The WWE Championship is considered the most prestigious title in WWE today. While the Universal Championship, currently held by Bray Wyatt, is a world title as well, it is a newer title. However, the WWE Championship has a lineage that stretches back decades with names like Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, and John Cena as former titleholders.

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That makes it a title that should only the best in the business should hold. Many times that is true. However, over the last decade, there have been some very poor representations of WWE Champions mixed with some more than deserving title holders as well. Here is a look at the five best WWE Champions of the last decade, and the five worst.

10 JINDER MAHAL - WORST

Jinder Mahal was the recipient of WWE wanting to try to push someone new to the top to give fans a different champion after years of only pushing the same guys. Jinder was an interesting choice, a former jobber as a member of 3-Man-Band before leaving WWE to rediscover himself.

He came back jacked and ripped, and his look could explain his huge push. He was also relatively young, only 29 when he won the title. However, his title defenses were below average to put it nicely, and he did little to raise his stock as champion. He held the title for 170 days, and fans were ready for it to end.

9 AJ STYLES - BEST

The man that Jinder Mahal lost the WWE Championship to was AJ Styles, and he, above almost anyone else in WWE, deserved the title reign. Styles had already held the title once before, with a nice 140-day reign, and no less than John Cena put him over on several occasions.

The one thing Styles did better than anyone was putting on the best possible in-ring matches of any WWE Champion over the last decade. His second title reign was for over a year, at 371 days. While it was time to move on due to the lack of new challenges, Styles was the best to hold the title.

8 BRAY WYATT - WORST

Bray Wyatt got a second chance when he became The Fiend and won the WWE Universal Championship. However, his first world title reign was with the WWE Championship, and it was a very disappointing title reign. Wyatt won the title in an impressive manner inside the Elimination Chamber.

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However, his reign was full of gimmicky moments, and he lost it after just 49 days to his former tag team title partner Randy Orton. Sadly, that match at WrestleMania 33 was terrible, with bugs and other slimy creatures photo-imposed on the mat and the two men putting on a lackluster battle to end the extremely dissatisfying Bray Wyatt title run.

7 SETH ROLLINS - BEST

Fans have been hit-and-miss with Seth Rollins. When he beat Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship, the fans quickly turned on him. This was mostly because Rollins is a terrible babyface, with an arrogance and attitude that screams top heel. That is why he was such a great WWE Champion.

At WrestleMania 31, Roman Reigns was trying to finally reach his destiny in a match with Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship. However, the fans had turned on Reigns by this time, and WWE was in a tough spot. Enter Seth Rollins and the Money in the Bank briefcase, where he ran in and pinned Reigns to win the title. Rollins held it for 220 days in a very successful run.

6 THE MIZ - WORST

The Miz is a great WWE superstar. He only needs one more Intercontinental title win to tie Chris Jericho for the most in WWE history. He deserves it as well, as Miz is a fantastically talented mid-card superstar and is quite good in the ring as a wrestler as well.

However, in 2010, WWE pushed him as a main event star, and he beat Randy Orton for the world title with a Money in the Bank cash in. The Miz then held the title for 160 days and even beat John Cena at a WrestleMania in a title defense. He was not a credible champion and was way out of his league.

5 CM PUNK - BEST

It is easy to argue that CM Punk is the greatest WWE Champion of the last decade. Punk won the title at Money in the Bank 2011 by beating heavily favored John Cena in front of a pro-Punk Chicago crowd. That was also kayfabe Punk's final day of his WWE contract. As a result, Cena won the WWE title again until Punk showed back up with his title.

This was the hottest angle in WWE. While he lost the title due to Kevin Nash returning, he won it back from Alberto Del Rio at Survivor Series and then held it for 434 days. That was the longest reign for any world title in modern-day WWE and made Punk the best in the world.

4 REY MYSTERIO - WORST

Rey Mysterio was so great when he won the WWE World Championship at the ultimate underdog. Rey is a great wrestler, and he deserves to win and hold titles. That made his one and only WWE Championship reign so disappointing. After CM Punk left with the title, WWE held a tournament to find a new champion.

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Rey Mysterio won that tournament and beat The Miz to win that title. However, Rey was never allowed to enjoy a reign as the champion as John Cena came down as the former champion and got a quick shot after the tournament ended. It was a cheap win for Cena and a WWE title reign of less than one hour for Rey Mysterio.

3 RANDY ORTON - BEST

Randy Orton has won more world titles than anyone not named John Cena, Nature Boy Ric Flair, or Triple H. He has won 13 world titles, with four WWE World Championship title reigns and nine WWE Championship title reigns. Four of those WWE Championship reigns came in the last decade for 302 days.

He won the title from Sheamus in 2010 and held it for 64 days, from Daniel Bryan in 2013 and held it for 28 days, from Daniel Bryan again in 2013 for a long 161-day reign, and finally from Bray Wyatt in 2017 for a 49-day reign.

2 THE ROCK - WORST

The Rock is not the worst at anything. However, his run with the WWE Championship in 2013 was a gratuitous title reign for a part-time star who didn't need it. The Rock beat CM Punk at the Royal Rumble in 2013 to end Punk's 434-day title reign.

The Rock then held the title for 70 days before losing it to John Cena at WrestleMania 29. Why is he one of the worst WWE Champions of the last decade? He defended the title one time between winning it at Royal Rumble to WrestleMania, where he faced John Cena. That was a CM Punk rematch at Elimination Chamber.

1 KOFI KINGSTON - BEST

Kofi Kingston was the best story of 2019. He had worked in WWE for over a decade and never received one single world title shot. Then, he finally got the chance and had to jump through hoops to get the title shot at WrestleMania. It was great that Kofi got the title shot against Daniel Bryan, a man who took the same path to his world title victory.

Kofi Kingston then won the WWE Championship and followed up that great moment by holding the title for 180 days. Kofi was then a fighting champion with great matches against names like Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Shinsuke Nakamura, Dolph Ziggler, and more.

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