime Heat, when The Rock and Mankind fought each other in an empty arena that aired at halftime of Super Bowl XXXIII. Mankind won his title back that night.

I can't imagine why they don't do empty arena matches anymore...

Vince McMahon's First Reign

Date: September 14, 1999

Length of Reign: 6 days

There are few more baffling decisions in the history of professional wrestling than for Vince McMahon to make himself the WWE Champion on an episode of Smackdown. On the following RAW, McMahon vacated the title and announced a Six Pack Challenge for Unforgiven, which was won by Triple H. Speaking of which...

Triple H's Sixth Reign

Date: October 7, 2007

Length of Reign: 0

October 7, 2007 was a bad night in the history of the WWE Championship. After Triple H won the title shortly after Randy Orton was given it, he had to defend against Umaga and then wrestle Orton again, which he lost.

This title is only this high because Triple H was triple booked on the show, which is probably the worst pay-per-view of the decade in my mind. Along with those three matches was a meaningless six-man tag that I can't even remember, a blatant DQ by the challenger in an ECW Championship match, a no-contest between Finlay and Rey Mysterio, Beth Phoenix becoming Women's Champion and a Punjabi Prison match. What a card...

Edge's Fourth Reign

Date: January 25, 2009

Length of Reign: 21 days

You know that a guy is grasping for credibility when he has four title reigns and three of them are on this list. After Matt Hardy hit his brother with a chair, Edge took Jeff Hardy's WWE Championship. Three weeks later, he lost it in an Elimination Chamber match after being rolled up for a pin three minutes into the match.

Same old Edge...

Kane's First Reign

Date: June 28, 1998

Days of Reign: 1

Prior to 2010, it was Kane's only world championship reign. At King of the Ring, Stone Cold Steve Austin faced Kane in a First Blood match. The Undertaker came to the ring with a chair and inadvertently hit Austin, causing him to bleed and Kane to win the bout. Austin would win the next night to gain the WWE Championship for the second time.

Bob Backlund's Second Reign

Date: November 23, 1994

Length of Reign: 3 days

Backulnd, a former WWE Champion in his own right, makes the list for winning the title in controversial fashion at that year's Survivor Series. On that night, it was a "Throw in the Towel" match, where the only way to lose was for the people in your corner to literally throw in the towel on your behalf. Bret Hart, the champion at the time, had family members in his corner. Surely, there would be nobody screwing anyone else, right? Wrong.

After one Hart screwed another, Backlund was champion for the first time in 13 years. At age 45, Backlund's reign would last just three days when Diesel defeated him at a house show in the shortest WWE Championship match ever.

Yokozuna's First Reign

Date: April 4, 1993

Length of Reign: 0

Yokozuna had become the new WWE Champion from defeating Bret Hart. Suddenly, Hulk Hogan appears and challenges Yokozuna for the title right then and there. Yokozuna loses the match and the title just minutes after winning it.

Andre The Giant's First Reign

Date: February 5, 1988

Days of Reign: 0

Immediately after winning the championship at The Main Event I, Andre took the only WWE Championship that he had ever won and attempted to sell it to "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase. The exchange was nullified and a new champion would not be crowned until Randy Savage won a tournament final at WrestleMania IV.

Randy Orton's First Reign

Date: October 7, 2007

Length of Reign: 0

This is, in my opinion, the worst reign in the history of the title. After John Cena suffered an injury right before No Mercy 2007, Orton was given the championship at the top of the pay-per-view. He would wrestle Triple H and lose the championship just minutes later before gaining the gold at the end of the night. It is considered two separate reigns, but for the first reign, being handed the title and not even being able to defend it minutes later, this is the worst WWE Championship reign ever.

Will The Miz Make The List?

Now that The Miz has become the 40th different man to hold the title, will he eventually be seen on the list? Many may not be satisfied with his title victory, but if he survives the rest of 2010, it is likely that his first reign will avoid this list.