Ivan Koloff gets an honorable mention from me. He ended Bruno's 7 1/2 year reign as WWWF Champion only to lose it to Pedro Morales thus becoming a transitional champion.
@SilverFang. No he wasn’t. The plan in October 2005 for going into 2006 was Batista vs Orton for WHC at Mania 22 Eddie vs Shawn Michaels at Mania 22 Cena vs Triple H for WWE Title at Mania 22 When Eddie died it was changed to Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart but Bret didn’t want to wrestle, so it was changed again to Shawn vs Vince. When Batista got injured it was changed as Angle vs Taker for WHC at Mania 22, and then changed again to Rey vs Angle vs Orton for WHC at Mania 22, with Taker vs Mark Henry at Mania 22.
Honestly, I don't think transitional champions are bad champions, as long as the transition is treated with enough importance. Stan Stasiak was a decent enough transitional champion, Sheik was actually over enough to be a threat. And then you have Kane, whose reign lasted a day and was there to transition a belt from one champion to himself.
Kane transitioned the belt from "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, back to Austin, so Kane transitioned it back to the same person. There is a rumor that Kane wasn't even supposed to win that night, but Taker accidentally opened up Austin for real, and since it was a "First Blood" Match, Kane won the belt.
@@dhenderson1810 If that was true, Russo is even stupider than I thought. There's a reason why wrestlers always blade from their heads, and it's because on any other part of your body it looks awful. And Kane only had his hand exposed.
@@dhenderson1810no, Kane wasn’t going to lose a first blood match, that was the whole thing. But the putting it back on Austin was Austin getting in Vince’s ear.
Back in the late 90's, Kane was the epitome of a wrestler who doesn't need a belt to draw. Kane and Undertaker were both such great characters that they never needed a belt to make fans care about their matches. It's why, despite Taker being an all-time great, he hardly ever won the World Championship. Andre the Giant was the original "never needed a belt to draw".
If it were 10 years earlier, he would have. But at that particular time everything was centered around Steve Austin. Giving Kane the belt for a night was just a tool to get Austin over even more. But Kane still benefited from it regardless. As an 8 year old I liked Austin just as much as the next person, but Kane was the only wrestler I passionately cared about. I didn't care if he had the belt or not.
I mean if that’s the case you should also say the same thing about stone cold. From his podcast he said he was the one who convinced Vince to take the belt of Kane the day after he won it
@@ryanchase9332 what???? Stone cold always held the title like "super cena" the only time he didn't was when had to go do his neck surgery with guest appearances here and there
The full Kane thing annoyed me. The guy had pretty much his entire body covered yet still needed help to win a first blood match. You could’ve let him win that clean, the stipulation was enough. The guy was an absolute machine too, 1 reign for 1 day is criminal.
No you're wrong. Taker helping Kane created the are the Brothers in cahoots angle. One of the biggest of the year and to quote Taker... the beginning of the greatest story WWE ever told.
@@jesseandrews6029 don’t make it a first blood match then. It makes no sense that he needed his brother to win that when his entire body was pretty much covered
It still makes me really mad that they had Kane win the WWF Title from Steve Austin at KOTR '98, only to then have him lose it the next night on Raw back to The Texas Rattlesnake. Listen, I get that Stone Cold was WHITE HOT in 1998. But Kane had one of the best debuts. He should've had a 3-4 month reign as WWF Champion & he could've lost it back to Austin at Breakdown.
No this is insane. These comment sections are all about taking achievements away from people and giving them to others, it's extremely catty and unfair. They were never giving Kane a long title run in 1998, that just solidified him as a main event presence, which is what they wanted.
@@rayhoyer4829 Yeah the Kane character never recovered from this you're right, he absolutely wasn't a huge fan favourite throughout the rest of the attitude era. It totally ruined his career forever and I don't know how Glenn Jacobs doesn't cry himself to sleep every night.
@@rayhoyer4829 Fact is Kane was feuding with Taker since he debuted and didn't really have anything else on, so Vince put him in a main event program that ended up lasting until October that year, in arguably the most profitable period in the history of the company. But yeah, total f*ck up.
I understand that Kane only had the belt for a day… but the story of his win along with the hell in the cell match before it and the interference from undertaker and mankind was epic. Along with the storyline of the brothers of destruction that followed. He doesn’t belong on this list.
It was definitely a ratings draw as well. I don't like the reign being a day, but it did what it was supposed to do. 2000 would've been another good time for him to win the title.
Na Kane should have kept the belt until summerlam 1998, lose the belt in a triple threat match to undertaker and Austin, austins 2nd reign was nothing special at all, and that transitional title run between king of the ring and summerlam 1998 was the perfect window to give Kane that run with the belt, it keeps austin on his toes as he is he is fighting to get back his title and Kane could’ve been the perfect instrument for vince and co as their champion keeping austin down, not to mention kane had one hell of a debut run, his title reign would have been the perfect cherry on his career between October 97 to august 98. Now if I was going to put the belt on kane again, it be survivor series 1999, Kane was clashing with dx, what better way to see Kane really get under dx skin is having Kane beat HHH and rock to the wwf championship
I think the worst part of Big Es title reign is him not losing the belt to Roman. If he had and Roman had been an undisputed champion since Survivir Series, it would be a feather in his cap and a good piece of triva. No, he had to lose it to BROCK (which is a whole separate can of worms) so Brock could drop it to Roman.
Kane was done dirty and deserved better during his career. 1999-2003 Kane was insanely popular and should've held the title at least once in that time period.
Andre Defeating Hulk Hogan Clean 1. 2. 3. And Then Surrendered The WWF HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP BELT TO THE MILLION DOLLAR MAN TED DEBIASE. Ted was The WWF HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION. Everybody's gotta Price 💰
Big E really deserves a good title run when he comes back because if you change his character and take him away from the new day gimmick he might be good. Cannot wait to see what Triple H does with him.
Kane deserved better. He was so popular during the early ruthless aggression era. But when you have Rock, Stone Cold, Undertaker, HHH, HBK, Kurt etc, yeah what a time to be a wrestling fan.
I've been feeling a bit depressed lately and haven't watched a Cultaholic video in ages. Decided to click on this in my recommendations and just hearing Adams voice brought a smile to my face again. Thanks for all the laughs throughout the years!
10. You could tell WWE was never really invested in Big E as a top guy. And it sucks that they set him up to fail as champion. 9. Sgt. Slaughter in the early/mid-80’s would have been a good choice as a world champion. But by the time of WM 7, he was past his physical prime. 8. Dean was the most over member of The Shield for a time. And WWE never really capitalized on that fully. AEW has used him FAR better. 7. Should have beaten Orton, simple as that. 6. Kane only holding the WWF Title for one day was so disappointing back in the day. He was such a monster back then. 5. Stan Stasiak worked fine as a transitional champion. It was rare for heels to hold the title for long in WWF back then. 4. This guy beat freaking Shinsuke Nakamura in a world title feud. That says it all. 3. At least it was short. 2. This barely counts honestly. 1. Thai is one of the most d*** moves supposed “babyface” John Cena ever did.
Kane should've been WWE Champion for longer than a day. Maybe have him hold it until Summer Slam and have a triple threat match with Kane, Taker & Austin
I know I’m probably alone here but I actually loved Jinder’s title reign. It was fresh and it helped him improve a lot. Yeah he wasn’t the best choice to be champ and yeah it was just a cash grab but he did the best with what he was given
Never understood why people trashed him so much. He was a great heel and had adequate matches. He's not a technician but I thought he certainly could get heat and tell a story
Feel bad for kane. Should had another run 2000-2004(wether beating hhh or heel austin, or when kane wad in his 03 pyscho phase and win at armageddon in the triple threat
Triple H and Evolution were the heel main eventers when Kane was unmasked. Would've been better if he was on Smackdown and had a title run instead of JBL.
That Jinder era is when i stopped watching wwe. Especially given the talent on the roster at the time, i was frustfrustrating that they gave him the title for that long.
The way you guys talked about Big E's entry on this list might have been the most wholesome monologue I think I have ever heard in a list like this one. Kudos to you, gentleman. That put a smile to my face.
I’m confused. Adam says here that the Shield triple threat at Battleground 2016 was underwhelming but on his 2016 worse to best episode, he says it lived up to the hype. Which one is it?
I was the happiest person on the planet when Kane FINALLY won the World title and started feuding with Undertaker over it .... I finally got the Hell in a Cell match I always wanted 😁💯
I don't consider solid transitional champions like Sgt Slaughter and Iron Sheik as "bad champions", especially in an era where there were only 4 PPVs (and in Sheik's case none) and World champions rarely fought on TV.. Slaughter also held the title longer than the Sheik.
I was at the show when Vince won the title. The pop was MASSIVE. I mean it wasn't DDP or Goldberg at Halloween Havoc or anything (biggest pops I've ever seen live) but it was louder than it came across on TV. As loud as it sounded, it was louder
I know that we can nitpick things to death with wrestling but maybe my biggest gripe ever has got to be the idiocy of a first blood match with a guy wearing a mask over his face and an outfit that almost covers every bit of his body. What was gonna bleed, his left arm that was exposed???? Maybe if I refreshed myself on the story leading up to why it was a first blood match (maybe Vince demanded it to be that way knowing Austin would have an almost impossible task?) it would be so irritating but for now, it remains dumb in my mind.
5. I think that's an acceptable context for a transitional champion. 2. I am okay with him getting his Lifetime Achievement Award, that's all this was.
@@San-li9ml He was a hateable heel because he fucking sucked ass and you hated that a mid-card at best jobber like him was World Champion at the same time as guys like Nakamura, Cesaro, Bray Wyatt, Sami Zayn, Luke Harper, etc. being in the same company
I was at a smackdown live show in 2017. Jinder was champion. After the main event (Orton vs Nakamura) their was a dark match and it was aj styles vs Jinder mahal. Mahal lost clean but it wasn't for the belt so people were booing, even though aj won.
Kane’s reign in 2010 honestly wasn’t bad had a pretty good buildup too Taker also let Kane beat him in their last ever feud and lost the title to Edge in his reign before retiring in 2011
Good video. Glad you didn't put the Iron Sheik on here. He ended Bob Backlund's six year reign and thus got Hulk Hogan over the following month to begin the boom period. You were incorrect on the part about Andre ending Hogan's first reign (mentioning it was 3+ years). Hogan had the belt just over 4 years - Jan 1984 to Feb 1988. That was probably the last time we will ever see a multi-year champion in wrestling. Now belts don't mean much since they switch as fast as the wind changes.
The Champion vs. Champion matches at Survivor Series always seemed like a bad idea to me. One guy was always going to end up looking like the lesser champion (and by default, his show would look like the lesser program).
Nothing against flamboyant characters or wrestling championships, but I feel like having characters like Kane and Undertaker sort of eliminates the purpose of having competitive style championships. This is one fundamental flaw I see with professional wrestling in general. Why would a flame inducing monster like Kane run after a championship?
I get that Jinder winning the WWE Championship was a business move more than anything but they could’ve at least built him up to be a monster heel. He almost never won his matches clean.
Kane won a legendary match and then lost it to Stone Cold the next night. That's not a bad reign for business but to be honest seeing him beat Stone Cold and destroy people for a few months would have been awesome too.
I don't know how you can have Big E and Dean Ambrose on this list when RVD was literally arrested as WWE Champion and was punishment jobbed 3 weeks into his reign. He was actually a BAD WWE Champion in that he screwed up so spectacularly they couldn't even wait until the next major show to get the belt off of him. My other replacement would be Jeff Hardy. I find it hilarious that Hardy's title reign was bookend by two Edge title reigns, I assume that's because Triple H didn't want to be associated with winning or losing the title from him. Hardy literally did nothing in his entire 40 days as champion. At least Ambrose and E had some successful title defenses.
2:29 Not really save for Stg.Slaughter...He even had a bulletproof vest during his entrances during that time. I doubt that they would do such a story in modern times.
Always wondered why Cena just GOT a title match..I know mysterio accepted the challenge, but why didn't they make Cena earn it by winning a handicap match or gauntlet match or cage match or anything first, so they could atleast both be tired. Or just wait a week or two and promote it for ratings..I dunno.
I felt that it was incredibly out of character for Cena. As an ultra good-guy, Cena wouldn't look at a living legend in Rey and say congrats on winning the belt, now defend it against me, right now! It didn't fit his character at all. He would want to win it fairly. It was horrible booking.
Dude that makes no since what you just commented end has been doing that his whole career cena back was against the wall what are you talking about cena did earn his it he’s always earned it 😂John cena fought guys two on one and won a lot and yet you fans hated him for that forced him to lose
@@jpvtrask out of character really dude John cena was the ultimate baby face the greatest baby face of all time cena literally was fighting guys two on 1 or worse in a nightly basis and was winning and yet the problem was y’all fans like y’all didn’t understand why do y’all turned on him and that got the cena wins we riot or die cena die crap y’all were the problem that led to cena not winning as much as he use to
@@JayWIll2000s Exactly!. His back wasn't against the wall,here. In fact, it was the easiest set up to a title win he ever had, that he didn't even need! When you see him do exactly what you mentioned...and then see him beat up a tired Rey mysterio, I know it's all written, but it still kinda made me hustle to lose respect for his lack of loyalty to the business. (Hardy Har Har, get the play on words??) John Cenas so cool man!!
But Yoko won it back and then held the title for 10 months in a pretty solid run. He actually became the first heel in WrestleMania history to win the title in the main event AND also the first heel to retain the title at Mania (against Lex Luger at WM10)
@@Magpie_Mark92 You're kidding right? Warrior's calendar year of 1990 was when he was at his most famous. He beat Hogan at WM6 in April and kept the title all the way through 1990 as the top babyface
It bears repeating, you do have to feel a little bit bad for Jinder. If he just spent his whole career as a reliable midcard utility guy, we'd probably all respect and appreciate him a whole lot more than we do. But because of one poorly thought-out decision that was completely out of his hands, now he'll always be remembered first and foremost as one of the worst WWE Champions ever.
There has been 54 WWE Champions, not 53! Here's all 54 WWE Champions in order: 1. Buddy Rogers 2. Bruno Sammartino 3. Ivan Koloff 4. Pedro Morales 5. Stan Stasiak 6. "Superstar" Billy Graham 7. Bob Backland 8. The Iron Sheik 9. Hulk Hogan 10. Andre the Giant 11. "Macho Man" Randy Savage 12. The Ultimate Warrior 13. Sgt. Slaughter 14. The Undertaker 15. Ric Flair 16. Bret "The Hitman" Hart 17. Yokozuna 18. Kevin Nash 19. Shawn Michaels 20. Sycho Sid 21. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin 22. Kane 23. The Rock 24. Mankind 25. Triple H 26. Vince McMahon 27. Big Show 28. Kurt Angle 29. Chris Jericho 30. Brock Lesnar 31. Eddie Guerrero 32. JBL 33. John Cena 34. Edge 35. Rob Van Dam 36. Randy Orton 37. Jeff Hardy 38. Batista 39. Sheamus 40. The Miz 41. CM Punk 42. Rey Mysterio 43. Alberto Del Rio 44. Daniel Bryan 45. Seth Rollins 46. Roman Reigns 47. Dean Ambrose 48. AJ Styles 49. Bray Wyatt 50. Jinder Mahal 51. Kofi Kingston 52. Drew McIntyre 53. Bobby Lashley 54. Big E Can Cody Rhodes become the 55th WWE Champion at WrestleMania 39?
I really respected Jinder for getting into such good shape - almost like a prototype McIntyre transformation. The biggest issue was that he just wasn't anywhere near good enough for the big belt; if they'd given him the US title instead I think fans would have indulged the longtime jobber his well earned big moment.
2 times where the wwe title changes hands in the same night. Both where in Las Vegas. Regins to Rollins to Ambrose & Hart to Yokozuna to Hogan. However, the record is three title changes in one night. Randy Orton was awarded, lost, and regain the WWE title all on the same night.
I will never forgive WWE for giving Shinsuke Nakamura’s first main roster AND first WWE title match to Jinder Mahal. I mean if they wanted to keep it on Jinder, just don’t have him face Nakamura!!!
Wish that Rey had a longer title reign instead having him lost to cena the same night he won it, it would've been better if cena vs punk at summerslam wasn't for the title or they should've have a triple threat with mysterio for the title
Kane should have held the wwf championship until summerlam 98, had a triple threat match with Austin and taker and have Austin win back the belt at summerlam. It didn’t hurt austin not having the belt for a few months and this would have come full circle on Kanes fantastic time at the company from October 97 to august 98 on what he done. Kane also should have won the wwf title in survivor series 1999, that was the best chance to have given the belt to Kane again, esp he was butting heads with DX, that was the perfect window is well to put the belt on kane, no idea why it was big show
Dear Cultaholic Adding Kane's 1 day title reign to a worst list is only showing you either weren't watching at the time or you completely missed the big picture. Kane"s title reign not only established the BOD partnership raising speculations that they were in cahoots which on and off turned out to be true, the 24 hour tithe reign also set up the following 4 PPV main events by way of the Fully Loaded Tag Title match, SummerSlam with Kane's now confirmed Alliance with Taker, Breakdown's Handicap match that saw the title forfeited & No Mercy's Title match between the Brothers with Stone Cold as ref which in turn set up the Survivor Series Deadly Game tournament which placed The Rock into the main event scene and the rest is history. Kane was an essential WWF Champion. That it was only for 1 day served more purpose than most title reigns lasting 4 months.
Big E's championship reign was one of the worst in recent times. WWE pulled the gun too early on him rather than building him up as a single superstar.
I hate how every wrestling channel calls the promotion wwe even in time periods when it was the wwf. Vince tries so hard to erase the past, why do all these channels help him by trying to erase the wwf?
Anyone remember when Adam Pacitis voice was less annoying, rather than this enthusiastic shouting nonsense he does. Pepperidge Farm remembers. Adam, tone it down mate, I genuinely switch off every one of these top 10 you guys do because of it.
Ivan Koloff gets an honorable mention from me. He ended Bruno's 7 1/2 year reign as WWWF Champion only to lose it to Pedro Morales thus becoming a transitional champion.
Yeah old Ivan was used for Cold War shock value
Despite being Canadian 😂
That's how it worked back then
What about Stan Stasiak, who held the belt for nine days between Pedro Morales and Bruno?
@@newelljoseph5060😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢ffffff
Eddie was actually being fixed to win the World Title against Batista before he passed away.
wasn't it confirmed that the actual plan was for him to face HBK at WM22? either one would've been sick
@SilverFang. No he wasn’t.
The plan in October 2005 for going into 2006 was
Batista vs Orton for WHC at Mania 22
Eddie vs Shawn Michaels at Mania 22
Cena vs Triple H for WWE Title at Mania 22
When Eddie died it was changed to Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart but Bret didn’t want to wrestle, so it was changed again to Shawn vs Vince.
When Batista got injured it was changed as Angle vs Taker for WHC at Mania 22, and then changed again to Rey vs Angle vs Orton for WHC at Mania 22, with Taker vs Mark Henry at Mania 22.
@@nu-metalfan2654 Source?
They like to say that for fallen wrestlers. Same rumor went around for Owen, but he was so far removed from the main event scene, sadly.
@TimTE01 Bruce Pritchard, Brian Gewirtz and the wrestlers themselves have all gone into detail on this
Honestly, I don't think transitional champions are bad champions, as long as the transition is treated with enough importance. Stan Stasiak was a decent enough transitional champion, Sheik was actually over enough to be a threat. And then you have Kane, whose reign lasted a day and was there to transition a belt from one champion to himself.
In theory, they are neither bad nor good.
That took one sentence.
Kane transitioned the belt from "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, back to Austin, so Kane transitioned it back to the same person.
There is a rumor that Kane wasn't even supposed to win that night, but Taker accidentally opened up Austin for real, and since it was a "First Blood" Match, Kane won the belt.
@@dhenderson1810 If that was true, Russo is even stupider than I thought. There's a reason why wrestlers always blade from their heads, and it's because on any other part of your body it looks awful.
And Kane only had his hand exposed.
@@dhenderson1810no, Kane wasn’t going to lose a first blood match, that was the whole thing. But the putting it back on Austin was Austin getting in Vince’s ear.
Exactly
Kane should've had held the WWF title even for 50 or 100 days atleast in his entire career . Shame
Facts!
In his prime YES
Kane and Taker are bigger than the belts
They never needed them they were that statute
@@Gunsmoke2220 I agree sir!
@@Gunsmoke2220 agreed
Kane should’ve held the belt for at least a year, big guy was damn dominating the company
No
@@jamesgarland8322good one mouth breather
Back in the late 90's, Kane was the epitome of a wrestler who doesn't need a belt to draw. Kane and Undertaker were both such great characters that they never needed a belt to make fans care about their matches. It's why, despite Taker being an all-time great, he hardly ever won the World Championship. Andre the Giant was the original "never needed a belt to draw".
@@mikeabel7577that’s a good point but still would have liked to see it
If it were 10 years earlier, he would have. But at that particular time everything was centered around Steve Austin. Giving Kane the belt for a night was just a tool to get Austin over even more. But Kane still benefited from it regardless. As an 8 year old I liked Austin just as much as the next person, but Kane was the only wrestler I passionately cared about. I didn't care if he had the belt or not.
God, that winged eagle belt goes so goddamn hard.
"Winged eagle"?
Wooden tree
@@jp3813you must be new here 😂
@@troy801 Where eagles generally don't have wings?
Want to see Cody with that belt!
What happened between Rey Mysterio and John Cena epitomised why fans couldn't stand Cena.
I was so annoyed. Mysterio as champ was such an interesting prospect to me and would have kept me invested for a while
I mean if that’s the case you should also say the same thing about stone cold. From his podcast he said he was the one who convinced Vince to take the belt of Kane the day after he won it
@@curtailedbike4123 The difference is that Austin rarely got the booking Super Cena did at the time.
@@ryanchase9332 what???? Stone cold always held the title like "super cena" the only time he didn't was when had to go do his neck surgery with guest appearances here and there
@Brandito are you sure I am watching the reliving the war series and he always held the title but we will see
The full Kane thing annoyed me. The guy had pretty much his entire body covered yet still needed help to win a first blood match. You could’ve let him win that clean, the stipulation was enough.
The guy was an absolute machine too, 1 reign for 1 day is criminal.
Yea you're right. The win should've been more strong
No you're wrong. Taker helping Kane created the are the Brothers in cahoots angle.
One of the biggest of the year and to quote Taker... the beginning of the greatest story WWE ever told.
@@jesseandrews6029 don’t make it a first blood match then. It makes no sense that he needed his brother to win that when his entire body was pretty much covered
COULD NOT agree more my fiend
@@jesseandrews6029 WWF!!!
Rey Mysterio lost the WWE title the same night he won it yet Jinder Mahal held the WWE title for nearly 6 months.
Hate you too Vince.
Exactly
I don't understand, what's so bad about Jinder? What did he do to piss you guys off so much?
@@phantom8926 He became champion because Vince being the greedy bastard that he is wanted to win over the guys over in Saudi, India, etc.
They dont like indians
@@phantom8926 Familiar with the name "Shinsuke Nakamura"? That's what.
It still makes me really mad that they had Kane win the WWF Title from Steve Austin at KOTR '98, only to then have him lose it the next night on Raw back to The Texas Rattlesnake. Listen, I get that Stone Cold was WHITE HOT in 1998. But Kane had one of the best debuts. He should've had a 3-4 month reign as WWF Champion & he could've lost it back to Austin at Breakdown.
Facts!
No this is insane. These comment sections are all about taking achievements away from people and giving them to others, it's extremely catty and unfair.
They were never giving Kane a long title run in 1998, that just solidified him as a main event presence, which is what they wanted.
@@TheRealAhoy it mad him look like a joke is what it did!
@@rayhoyer4829 Yeah the Kane character never recovered from this you're right, he absolutely wasn't a huge fan favourite throughout the rest of the attitude era. It totally ruined his career forever and I don't know how Glenn Jacobs doesn't cry himself to sleep every night.
@@rayhoyer4829 Fact is Kane was feuding with Taker since he debuted and didn't really have anything else on, so Vince put him in a main event program that ended up lasting until October that year, in arguably the most profitable period in the history of the company. But yeah, total f*ck up.
6:03 looks like Kane fighting himself there
I mean he did eventually
I understand that Kane only had the belt for a day… but the story of his win along with the hell in the cell match before it and the interference from undertaker and mankind was epic. Along with the storyline of the brothers of destruction that followed. He doesn’t belong on this list.
This
It was definitely a ratings draw as well. I don't like the reign being a day, but it did what it was supposed to do. 2000 would've been another good time for him to win the title.
Na Kane should have kept the belt until summerlam 1998, lose the belt in a triple threat match to undertaker and Austin, austins 2nd reign was nothing special at all, and that transitional title run between king of the ring and summerlam 1998 was the perfect window to give Kane that run with the belt, it keeps austin on his toes as he is he is fighting to get back his title and Kane could’ve been the perfect instrument for vince and co as their champion keeping austin down, not to mention kane had one hell of a debut run, his title reign would have been the perfect cherry on his career between October 97 to august 98. Now if I was going to put the belt on kane again, it be survivor series 1999, Kane was clashing with dx, what better way to see Kane really get under dx skin is having Kane beat HHH and rock to the wwf championship
I think the worst part of Big Es title reign is him not losing the belt to Roman. If he had and Roman had been an undisputed champion since Survivir Series, it would be a feather in his cap and a good piece of triva. No, he had to lose it to BROCK (which is a whole separate can of worms) so Brock could drop it to Roman.
1000x agree
Kane was done dirty and deserved better during his career. 1999-2003 Kane was insanely popular and should've held the title at least once in that time period.
Interesting that Andre’s only world title reign lasted for a few minutes. I can definitely see him being an unbeatable champion.
Andre never wanted the title
@@rodneynicholauson4566he never needed it
Andre Defeating Hulk Hogan Clean 1. 2. 3. And Then Surrendered The WWF HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP BELT TO THE MILLION DOLLAR MAN TED DEBIASE. Ted was The WWF HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION. Everybody's gotta Price 💰
Are you saying Sgt. Slaughter wasn’t really a member of G.I. Joe?
LMAO
Big E really deserves a good title run when he comes back because if you change his character and take him away from the new day gimmick he might be good. Cannot wait to see what Triple H does with him.
Big e needs to get away from the new day
They made big e goofy...he too damn big to dance around wit a unicorn on his head...WWE use him wrong
@@SpyhydroI said the same thing when Kofi was champion.
Kane due to his loyalty and character, never complained even though he did 100% deserve to be top draw from 1997-2007
Kane deserved better. He was so popular during the early ruthless aggression era. But when you have Rock, Stone Cold, Undertaker, HHH, HBK, Kurt etc, yeah what a time to be a wrestling fan.
It’s crazy that Vince had a longer title run then Kane 😭
He also had a longer reign than Andre and Rey…now that’s crazy!
Is it really so strange for the greatest heel in wrestling history to have such a long reign?
How if he controlls the narrative 😂😂😂😂😂
I've been feeling a bit depressed lately and haven't watched a Cultaholic video in ages. Decided to click on this in my recommendations and just hearing Adams voice brought a smile to my face again. Thanks for all the laughs throughout the years!
That's odd. I always thought Kane's reign as World Heavyweight Champion in 2010 was pretty good.
WWE champs this list is about
@@oisint2 And?
10. You could tell WWE was never really invested in Big E as a top guy. And it sucks that they set him up to fail as champion.
9. Sgt. Slaughter in the early/mid-80’s would have been a good choice as a world champion. But by the time of WM 7, he was past his physical prime.
8. Dean was the most over member of The Shield for a time. And WWE never really capitalized on that fully. AEW has used him FAR better.
7. Should have beaten Orton, simple as that.
6. Kane only holding the WWF Title for one day was so disappointing back in the day. He was such a monster back then.
5. Stan Stasiak worked fine as a transitional champion. It was rare for heels to hold the title for long in WWF back then.
4. This guy beat freaking Shinsuke Nakamura in a world title feud. That says it all.
3. At least it was short.
2. This barely counts honestly.
1. Thai is one of the most d*** moves supposed “babyface” John Cena ever did.
Agree with this
Slaughter was on champ
To play of that Gulf War angle. And I think it kind of worked because he was hated
Kane should've been WWE Champion for longer than a day. Maybe have him hold it until Summer Slam and have a triple threat match with Kane, Taker & Austin
Mr. McMahon held the WWF title for 5 days longer than Kane.
Let that sink in.
A monster like original kane never needs a belt , their already a big attraction
I know I’m probably alone here but I actually loved Jinder’s title reign. It was fresh and it helped him improve a lot. Yeah he wasn’t the best choice to be champ and yeah it was just a cash grab but he did the best with what he was given
You are not alone, I enjoyed it too
Never understood why people trashed him so much. He was a great heel and had adequate matches. He's not a technician but I thought he certainly could get heat and tell a story
Your not alone, his character was good, the entrance was great, it was all fresh
@@BW-zd6nc let me guess, ur Indian?
Feel bad for kane. Should had another run 2000-2004(wether beating hhh or heel austin, or when kane wad in his 03 pyscho phase and win at armageddon in the triple threat
He should have won the rumble and the belt at mania
Triple H and Evolution were the heel main eventers when Kane was unmasked. Would've been better if he was on Smackdown and had a title run instead of JBL.
Kane should have had a title in 2001
That Jinder era is when i stopped watching wwe. Especially given the talent on the roster at the time, i was frustfrustrating that they gave him the title for that long.
The way you guys talked about Big E's entry on this list might have been the most wholesome monologue I think I have ever heard in a list like this one.
Kudos to you, gentleman. That put a smile to my face.
It was impossible for Kane to loose that first bloods Match.
He wore a full bodysuit and a mask, no one was able to see if he was bleeding.
I’m confused. Adam says here that the Shield triple threat at Battleground 2016 was underwhelming but on his 2016 worse to best episode, he says it lived up to the hype.
Which one is it?
I was the happiest person on the planet when Kane FINALLY won the World title and started feuding with Undertaker over it .... I finally got the Hell in a Cell match I always wanted 😁💯
I was there for that Punjabi prison match. It was rough to watch at best.
I don't consider solid transitional champions like Sgt Slaughter and Iron Sheik as "bad champions", especially in an era where there were only 4 PPVs (and in Sheik's case none) and World champions rarely fought on TV.. Slaughter also held the title longer than the Sheik.
I was at the show when Vince won the title. The pop was MASSIVE. I mean it wasn't DDP or Goldberg at Halloween Havoc or anything (biggest pops I've ever seen live) but it was louder than it came across on TV. As loud as it sounded, it was louder
I know that we can nitpick things to death with wrestling but maybe my biggest gripe ever has got to be the idiocy of a first blood match with a guy wearing a mask over his face and an outfit that almost covers every bit of his body. What was gonna bleed, his left arm that was exposed????
Maybe if I refreshed myself on the story leading up to why it was a first blood match (maybe Vince demanded it to be that way knowing Austin would have an almost impossible task?) it would be so irritating but for now, it remains dumb in my mind.
#3 Is actually the first time I watched WWE what a way to get introduced to wrestling
“Vince’s lifeless body was dragged on top of his future son-in-law, whilst his actual son made the 3 count”
Wrestling.
5. I think that's an acceptable context for a transitional champion.
2. I am okay with him getting his Lifetime Achievement Award, that's all this was.
Cultaholic shall never again hinder Jinder. I have spoken.
Jinder has got to be number 1
nope number 4
I kinda liked his reign tho honestly
@@matttibos2562 what about it?
@@sportssafehaven7601 He was a hateable heel, even with Roman he isn't completely hateable
@@San-li9ml He was a hateable heel because he fucking sucked ass and you hated that a mid-card at best jobber like him was World Champion at the same time as guys like Nakamura, Cesaro, Bray Wyatt, Sami Zayn, Luke Harper, etc. being in the same company
5:35 Kane held the World Heavyweight Title, the WWF Title, and the ECW Title.
Great content and love the list…however, I would Finn Baylor on there as he won it at mania and then had to give it up the next day due to injury…
Also Wyatt was the second member of his family to win a world title overall, or the big one (Barry Windham won the NWA World Title).
I was at a smackdown live show in 2017. Jinder was champion. After the main event (Orton vs Nakamura) their was a dark match and it was aj styles vs Jinder mahal. Mahal lost clean but it wasn't for the belt so people were booing, even though aj won.
That Kane /Austin match?? I was there!!! It was amazing!
Kane’s reign in 2010 honestly wasn’t bad had a pretty good buildup too Taker also let Kane beat him in their last ever feud and lost the title to Edge in his reign before retiring in 2011
Who retired in 2011?
@@George18798 Edge originally did for a number of years before he was able to return in 2020
Good video. Glad you didn't put the Iron Sheik on here. He ended Bob Backlund's six year reign and thus got Hulk Hogan over the following month to begin the boom period.
You were incorrect on the part about Andre ending Hogan's first reign (mentioning it was 3+ years). Hogan had the belt just over 4 years - Jan 1984 to Feb 1988. That was probably the last time we will ever see a multi-year champion in wrestling. Now belts don't mean much since they switch as fast as the wind changes.
Jinder deserves some recognition as having the best Punjabi Prison match of all-time.
Lol 😂
What about Sir Oliver Humperdink? anybody remember that manager?
The Champion vs. Champion matches at Survivor Series always seemed like a bad idea to me. One guy was always going to end up looking like the lesser champion (and by default, his show would look like the lesser program).
Nothing against flamboyant characters or wrestling championships, but I feel like having characters like Kane and Undertaker sort of eliminates the purpose of having competitive style championships. This is one fundamental flaw I see with professional wrestling in general. Why would a flame inducing monster like Kane run after a championship?
Everyone wants the top prize.
And because fans bitch and moan unless their fave wins the belt.
Kane’s WWECW title run just quietly not mentioned 😂
Nobody counts WWe ECW as a legitimate thing
Didn't he beat Chavo gurrero for it 🤔
I get that Jinder winning the WWE Championship was a business move more than anything but they could’ve at least built him up to be a monster heel. He almost never won his matches clean.
Neither does Roman.
I feel bad for Kane. Hell of a worker and a good person. He could have been given more opportunities
His gimmick didn’t need the title. It’s like undertaker in that way
"good person" 😂😂😂
Honorable mention: Lex Luger beating Hogan on Nitro
Ahh so this is specifically WWE and not any top World title. I was ready to point out Kane's World Heavyweight Championship reign.
Kane won a legendary match and then lost it to Stone Cold the next night. That's not a bad reign for business but to be honest seeing him beat Stone Cold and destroy people for a few months would have been awesome too.
What happened with Rey and the WWE title will forever irk me! Especially knowing now that he’ll never hold it ever again. he deserves WAY better!
I don't know how you can have Big E and Dean Ambrose on this list when RVD was literally arrested as WWE Champion and was punishment jobbed 3 weeks into his reign. He was actually a BAD WWE Champion in that he screwed up so spectacularly they couldn't even wait until the next major show to get the belt off of him. My other replacement would be Jeff Hardy. I find it hilarious that Hardy's title reign was bookend by two Edge title reigns, I assume that's because Triple H didn't want to be associated with winning or losing the title from him. Hardy literally did nothing in his entire 40 days as champion. At least Ambrose and E had some successful title defenses.
You forgot Unforgiven 2008 champ scramble.
Hulk Hogan held the World title for over 4 years before losing to Andre, not 3 years.
Rey Mysterio deserved better. Both that WWE championship reign and his World Heavyweight title reign.
Honorable mention to Ivan Koloff.
I will be very excited to hear what Jinder Mahal has to say about his career and what happened once he starts doing podcasts
2:29 Not really save for Stg.Slaughter...He even had a bulletproof vest during his entrances during that time. I doubt that they would do such a story in modern times.
WWE dropped the ball on Kane not getting a good run with it, if not , multiple runs.
Vince's winning of the WWF title was better than Vince Russo winning the WCW title, WWF was teflon in 99 compared to WCW when Russo won the title
I thought it was cool seeing Vince McMahon as champion he deserved it that year 1999
Always wondered why Cena just GOT a title match..I know mysterio accepted the challenge, but why didn't they make Cena earn it by winning a handicap match or gauntlet match or cage match or anything first, so they could atleast both be tired. Or just wait a week or two and promote it for ratings..I dunno.
I felt that it was incredibly out of character for Cena. As an ultra good-guy, Cena wouldn't look at a living legend in Rey and say congrats on winning the belt, now defend it against me, right now! It didn't fit his character at all. He would want to win it fairly. It was horrible booking.
Dude that makes no since what you just commented end has been doing that his whole career cena back was against the wall what are you talking about cena did earn his it he’s always earned it 😂John cena fought guys two on one and won a lot and yet you fans hated him for that forced him to lose
@@jpvtrask out of character really dude John cena was the ultimate baby face the greatest baby face of all time cena literally was fighting guys two on 1 or worse in a nightly basis and was winning and yet the problem was y’all fans like y’all didn’t understand why do y’all turned on him and that got the cena wins we riot or die cena die crap y’all were the problem that led to cena not winning as much as he use to
@@JayWIll2000s Exactly!. His back wasn't against the wall,here. In fact, it was the easiest set up to a title win he ever had, that he didn't even need! When you see him do exactly what you mentioned...and then see him beat up a tired Rey mysterio, I know it's all written, but it still kinda made me hustle to lose respect for his lack of loyalty to the business. (Hardy Har Har, get the play on words??) John Cenas so cool man!!
Kane deserved to win it a few times, but Yokozuna had the shortest reig of only 1 minute at Wrestlemania 9
But Yoko won it back and then held the title for 10 months in a pretty solid run. He actually became the first heel in WrestleMania history to win the title in the main event AND also the first heel to retain the title at Mania (against Lex Luger at WM10)
@@gsdrums47 wasn't Ultimate Warrior a heel in 1990 ?
@@Magpie_Mark92 You're kidding right? Warrior's calendar year of 1990 was when he was at his most famous. He beat Hogan at WM6 in April and kept the title all the way through 1990 as the top babyface
No, Andre's was shorter than Yoko's. Yoko's title reign was nearly 5 minutes.
Jinder, Kofi, Big E, Vince, all come to mind.
It bears repeating, you do have to feel a little bit bad for Jinder. If he just spent his whole career as a reliable midcard utility guy, we'd probably all respect and appreciate him a whole lot more than we do. But because of one poorly thought-out decision that was completely out of his hands, now he'll always be remembered first and foremost as one of the worst WWE Champions ever.
There has been 54 WWE Champions, not 53! Here's all 54 WWE Champions in order:
1. Buddy Rogers
2. Bruno Sammartino
3. Ivan Koloff
4. Pedro Morales
5. Stan Stasiak
6. "Superstar" Billy Graham
7. Bob Backland
8. The Iron Sheik
9. Hulk Hogan
10. Andre the Giant
11. "Macho Man" Randy Savage
12. The Ultimate Warrior
13. Sgt. Slaughter
14. The Undertaker
15. Ric Flair
16. Bret "The Hitman" Hart
17. Yokozuna
18. Kevin Nash
19. Shawn Michaels
20. Sycho Sid
21. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
22. Kane
23. The Rock
24. Mankind
25. Triple H
26. Vince McMahon
27. Big Show
28. Kurt Angle
29. Chris Jericho
30. Brock Lesnar
31. Eddie Guerrero
32. JBL
33. John Cena
34. Edge
35. Rob Van Dam
36. Randy Orton
37. Jeff Hardy
38. Batista
39. Sheamus
40. The Miz
41. CM Punk
42. Rey Mysterio
43. Alberto Del Rio
44. Daniel Bryan
45. Seth Rollins
46. Roman Reigns
47. Dean Ambrose
48. AJ Styles
49. Bray Wyatt
50. Jinder Mahal
51. Kofi Kingston
52. Drew McIntyre
53. Bobby Lashley
54. Big E
Can Cody Rhodes become the 55th WWE Champion at WrestleMania 39?
You forgot Antio Inoki
The Brian Kendrick
@@sankalpparmar1888 they greatest almost WWE champion in history 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I really respected Jinder for getting into such good shape - almost like a prototype McIntyre transformation. The biggest issue was that he just wasn't anywhere near good enough for the big belt; if they'd given him the US title instead I think fans would have indulged the longtime jobber his well earned big moment.
2 times where the wwe title changes hands in the same night. Both where in Las Vegas. Regins to Rollins to Ambrose & Hart to Yokozuna to Hogan.
However, the record is three title changes in one night. Randy Orton was awarded, lost, and regain the WWE title all on the same night.
I actually like Jinder Mahal as World Champion, his promos are underrated.
😂
I will never forgive WWE for giving Shinsuke Nakamura’s first main roster AND first WWE title match to Jinder Mahal. I mean if they wanted to keep it on Jinder, just don’t have him face Nakamura!!!
Wish that Rey had a longer title reign instead having him lost to cena the same night he won it, it would've been better if cena vs punk at summerslam wasn't for the title or they should've have a triple threat with mysterio for the title
Rey had a longer title reign.
The long one he had after Eddie died.
Talk about revisionist history.
Still miss Bray. Fireflies man!
Kane should have held the wwf championship until summerlam 98, had a triple threat match with Austin and taker and have Austin win back the belt at summerlam. It didn’t hurt austin not having the belt for a few months and this would have come full circle on Kanes fantastic time at the company from October 97 to august 98 on what he done. Kane also should have won the wwf title in survivor series 1999, that was the best chance to have given the belt to Kane again, esp he was butting heads with DX, that was the perfect window is well to put the belt on kane, no idea why it was big show
Austin wanted the belt back straight away.
Don't go thinking Austin isn't politicking.
Y'all should have done a 1 Time WWE Champs Ranked from worse to best video instead
Dear Cultaholic
Adding Kane's 1 day title reign to a worst list is only showing you either weren't watching at the time or you completely missed the big picture.
Kane"s title reign not only established the BOD partnership raising speculations that they were in cahoots which on and off turned out to be true, the 24 hour tithe reign also set up the following 4 PPV main events by way of the Fully Loaded Tag Title match, SummerSlam with Kane's now confirmed Alliance with Taker, Breakdown's Handicap match that saw the title forfeited & No Mercy's Title match between the Brothers with Stone Cold as ref which in turn set up the Survivor Series Deadly Game tournament which placed The Rock into the main event scene and the rest is history.
Kane was an essential WWF Champion.
That it was only for 1 day served more purpose than most title reigns lasting 4 months.
Big E's championship reign was one of the worst in recent times. WWE pulled the gun too early on him rather than building him up as a single superstar.
I hate how every wrestling channel calls the promotion wwe even in time periods when it was the wwf. Vince tries so hard to erase the past, why do all these channels help him by trying to erase the wwf?
Yeah, a guy starts in the 50s, and they still call it WWE.....WWF! It was what it was.
Slaughter should've been higher on this list. He was simply not a main event performer and the story was infamous garbage.
Anyone remember when Adam Pacitis voice was less annoying, rather than this enthusiastic shouting nonsense he does. Pepperidge Farm remembers. Adam, tone it down mate, I genuinely switch off every one of these top 10 you guys do because of it.
I still hate that cena did that
It was cool seeing the Sergeant character with the belt.
Insect match?!? Im haunted by the memories of Randy Orton’s Semen Viper. It’s clearly “The Semen Viper Match”
If ur WWE champion and black do not fued with Brock Lesnar...
Rock
Big E
Kofi Kingston
Bobby Lashley...
Dunno why you said that Sergeant slaughter wasn't in the military, Everyone knows he was in GI. Joe!
Well, technically, Andre The Giant would be, as he held it the shortest.
They really could have done something more with the Kane run.
Jindal Mahal, Miz, Big E, and Kofi Kingston were the worst WWE champions to date.
When I think of worse champs Bob Backland comes to mind.. talk about the fastest championship match ever.
Bob Backlund had won the title more than once
"Saturday Night Main Event," an amazing time to be alive!
Idc if Big E wins the title again, I just hope hes able to return at this point.
Rey makes sense at #1 because his title was disputed due to CM Punk. You could even call him a 1 time WWE Interim Champion.