Friday, March 29, 2024
Editorial35 Shortest Reigning WWE Champions In History (2/2)

35 Shortest Reigning WWE Champions In History (2/2)

2,204 views

TRENDING

Hi folks! Today, we are continuing to look at the 35 shortest reigning WWE Champions in history. It should be known that this does not include every short, individual reign there has ever been. For example, while Christian Cage had the World title for a day after beating Alberto Del Rio, he got it back from Randy Orton and held it for 28 more days.

Last time we checked out those who held titles for 2-7 days. In this second part, the superstars held titles for a day or less, making them the shortest reigning of all time. Did you miss the first part? Check out the following link: 35 Shortest Reigning WWE Champions In History (1/2)

One Day Wonders

We begin with a history making reign for all the wrong reasons. Harvey Wippleman served as a manager and occasional referee in the World Wrestling Federation. His biggest clients include Kamala, The Warlord, Sid Justice, and Giant Gonzales. After getting a lot of airtime during the 90s, he took more of a backseat when the Attitude Era rolled around. That was until he popped up in 2000 as “Hervina”.

On an episode of Raw, Hervina faced the women’s champion, The Kat, in a lumberjill snowbunny match. They “wrestled” around in a bunch of fake snow, while other divas stood on the outside to make sure they didn’t escape. I would have included the video, but the match is so terrible to watch, I wouldn’t recommend it to my worst enemy. Wippleman became the first and only man to win a women’s championship in WWE. Luckily, Hervina lost it to Jacqueline a day later, and that was the end. If you’re looking for the worst examples of women’s wrestling in WWE? This should be one of them.

WrestleMania XIV had a main event of Stone Cold Steve Austin defeating Shawn Michaels to become the WWF Champion. Further down the card, there was a dumpster match for the Tag Team titles between the defending champions, The New Age Outlaws, and the challengers of Cactus Jack & Chainsaw Charlie (Mick Foley & Terry Funk).

The aim of the game? Put your opponents in a dumpster and close the lid. There was a dumpster in the arena, but the action spilled out so far it found its way backstage. Here, Jack & Charlie threw the champions in to a dumpster, closed the lid, and then had a forklift block Road Dogg & Billy Gunn from escaping. They were announced the winners and new tag team champions, but the titles were back at ringside, so they didn’t get to hold them.

The next night on Raw, it was announced that Jack & Charlie had been stripped of the titles because they had not used the designated dumpster. Which is stupid if you think about it, because the referee called it. He should have known that stipulation beforehand, so he wouldn’t have put an end to it backstage. To sort this out, they booked a steel cage match between the two teams, and The New Age Outlaws claimed the title for a second time.

shortest reigning wwe champions

In his day, X-Pac, otherwise known as 1-2-3 Kid, had a few tag title reigns. I’d say the most memorable was with Kane, but he also had a brief run with Marty Jannetty in 1994. Blink and you’ll miss it, the tag title was decided in a tournament final after Shawn Michaels & Diesel vacated (they couldn’t get along).

Bob Holly & 1-2-3 Kid defeated the much bigger team of Bam Bam Bigelow & Tatanka to become the new champions at Royal Rumble 1995, but lost the next night on Raw to The Smoking Gunns. That’s a solid way to kill the credibility of the tournament and this new team.

Two of the longest reigning WWE Champions of all time made a super team. The current WWF Champion Bob Backlund and former champ Pedro Morales, took on The Wild Samoans in 1980 and won. However, because of Backlund’s status as champion, they were made to vacate because management did not permit him regularly defending both championships. A few weeks later, The Wild Samoans won in a tournament final to reclaim the titles and begin their second reign.

This was history making for Pedro Morales, because four months after this, he became the Intercontinental Champion. Not only did he become the longest reigning in the title’s history, but having won the World, Tag, and IC titles, he became the first Triple Crown. He would be the only Triple Crown until Bret Hart achieved the same feat twelve years later. There have been 32 Triple Crown Champions since Pedro Morales, with the latest being Big E after he won the WWE Championship.

After D’Lo Brown defeated Mideon (who found it in Shane McMahon’s travel bag) for the European title at Fully Loaded 1999, he entered in to a feud with the Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett. On an episode of Raw in a Winner Takes All match, D’Lo became what some call the “Eurocontinental Champion”.

At SummerSlam a month later, Jarrett defeated D’Lo in the opening match to become the second-ever Eurocontinental Champion, with help from Mark Henry. The next night on Raw, as a gift for his help, Jarrett gave Mark Henry the European title. This makes him one of the shortest reigning European Champions, and the second to give it away after Shane McMahon.

shortest reigning wwe champions

At WrestleMania 32 in 2016, Zack Ryder finally got his WrestleMania moment. Much to everyone’s surprise, the fans cheered as Ryder won the seven-way ladder match to become the Intercontinental Champion. He wasn’t originally scheduled to be in the match, but WWE needed a substitute for the injured Neville. To achieve this, he overcome the champion Kevin Owens, The Miz, Dolph Ziggler, Sami Zayn, Stardust (Cody Rhodes) & Sin Cara.

Yet, the moment was fleeting, as Ryder lost the title the next night to The Miz, who started his fifth reign. It was so random, because there was no story for Ryder’s triumph, and The Miz had done nothing lately. A few years later, he & Curt Hawkins shocked the world by defeating The Revival for the Raw Tag Team titles at WrestleMania 35, and was rarely shown thereafter despite being champions. Twice, Ryder won titles at WrestleMania, and twice, WWE failed to do anything with him.

A cruel twist of fate fell upon Finn Balor. After the latest brand split, Raw needed a new championship, so WWE introduced the Universal Championship to a mixed reaction. At SummerSlam 2016, Finn Balor defeated Seth Rollins to become the inaugural champion, but he suffered a shoulder injury during the match. The next night on Raw, while doing his best to keep his spirits up, a smiling Finn Balor announced he had no choice but to vacate the title he worked so hard to get.

Kevin Owens won the vacated title a week later in a fatal four-way, but Balor has yet to reclaim what was his. After returning from injury, he floundered in the mid-card until it was decided NXT needed him. He changed things up and became the NXT Champion once again. Balor returned to the main roster when this ended, where he is again struggling to leave his mark.

shortest reigning wwe champions

John Cena has a habit of winning tag titles with odd partners. Last time, we talked about his brief reign with Batista. This time, during the storyline with The Nexus, Cena was forced to team with David Otunga at Bragging Rights 2010, and they defeated Cody Rhodes & Drew McIntyre to become the new champions.

The next night on Raw, the leader Wade Barrett wanted to keep the titles in The Nexus, but didn’t feel that Cena deserved to hold a title. So, in a match between Cena & Otunga against other Nexus members Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel, Barrett ordered Otunga to lie down on purpose to pass the titles on.

At WrestleMania 34 in 2018, Braun Strowman had to find a partner to challenge tag team champions The Bar (Sheamus & Cesaro). In cocky fashion, Strowman chose a random kid out of the crowd called Nicholas. Well, not so random, as the 10-year-old is the son of WWE referee John Cone.

Of course, the champions couldn’t defend the titles because of scheduling conflicts, because Nicholas has to attend school. This makes him the youngest champion in company history. A couple of weeks later, at the Greatest Royal Rumble, Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt defeated The Bar to claim the vacated tag title.

shortest reigning wwe champions

While many remember Kane holding the World Heavyweight Championship (Big Gold Belt), he had previously held the WWE Championship for a single day. After one of the best told stories in company history between The Undertaker & Kane, The Big Red Machine set his sights on the title. He defeated his brother to become the #1 contender, and would face Stone Cold Steve Austin in his first PPV main event at King of the Ring.

It was a First Blood match which had interference from Mankind & The Undertaker. Amid the chaos, Earl Hebner recovered from an earlier bump and called the match because Austin’s face was covered in blood, much to the delight of Mr. McMahon. The next night on Raw, McMahon handed the title to Kane in a ceremony. However, later in the same show, Steve Austin won the title back. I believe this considerably hurt Kane’s character, because a monster with his momentum shouldn’t hold a title for a day.

The title victory is rarely remembered because of what happened at King of the Ring in 1998. It’s more famous for the Hell in a Cell match between Mankind & The Undertaker, who had their brutal encounter just before the main event.

It may surprise many to know that The Rock & The Undertaker were once the World Tag Team Champions. Not only that, but it was the fourth reign for the both of them with this title. The Rock previously held it with Mankind as The Rock n’ Sock Connection, while The Undertaker held it with Steve Austin once, and Big Show twice (Unholy Alliance).

This took place at the end of 2000, between the time when The Rock was beaten for the WWF title by Kurt Angle at No Mercy, and when he got it back at No Way Out. The Undertaker had been the “American Bad Ass” for over six months and had reinvented himself. It made sense that they would target Edge & Christian because they were allies of Kurt Angle. This culminated with a tag title match on Raw, with the two legends overcoming the four-time champs.

It was more about making a statement as top title contenders than coming together as a serious team. They hardly celebrated together, as it was a pairing of convenience. They lost the titles back to Edge & Christian on SmackDown the following night. The Rock headlined WrestleMania X-Seven against Stone Cold Steve Austin. The Undertaker reunited with his brother Kane to reform The Brothers of Destruction.

At WrestleMania 2000, Kurt Angle defended the Eurocontinental title in a two falls match. The first decided who would hold the Intercontinental, and the second decided the European. His opponents were Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho, who pinned each other to take Angle’s titles away. Many won’t remember Jericho as the European Champion, because he was scheduled to defend it against Eddie Guerrero the following night on Raw.

As part of The Radicalz stable, Latino Heat had been trying to woo Chyna. She had become a team with Jericho following their rivalry over the Intercontinental title, so she didn’t show any interest. However, Chyna shocked the world when she turned on Jericho and helped Guerrero win the European title. On this night, she officially became his “Mamacita”, beginning a relationship which I believe helped to get Eddie over with the WWE fans. And it all began because of Jericho’s one day reign as European Champion.

 


Same Day Shockers

The following are those who lost their titles on the same day, making them the shortest reigning WWE Champions of all time.

Two of the most extreme superstars in WWE history battled in a unification match on an episode of Raw in 2002. It would be the last time the European title was contested. Despite Jeff Hardy being the champion, he did not enter with the belt, and it was not hung up with the Intercontinental title. Commentary explained it was a unification match, but the winner would hold the IC title, with the current champion being Rob Van Dam.

In the end, RVD defeated Hardy by climbing the ladder and grabbing his belt. WWE recognizes him as the last European Champion, despite never physically holding it. We could say it’s a formality to say he was the last, so WWE can justify the unification and deactivate the European title forever.

What is it with things happening on Raw? Again, fast forward to 2009 to an episode airing on Monday night. Jillian Hall shocked everybody when she defeated Mickie James for the Divas Championship. I still can’t believe it.

Nancy O’Dell appeared to let her know there would be a special brand draft, and she had to defend it immediately against her. Luckily, she lost the title to Melina. They had a series of matches, but Jillian never got it back. I don’t know about you, but I’m happy with that.

shortest reigning wwe champions

On a recent episode of NXT 2.0, WWE buried everything it had built with its Cruiserweight division. 205 Live had been suffering for years, and while bringing the title to NXT rejuvenated it for a while, the pandemic left the champion Jordan Devlin on the wrong side of the Atlantic. Santos Escobar won a new version of the title, and many months later, defeated Devlin to become the Undisputed Champion. The writing was on the wall, though, as it didn’t feel like NXT had any major plans.

When Roderick Strong claimed the title, and NXT was rebranded, the division had all but disappeared. 205 Live lost its mainstays in the budget cuts. There was no reason to keep it going, so they booked a unification match between Roderick Strong and NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes. The “A Champion” defeated his far more experienced opponent, and WWE recognizes Hayes as the last Cruiserweight Champion. Unlike Rob Van Dam, he could hold the belt and take pictures.

ECW was a lifestyle. It was extreme. No matter how many times someone tries to recreate the same magic, it will always fail because it was truly unique. When WWE brought it back as its third brand, it did nothing but leech any worth it had left. It was the greatest example of how to bastardize everything ECW stood for, and it left the brand with hardly any redeeming qualities. The new ECW title had some talented champions, but they always played third fiddle to Raw & SmackDown. It was nothing more than a stepping stone, sometimes to greater things, but mostly into a pool of murky water.

In its last days, Christian had done an exceptional job of making the ECW title mean something. He was the longest reigning champion of WWE’s brand, and all he had to do was get past Ezekiel Jackson on the last episode. The last thing we saw on the ECW brand was Jackson becoming champion. Why? Maybe management wanted to push him later, and they thought this would help? I don’t know. Either way, passing the title to a guy who could never defend it is pointless. Ezekiel celebrated being the champion of a dead brand. It’s been almost a dozen years since that day, and I still don’t understand it.

shortest reigning wwe champions

The story goes that Shawn Michaels, the Intercontinental Champion, would have defended his title against Dean Douglas (AKA Shane Douglas of ECW fame). After being attacked by a real marine outside a bar, Michaels could not compete on In Your House, so Douglas was awarded the title via forfeit. Razor Ramon stepped in for Michaels and challenged the new champion to a match. You guessed it… Douglas lost the title to Ramon, meaning his reign lasted 11 minutes.

He lasted little longer in the WWF because of a severe back injury which could have paralyzed him. Despite Vince McMahon being told it was legitimate by doctors, he wanted Douglas to deny its existence, but he wasn’t willing to do so. Douglas was made to go on TV and confirm his injury, before being told to leave the company. Later that year, Douglas won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and threw it down to the ground. He spat in the face of tradition and ushered in a new era of extreme. Douglas became the first face of Extreme Championship Wrestling.

Yep, you’re seeing him again! John Cena returns, only this time, with the shortest title reign in his entire WWE career. On Monday Night Raw (we should call it the land of fleeting moments), The Miz & John Cena were heading in to a title match at WrestleMania in 2011. The Nexus had reformed as The Corre, and they were looking to make a name for themselves.

A few months before, Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel had taken the same title from Cena against his will, so it was funny to see him regain it by teaming with his biggest rival. It was a crazy time because Raw had the anonymous General Manager (who turned out to be Hornswoggle), so anything could happen. Not long after they won the titles, the GM ordered a rematch, and The Miz predictably turned on Cena. It marked the second time in a few months that Cena had lost the titles to Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel through no fault of his own.

shortest reigning wwe champions

You thought we were done with John Cena? Guess again. After Money In The Bank 2011, the WWE Champion CM Punk “left” the company. Because he took the title with him, a new champion had to be crowned. A week later, Rey Mysterio won the WWE title on Raw by defeating The Miz, and it was well-received by fans. What wasn’t, though, was John Cena sticking his nose in and getting Triple H to hand him a title shot later in the show. He deserved a shot because he was the last champion before Punk, but I always found it unfair to make Mysterio wrestle twice. It felt like an opportunistic move by Cena, who was supposed to be a face.

When Cena defeated Mysterio, it was criticized, but only for a moment. It made sense when CM Punk returned and the two champions held their titles in the air. It was cool to see two WWE Champions, but I felt sorry for Mysterio in this scenario. He may always be one of the shortest reigning WWE Champions of all time. Oh well, at least he had two decent reigns with the World title. Cena & Punk settled things at SummerSlam. Punk won the undisputed title, but lost it immediately after to a Money in the Bank cash in by Alberto Del Rio.


Forever Etched

It was the eighties, and Hulkamania had been running wild for over four years. Think about that for a moment. Four years of one champion winning again, and again, and again. Fans didn’t complain because it was a different time. Still, when Ted DiBiase sets his eyes on something, he could usually throw enough money around to make it happen. On this occasion, he enlisted the services of a monster. You might have heard of him. His name was André the Giant.

This happened after the unstoppable force faced the immovable object at WrestleMania III, so André was keen to get something over Hulk Hogan. On February 5th 1988, I was less than a year old. While my baby form babbled nonsense, André did the unthinkable. He put his big hand up to Hulkamania and said nope, this title you think is yours? It’s now mine. At least, only for a moment.

The goal was to take the title from Hogan so he could pass it on to Ted DiBiase. President Jack Tunney didn’t like this and later declared the title vacant. André was recognized as champion for the few minutes he held it before passing it to DiBiase. Despite defending the title against Bam Bam Bigelow on a live event, WWE refuses to acknowledge The Million Dollar Man as champion. He has recently filed a petition to have this reign recognized, but WWE refuses to acknowledge it.

Despite never getting the chance to represent the World Wrestling Federation as its champion, André the Giant had proven his worth. He didn’t need a title to validate his career, because he was already a legend. The title was lucky to have been graced by the biggest shoulder in wrestling history.

Sometimes it’s not about how long you hold a title. By looking at his eyes in the picture below, you can tell how much this moment meant to him. Only he could stop one of the longest reigns of all time. He knew that no matter what happened, it would forever etch his name in the history books as one of wrestling’s greatest champions. No one could take that away from him, not even Ted DiBiase. With that said, I hope you enjoyed this two-part series. Thanks for reading!

shortest reigning wwe champions

- Advertisment -

LATEST NEWS

- Advertisment -

Related Articles