In the late '90s, WWE and WCW fans were used to world titles switching hands almost monthly. It was hard to keep track of who was a world champion at any given time when looking back, thanks to the hot-shotting of the titles. However, in ECW, holding a world title still meant something and the reigns were often more impressive.

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From 1998 until the company closed its doors in 2001, only 10 men held the world title, and two of them held it twice in that period. Three title reigns went into triple-digit days as champion, and one was even for longer than a year. There were also no bad champions in this time, every man representing what ECW stood for.

10 The Sandman

Sandman

Sandman was the first man to win the ECW World Championship after the company broke away from the NWA, winning the title from inaugural champion Shane Douglas in 1995.

He holds the record for the most title reigns as world champion, with five, and his final reign came in the last year the company was in existence, winning the belt from Steve Corino. He sits at the bottom because his reign lasted only a matter of minutes before Rhino came down and beat him for the title.

9 Tommy Dreamer

Tommy Dreamer

Tommy Dreamer has always maintained that he never, ever should have won the world title. His entire career was based on him being the scrappy babyface who fought against all odds but always fell short of the world title.

He was fine with that, but ECW wanted him to win a world title before he retired, and that happened in 2000 when he beat Taz for the belt after a huge mess with Mike Awesome. He lost it minutes later to Justin Credible.

8 Masato Tanaka

Masato Tanaka

One of the best feuds in ECW in 1999 was between ECW World Champion Mike Awesome and Japanese legend Masato Tanaka. Their feud was so intense that they even revived it when WWE held its One Night Stand PPV event.

In December 1999, Tanaka won the ECW World Title from Awesome on ECW on TNN. However, his reign only lasted six days before he dropped it back to Awesome on television.

7 Jerry Lynn

Jerry Lynn

Jerry Lynn is a guy who was putting on five-star quality matches in ECW since he arrived. While other guys were smashing each other with chairs, lighting tables on fire, and throwing around barbed wire, Lynn was putting on technical classics against guys like Lance Storm and Rob Van Dam.

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In 2000, ECW finally rewarded him. Lynn won the ECW World Championship from Justin Credible at Anarchy Rulz. It was a huge win for Lynn, who conquered the most hated heel in the company and received his big moment in front of the ECW fans. His title reign lasted for 34 days.

6 Steve Corino

Steve Corino

Steve Corino was someone who fit in perfectly with ECW. He was old-school to the core and loved to get bloody and violent in his matches. He was a student of Dusty Rhodes and tore it up when he shot to the top of ECW in 2000.

Corino won the ECW World Championship from Jerry Lynn at November to Remember in 2000 and held the title for 63 days before dropping it to Sandman at Guilty as Charged.

5 Justin Credible

Justin Credible

When several ECW superstars left for WWE and WCW in 2000, Justin Credible stepped up to try to lead the company. He did a good enough job as the hated heel that everyone wanted to see get beat, but he was never up to the level of the champions that came before.

Regardless, ECW hitched their company to Credible, and he won the title from Tommy Dreamer in 2000 at Cyberslam. He held it for 161 days before finally losing it to Jerry Lynn.

4 Rhino

Rhino

Rhino will go down in history as the last champion in ECW history before closing its doors (not counting the WWE revival). He was not only the world champion, but he also held the  ECW TV title when the company went out of business.

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Rhino came in at Guilty as Charged in 2001 and beat Sandman for the title. He then went on a 94-day title run that saw him as the true face of the company until it finally shut down, and Rhino moved on to WWE to become a minor star there as well.

3 Mike Awesome

Mike Awesome

ECW made Mike Awesome a superstar, and then he turned his back on the company. However, before the mess that saw him sign with WCW while still the world champion, he was a dominant star in ECW. Awesome won the world title from Taz at Guilty as Charged in 1999.

He held the title for 89 days and then lost it to Masato Tanaka. He won it back six days later and had a 111-day title reign. He signed with WCW, so ECW brought in Taz to win the title back in 2000.

2 Shane Douglas

Shane Douglas in ECW

No one held the ECW World Championship longer than Shane Douglas. He was a four-time champion for a total of 874 days. In 1997, Douglas beat Bam Bam Bigelow for the title at November to Remember before going on a 406-day title reign, where he dominated as the biggest star in the company.

He finally lost the title at Guilty as Charged in 1999 in one of ECW's best long-term stories to Taz.

1 Taz

Taz in ECW

Taz held the ECW Title twice in its last four years of business. The first reign made him the best champion out of the final 10 men to hold the ECW World Championship. He won the title from Shane Douglas at Guilty as Charged in 1999 and held it for an impressive 251 days. Douglas and Taz combined for an almost two-year run with no other title changes.

Taz finally lost the title to Mike Awesome in 1999 at Anarchy Rulz. However, when Awesome signed with WCW while holding the title, ECW called WWE and borrowed Taz for one week to come in and win the title from Awesome before dropping it to Tommy Dreamer.

NEXT: 10 ECW Wrestlers Who Were Ahead Of Their Time