The role of a transitional champion is one that WWE does not expect to have a long or noteworthy title reign. WWE typically uses this term for wrestlers that are already planned to lose the title to another wrestlers. The title changes of the transitional title holders winning the gold usually happens to create the surprise element while setting up future plans for the title.
We will look at some of the wrestlers to win the WWE Championship with plans to drop it quickly after or play a smaller role in the overall story. Some of them would climb back to the top of the mountain and have stronger title reigns while others peaked here. Find out which of your favorites won the title with a different path planned for them. These are ten WWE Champions that were specifically selected to have transitional title reigns.
10 Sheamus
The 2015 WWE Championship win of Sheamus came due to WWE having to make a lot of last-minute changes. Seth Rollins vacating the title due to injury created a tournament to crown a new champion. Roman Reigns won it at Survivor Series with a few minutes of celebration before Sheamus cashed in with his Money in the Bank title shot.
Sheamus won the title solely to add a shocking ending to the show and set up a feud with Reigns. The two feuded for about a month with Roman winning the title back relatively quickly. Sheamus fell back down into the mid-card after the transitional title reign.
9 The Iron Sheik
Most WWE Championship reigns in the 70s and 80s were quite lengthy. The only transitional reigns typically came when a heel won the title to lose it to another face. WWE did this when having The Iron Sheik defeat Bob Backlund to win the gold.
The rational behind this was WWE needed a legitimately hated heel to drop the belt to Hulk Hogan. Fans were falling in love with Hogan in the 80s and WWE knew he was the draw. Hogan defeated Iron Sheik to end his title reign after a month.
8 Rey Mysterio
Rey Mysterio had one of the shortest WWE Championship reigns holding the title for just a night. The vacated title saw a tournament to crown a new champion after CM Punk left the company for a few weeks. Mysterio defeated The Miz in the finals to win the WWE Championship for the first time.
John Cena challenged Mysterio to another match later in the night and won the title back hours later. Fans were confused at the title change, but WWE wanted Cena defeating a top name to win back the belt. The entire storyline was a miss with Punk returning the same night with the other WWE Championship.
7 Big Show
Steve Austin leaving WWE television in late 1999 to get surgery for his neck injury led to a huge change in the Survivor Series 1999 card. Big Show replaced Austin in a triple threat match against The Rock and Triple H with the WWE Championship on the line.
The win saw Big Show win the gold for the first time in his career in an emotional moment. Big Show still wasn’t over enough to have a strong reign, and this was done for the shock. WWE planned for Triple H to end it a few weeks later to start his best title run yet.
6 Bob Backlund
The second WWE Championship reign of Bob Backlund gave much later in his career in 1994. Fans were shocked and bored by the outdated character winning the title from Bret Hart in an “I Quit” match when Owen Hart convinced the Hart parents to throw in the towel.
WWE only went with this move to put a heel in the position of champion. Diesel would defeat Backlund after just three days at a Madison Square Garden house show. The change saw Backlund serve as the ideal hated heel to get squashed by Diesel and start a new era.
5 The Rock
Many of The Rock’s WWE Championship reigns were shorter than fans realized. One of them specifically stands out as a transitional reign back in 2002. Rock returned from time off shooting a movie to defeat The Undertaker and Kurt Angle in a classic triple threat match.
WWE did this to set up the huge attraction of Rock vs rising rookie phenom Brock Lesnar in the main event of Summerslam. Rock did an outstanding job putting over Lesnar to help him become the new top star. The plan worked to perfection with Rock’s transitional reign benefiting the company’s future.
4 Mankind
The incredible work of Mick Foley saw him reach the top of WWE with three title reigns. However, Foley’s recorded total combined days as champion saw him hold it for 36 days. WWE never viewed Foley as a long-term champion due to the star power of Steve Austin and The Rock in 1999.
Foley’s title wins came during his feud with Rock to create an unpredictable element for title matches. Rock also benefited from strong heel heat for losing the title to a beloved wrestler and cheating to take it back. It also created the great moments of fans celebrating Mick’s big wins.
3 Kane
Kane won the WWE Championship in a shocking moment at King of the Ring 1998. The Undertaker accidentally hitting Steve Austin with a chair busted Austin open to give Kane the win in the First Blood match. Austin however used his rematch clause the following night on Raw.
WWE would end Kane’s title reign after just one day to put Austin back as the top champion. The move was done to give Kane a big moment to further cement his credibility, but there were no plans for him to have a lengthy reign. Austin was too hot to risk keeping away from the title for too long.
2 Bray Wyatt
Bray Wyatt won his first WWE Championship at Elimination Chamber 2017 to end John Cena’s reign. The win for Wyatt felt huge at time for a rising new star having their first world title victory. WWE didn’t have long-term plans for Bray as the top champion on Smackdown.
The storyline of Randy Orton aligning with Wyatt before turning on him lasted for many months. Orton was always planned to defeat Bray at WrestleMania 33 with the title making it a bigger moment. Wrestling insiders have speculated that WWE wanted to give Orton the title reign as a make good for Brock Lesnar brutally busting him open months earlier.
1 Edge
The most memorable and fascinating transitional WWE Championship reign came for Edge in 2006. Fans witnessed the first-ever Money in the Bank title shot cash-in when Edge used it on a weakened John Cena to steal his first WWE Championship victory.
WWE planned to have Edge lost it back a few weeks later at the Royal Rumble. Cena winning the title again for a main event match with Triple H at WrestleMania 22 was always the idea. Edge however did great work and proved to be a big ratings draw. WWE still went with their original plan as Edge dropped the title at the Rumble to Cena.