The 15 worst first world championship reigns in WWE history

Won: Survivor Series (Nov. 22, 2015) vs. Dean Ambrose 

Lost: Survivor Series (Nov. 22, 2015) vs. Sheamus

Length of reign: Less than five minutes

With his victory over John Cena at No Mercy behind him and plans of facing Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 34 presumably on the horizon, WWE is now on its fourth or fifth attempt to crown Roman Reigns as the new face of the WWE. 

One of their earlier attempts is probably something they'd like to forget. 

Back in 2015 Seth Rollins suffered an injury (one of many victims on an injury bug that year) that forced him to relinquish the WWE Championship. In similar fashion to the "Deadly Games" Survivor Series from 1998, the promotion held a tournament to crown a new champion. Reigns faced Ambrose in the finals at Survivor Series and finished off his former Shield teammate in just over nine minutes. 

But Reigns' celebration didn't last long as Sheamus came out and cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase. Two Brogue Kicks later and Reigns' first reign (see what we did there?) was already over. 

Reigns chased Sheamus for three weeks before getting his title back, only to drop it again at that year's Royal Rumble. He wouldn't get a reign of any decent length until he beat Triple H at WrestleMania 32 and held the title until June 2016. 

Won: New Year's Revolution (Jan. 8, 2006) vs. John Cena

Lost: Royal Rumble (Jan. 29, 2006) vs. John Cena

Length of reign: 21 days

After spending a decade in the WWE as a tag team and midcard wrestler, Edge finally ascended to main-event status when he became the first man to cash in the Money in the Bank contract, ending John Cena's first reign as WWE Champion. He even got to celebrate with the notorious "Live Sex Celebration" with Lita the next night on Raw. 

But the reign was short lived. He only successfully defended the belt once before dropping it back to Cena at the next pay-per-view.

When he first won the title, it felt like WWE was introducing its next great heel character. But looking back, Edge's first run comes off as a minor speedbump on Cena's road to becoming "Big Match John."

But it's wasn't all bad for Edge. He ended up being a 13-time world champion, a main event player on both brands, a WrestleMania headliner and a WWE Hall of Fame inductee. 

Won: Survivor Series (Nov. 27, 1991) vs. Hulk Hogan

Lost: This Tuesday in Texas (Dec. 3, 1991) vs. Hulk Hogan

Length of reign: Six days

Admit it, you forgot about this one! 

After a year of dominance, the Undertaker got his first shot at the WWF Championship against Hulk Hogan at Survivor Series in 1991. Thanks to interference from Paul Bearer and Hogan's rival Ric Flair, Undertaker won the title after delivering a Tombstone Piledriver to Hogan on a steel chair.

But the Deadman didn't have much time to celebrate. WWF president Jack Tunney announced shortly after that a rematch between Undertaker and Hogan would take place at the This Tuesday in Texas event in San Antonio. Flair once again got involved, but this time it gave Hogan the opening to throw ashes from Bearer's urn into the Undertaker's eyes and grab the win via roll up. 

Tunney would strip Hogan of the title a week later, leading to Flair winning the vacated championship at the 1992 Royal Rumble.

For all of the Undertaker's accomplishments, this one managed to be his first but mentioned the least.

Won: SummerSlam (Aug. 15, 2004) vs. Chris Benoit

Lost: Unforgiven (Sept. 12, 2004) vs. Triple H

Length of Reign: 28 days

At SummerSlam 2004, Randy Orton defeated Chris Beniot to become the youngest world champion in WWE history. The next night he was kicked out of Evolution by a jealous Triple H, who couldn't stand the thought of anyone else in the group being world champ besides him. Orton, now the underdog babyface, would try to overcome the odds and defend his title against Hunter at the next pay-per-view. This should've worked. 

Instead Triple H won the title on his first try, Orton failed multiple times at getting it back and floundered as a good guy for a few months before feuding with The Undertaker.

WWE seemed to have figured out pretty quickly that they botched the Orton-Triple H fued and essentially redid the story with Batista playing the role of Orton leading up to WrestleMania 21. 

Won: Monday Night Raw (June 30, 2008) vs. Edge

Lost: Unforgiven (Sept. 7, 2008) (was stripped due to storyline injury)

Length of reign: 69 days

WWE was in a weird position in 2008 with three separate brands and three world championships to promote. With John Cena booked to face Batista at SummerSlam and Triple H and Edge over on Smackdown, Vince McMahon opted to give a young CM Punk his first crack at being world champion. 

Given that this was long before his pipebomb promos and 434-day championship reign, Punk was never booked as the focus of the show even though he held "RAW's" top title. Outside of a lackluster feud with JBL, there just wasn't all that much for Punk to do. He wasn't even beaten for the belt, it was just stripped from him due to a storyline injury at the Unforgiven pay-per-view and handed to Chris Jericho to crank up the intensity of his feud with Shawn Michaels. 

Won: TLC (Dec. 18, 2011) vs. Big Show

Lost: WrestleMania XXVIII (April 1, 2012) vs. Sheamus

Length of reign: 105 days

Daniel Bryan's victory at WrestleMania XXX is one of the best moments in WWE history over the last decade, but the story leading up to it does have a few logical holes that can't be ignored.

From the moment The Authority was created at SummerSlam 2013, both Stephanie McMahon and Triple H argued that Bryan was unfit to be a world champion, totally ignoring the fact that he held the World Heavyweight Championship in 2011-12. 

Back in 2011 Bryan was the Money in the Bank briefcase holder for Smackdown's world championship, which he used to insert himself into the Mark Henry-Big Show feud and take the title. He quickly became an overconfident yet massively undersized heel, which led to the original incarnation of the "Yes!" chants he'd use to mock his opponents. His reign ended at WrestleMania XXVIII in the infamous 18-second match against Sheamus.

In hindsight, Bryan's run as heel was funny, quirky chapter in his WWE career. But it pales in comparison to his Yes Movement a couple of years later. 

Won: "SmackDown" (Feb. 15, 2011) awarded by Vicki Guerrero

Lost: "SmackDown" (Feb. 15, 2011) vs. Edge 

Length of reign: Less than 12 minutes

The 600th episode of Smackdown was a weird one. The show opened with a 12-man tag match in which Edge won after hitting Dolph Ziggler with a spear. However, due to general manager Vickie Guerrero having banned Edge from using the spear in matches, he was immediately stripped of the World Heavyweight Championship and "fired" from the WWE. In the final segment of the show, Guerrero named Ziggler (who she was romantically attached to) the new world champion. 

However, the celebration was interrupted by returning general manager Teddy Long, who reinstated Edge and gave him title match against Ziggler to close out the show. Edge won the title back, meaning Ziggler's first reign clocked in at 11 minutes and 23 seconds. 

Ziggler would become champion again in 2013, but that reign was cut short due to a concussion. This guy just can't catch a break. 

Won: Extreme Rules (May 1, 2011) vs. Alberto Del Rio

Lost: "SmackDown" (May 3, 2011) vs. Randy Orton

Length of reign: Two days

When Christian returned to the WWE in 2009, many hardcore fans were afraid that he'd never reach the main-event status he had earned during his days in TNA. But when Edge had to retire and relinquish the World Heavyweight Championship in 2011, McMahon decided to finally give Christian a world title run ... for all of two days. 

He'd get another reign (this one lasting a whole 28 days) a couple of months later, but the whole thing felt like a waste.

Won: Armageddon (Dec. 14, 2008) vs. Edge and Triple H

Lost: Royal Rumble (Jan, 25, 2009) vs. Edge

Length of reign: 42 days

After years of being loved by the fans but overlooked by the writers, Jeff Hardy finally won the WWE Championship in late 2008. But his title run was quickly cut short by McMahon's plans for WrestleMania XXV, which had Hardy booked to feud with his brother Matt.

Unfortunately this was eight years and one company move away from Matt Hardy's Broken Universe, so there was no Señor Benjamin, Vanguard One or dilapidated boats to spice up the feud.

Instead Matt cost Jeff his title at Royal Rumble and the two battled it out in a ho-hum Extreme Rules match at Mania later that year.

Won: SummerSlam (Aug. 14, 2011) vs. CM Punk

Lost: Night of Champions (Sept. 18, 2011) vs. John Cena

Length of reign: 35 days

CM Punk was the hottest act in pro wrestling in the summer of 2011. And like all hot acts in the WWE in the past 15 years, Triple H wanted in on the action. So he had Punk beat Cena to unify both WWE Championships, Kevin Nash attack him after the match and Alberto Del Rio cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase to win the title so Punk could be free to feud with Nash and Triple H. 

Del Rio showed promise as a cocky heel, but his first reign was the definition of a "transitional champion." He lost the belt to Cena at Night of Champions, won it back at Hell in a Cell then dropped it again two months later at Survivor Series to Punk. 

Like so much of Del Rio's two stints with the company, his early reigns as world champ were awkward and clunky.

Won: WrestleMania IX (April 4, 1993) vs. Bret Hart

Lost: WrestleMania IX (April 4, 1993) vs. Hulk Hogan

Length of reign: Less than five minutes

WresleMania IX is seen by many as one of the worst WreslteManias ever, and all you have to do is look at the final minutes to see why. 

The main event saw Bret "The Hitman" Hart defend his WWF Championship against the monstrous Yokozuna. Hart lost the title when the late great Mr. Fuji threw salt in his eyes as he was rolled up for the pin. 

But then out came a returning Hulk Hogan, who rushed to Hart's aid and challenged Yokozuna to a championship match, which Hogan won in 22 seconds. The whole ordeal as orchestrated due to backstage politics, something Hogan was notorious for.

And roughly two months later, the whole thing was washed away when Yokozuna won the championship back and held on to it until WrestleMania X. 

Won: King of the Ring (June 28, 1998) vs. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin

Lost: Monday Night Raw (June 29, 1998) vs. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin

Length of reign: One day

Kane's first world championship win was shrouded in controversy, but it ended way too quickly for most fans to get upset. 

At the King of the Ring pay-per-view in 1998 (yes, the same one where this happened) Kane faced WWF Champion "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in a First Blood match. Kane was named the winner when the Undertaker interfered and hit Austin on the head with a steel chair, causing him to bleed. 

Much to the delight of the fans, Austin won the title back in a rematch one day later. But it's hard to believe that Kane, who has been a cornerstone of the WWE for nearly 20 years, would lose his first world title so quickly.

Won: Monday Night Raw (Dec. 29, 1998) vs. The Rock

Lost: Royal Rumble (Jan. 24, 1999) vs. The Rock

Length of reign: 26 days

Mankind's first WWF Championship win against The Rock is seen as one of the biggest moments of "The Attitude Era." Too bad the follow up was so short.

Mankind defend his title against The Rock at the next pay-per-view in an "I Quit" match, regarded by many as one of the best matches of 1999. But it ended with Mankind losing the title when The Rock used an audio recording to trick the referee into thinking Mankind had said "I quit!"

Mick Foley (and his many personas) is a beloved wrestling legend. And even though he was apart of some of the WWF's most memorable moments, he never got the chance to hold the belt for very long in his three reigns as world champion.

Won: TLC (Dec. 13, 2009) vs. John Cena

Lost: Eliminatin Chamber (Feb. 21, 2010) vs. John Cena

Length of reign: 70 days

The Celtic Warrior's first world title run was nothing to write home about.

After being on the main roster for just 166 days, he defeated John Cena at the TLC pay-per-view after Cena tripped and fell through a table during a tables match.

At first fans were excited that somebody new was quickly getting pushed into the main event picture. But that excitement quickly wore off when the WWE didn't have much for him to do outside of beating Randy Orton via disqualification at the Royal Rumble. He lost the title a month after that in an Elimination Chamber match.

The title would go on to be the centerpiece of the Cena vs. Batista match at WrestleMania XXVI, while Sheamus was stuck in the midcard where he lost in 12 minutes to Triple H.

Won: Backlash vs. Randy Orton

Lost: Current Champion

Length: 137 days and counting

Did you really think we'd have this list and not include Jinder? 

By now we all know the story. Mahal was a jobber during his first run with the company. He came back looking jacked out of his mind, and seemingly out of nowhere he beat Randy Orton for the WWE Championship back in May. 

And while Jinder deserves credit for working hard and earning a spot, his reign has been mediocre. His feud with Orton resulted in bringing back the dreaded Punjabi Prison match (and The Great Khali because reasons!) and his latest feud with Shinsuke Nakamura has been so-so in the ring and outright racist during promos. 

It also can't be ignored that Mahal is being pushed as the representative wrestler for India even though the man is from the same Canadian city as Bret Hart.

Seriously. 

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