The last five years of wrestling have been some of the most interesting years in the history of sports entertainment. Impact hopped from TV network to TV Network. AEW became a thing. Vince McMahon retired.
The last five years have also seen a ton of successful world champions across the world of wrestling. Kenny Omega held three major world titles. Roman Reigns became the Undisputed WWE Champion. Kazuchika Okada held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for almost two years. There were also a ton of title reigns that were extremely lackluster. This list will examine ten of the worst title reigns of the last five years of wrestling.
10 Brock Lesnar - WWE Championship (2022)
Brock Lesnar had two lackluster title reigns in 2022. The first occurred when he ended Big E's title run at Day 1. It was an aimless booking and he lost the title to Bobby Lashley in less than a month. He did nothing to elevate himself or the belt.
His second lackluster run happened after he won the title back at the Elimination Chamber 2022. They randomly put the belt on him so he could wrestle Roman Reigns in a title versus title match at WrestleMania 38. It was a contrived run that every fan saw through.
9 Josh Alexander - Impact Championship (2021)
At Bound for Glory 2021, Josh Alexander finally won the Impact Championship. His rise to the top of the company was actually pretty well done. He defeated veteran superstar, Christian Cage, and seemed destined for a great run.
Out of nowhere, his title run was extremely short-lived when Moose invoked his Call Your Shot Gauntlet championship contract and quickly defeated Alexander to earn the title. Alexander would eventually earn the title back for a much better run at Rebellion 2022.
8 Nikki A.S.H. - WWE Raw Women's Championship (2021)
Nikki A.S.H. is one of the strangest wrestling gimmicks of the past 5 years. It has done very little to elevate Nikki despite A.S.H. being a former world champion with the "superhero" persona.
In 2021, Nikki cashed in her Money in the Bank contract and earned the Raw Women's title from Charlette Flair. She was extremely unbelievable as a champion and lost the title in a little over a month. A.S.H. never had a single successful defense of the title.
7 Pentagón Jr. - Impact Championship (2018)
As one half of the Lucha Brothers, Pentagón Jr. has become one of the top stars at AEW. He and Rey Fenix have had a few solo matches, but most of their recent success has happened as a dominant tag team unit.
In 2018, Pentagón Jr. won the Impact Championship from Austin Aries at Redemption. In all honesty, he could have carried the title really well for the company, but he lost the Impact Championship back to Aries after a low blow and two days with the title. It was a huge letdown, overall.
6 "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt - WWE Universal Championship (2020)
The recent White Rabbitt promos on WWE have caused a ton of fans to hope for the return of Bray Wyatt. "The Fiend" was one of the most inventive gimmicks of the past few years and it could have elevated wrestling in a ton of ways.
Instead, "The Fiend" kept taking huge losses that made him appear weak despite his supernatural abilities. He was the last person to hold the Universal Championship before Roman's near thousand-day reign. He held the title for 6 days before getting dominated by Roman. The whole run was a huge waste of "The Fiend."
5 Bobby Lashley - WWE Championship (2022)
In 2022, Bobby Lashley got caught up in the aimless WWE Championship booking. He had a great run as champion in 2021 and when he defeated Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble, it seemed a second run was imminent.
Instead, the win was pointless and he lost the title back to Lesnar at the Elimination Chamber in less than a month. There was no logical reason for him to win the title and it was a bad run overall.
4 Charlotte Flair - WWE Smackdown Women's Championship (2019)
Charlotte Flair and Bayley had a great feud in 2019. One of the only low points of their rivalry was Hell in a Cell 2019. She ended Bayley's 140-day run as Smackdown Women's Championship for no apparent reason.
She lost the title back to Bayley on the next episode of Smackdown. Bayley ended up holding the title for over a year after Flair's head-scratching four-day run as champion.
3 Jeff Jarrett - AAA Mega Championship (2018)
The AAA Mega Championship has often been reserved for some of the best wrestling performers in the business. Jarrett winning the title in 2018 was strange for many reasons. First, he hardly fit the AAA style at the time (unlike his first run with the title in 2011).
The second, he defeated Rey Mysterio and prevented him from winning his first ever AAA Mega Championship at Verano de Escándalo (2018). Jarrett had 0 defenses of the title and it was a forgettable accomplishment of his long wrestling career.
2 The Miz - WWE Chamionship (2021)
Transitional champions are usually not good, but The Miz found a way to be one of the worst transitional WWE Champions ever in 2021. After (somehow) winning the Money the Bank contract, no one was sure if he would be given a true title run since he wasn't competing at a championship level before the match.
He cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on Drew McIntyre at the Elimination Chamber. he was booked as an absolute joke and no one could tell he once had a serious title run in a previous decade. His title run lasted 8 days and he was forced to give the title up to Bobby Lashley on an episode of Raw.
1 CM Punk - 2nd AEW Championship Reign (2022)
CM Punk shifted the wrestling world when he arrived to AEW in 2021. Everyone was sure a title run would follow, but no one could have imagined they would be such failures. His first run with the title was supposed to set up a "Summer of Punk II," but a foot injury led to Jon Moxley becoming the interim champion.
He lost the belt (for reasons unknown) and then won it back from Moxley at All Out 2021. MJF returned to AEW and it seemed Punk was set up to have a huge run. After the pay-per-view, a media scrum followed and he buried a ton of talent who he claimed: "went into business for [themselves]." It was one of the most shocking moments in wrestling history and the title was vacated shortly after. It could be his last run as champion at AEW.