Championships in professional wrestling are meant to signify success. Dominance of the tag team division on a brand, top mid-card talent, top status in a certain weight class, or the top talent in each promotion. All these designations have representative championships in WWE.

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While at one point in time championship reigns could last years, few modern title reigns surpass a single year. Many point to the Attitude Era as the point when this dynamic shifted in favor of shorter reigns which facilitated more movement among champions. While this method increases excitement, it diminishes the status of earning a championship.

Despite the diminished prestige of championship status in WWE, the championships still represent success. Each change of hands serves a purpose. At least it should. Here are 10 title changes which made no sense.

10 10. Bray Wyatt – WWE Championship, 2017

When Bray Wyatt won the WWE Championship in the main event at Elimination Chamber 2017, fans were ecstatic. Wyatt had been a fan-favorite for some time at this point, and this victory placed him in the top spot. Besides being a monumental milestone for Wyatt, he looked extremely strong in the match, eliminating John Cena and AJ Styles in order to obtain the title.

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Unfortunately, this would be where his strong push ended. Wyatt was booked to look weak against Randy Orton in the following storyline before ultimately losing the title to Orton at Wrestlemania. While the story could have been great if paced properly, it was extremely rushed and left Bray looking weak in his only major title run to date.

9 9. Braun Stroman and Seth Rollins – Raw Tag Team Championship, 2019

To be fair, this one has the potential to rectify itself. Prior to the 8/19/2019 edition of Raw, The Good Brothers Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson seemed primed to legitimize a Raw Tag Team Championship which was struggling to remain relevant.

Newly reunited with AJ Styles as The OC, the faction held all but the top title on Raw. Given the charisma they display together and their current emergence as a top heel faction, the trio could have worked wonders in this situation, especially leading up to Survivor Series. Time will tell if this is rectified, but it seems apparent that a long-term run would have been in their best interest.

8 8. Kane – WWF Championship, 1998

This match has been watched, reviewed, and theorized over so many times, yet no one can really understand the premise. Essentially, Kane and Stone Cold Steve Austin were scheduled for a First Blood match where the winner took the title. Simple enough – however when Kane entered the arena at King of the Ring 1998 wearing a full body suit (with both sleeves) and his signature mask, it was apparent who the winner would likely be.

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What wasn’t apparent was how short his reign would last. The following night on Raw, Austin would win the title back from Kane, begging the question of why he won it to begin with. Granted it contributed to the feud between the two and Undertaker, it was an unnecessary addition which is easily forgotten.

7 7. Shawn Michaels – European Championship, 1997

Shawn Michaels was notorious for his backstage antics in WWE, but this marks one prime example of HBK pushing Vince in a direction that did more harm than good.

One Night Only was a pay-per-view held in Birmingham, England. The British Bulldog, the inaugural European Champion, was set to defend the title in his hometown against Shawn Michaels. Originally planned to retain the title, Davey Boy Smith experienced his first loss in Britain to drop the title.

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Michaels’ ensuing reign made little sense, as he would drop the belt to Triple H on Raw three months later in a mock contest. While the Montreal Screwjob may not yet have been in the works at the time and this run may have been meant for more, all it did was contribute to the loss of Smith, making it a confusing choice.

6 6. Braun Strowman and Nicholas – Raw Tag Team Champions, 2018

It seems like Braun Strowman can’t win a tag title without negative connotations ensuing.

In early 2018, Braun was a potentially dominant singles competitor. He was big and entertaining, having previously made multiple attempts at the Universal Championship and made himself look very strong over the past year through several rivalries. Unfortunately, poor booking would lead him to this.

On the 3/12/2018 edition of Raw, Strowman earned a shot at the Raw Tag Team Championship with a partner of his choosing at Wreslemania. That partner? A boy named Nicholas. The two would defeat The Bar for the tag titles only to drop them the next night on Raw.

5 5. Edge – Intercontinental Championship, 1999

On the subject of one day title reigns, most won’t remember Edge’s first Intercontinental Championship reign. Why? Because it was earned at a house show in Toronto in July 1999. To compound the confusion here, Edge was in the middle of a successful tag team run with Christian which saw the two steadily gaining momentum.

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Not only do the short duration and setting of this run make fans scratch their heads, but the fact that Jeff Jarrett would regain his title the following night at Fully Loaded only to lose it the NEXT night on Raw to D’Lo Brown makes this entire sequence seem like a total waste.

4 4. Zack Ryder – Intercontinental Championship, 2016

When Zack Ryder won the Intercontinental Championship at Wrestlemania 32, it seemed like the culmination of all his hard work. Ryder had worked hard to get himself over with fans, leading to his “Internet Championship” in 2011.

Fans were fully behind Ryder in 2016, and his victory in the seven-way ladder match at Wrestlemania capitalized on that support, culminating with an emotional in-ring moment between Ryder and his father. Unfortunately, Ryder would lose the Intercontinental Championship the following night to The Miz, losing the rematch and being removed from the title scene in turn, angering fans and begging the question of why he ever obtained it to begin with.

3 3. The Big Show – WWE Championship, 2002

Not much has been noteworthy about Big Show’s career, and this title run was par for the course. Following his debut in 2002, Brock Lesnar was built into an unstoppable monster, earning his first championship 126 days into his main roster tenure. In finding a suitable opponent to defeat Lesnar, WWE settled on Big Show.

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This reign lasted a mere 28 days and served to set up a title bout between Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania XIX. Besides that, there was little purpose. Big Show dropped the title to Armageddon and failed to re-enter the scene, falling back into obscurity until another big man was needed.

2 2. Rey Mysterio – United States Championship, 2019

Another recent run which should have made sense and didn’t. Mysterio and Samoa Joe were at the height of an entertaining feud leading into Money in the Bank 2019 when Mysterio would win the US Championship in controversial fashion to become a triple crown champion, a distinction which was absolutely deserved.

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What ruined this accomplishment was the fact that Rey would relinquish the title two weeks later on Raw to Joe due to concerns about his ability to compete. No match was held, no competition, he simply gave the title back. While he disappeared from competition for a few weeks after, he quickly returned, nowhere near the title scene, begging the question of what had really been planned for this run.

1 1. Sheamus – WWE Championship, 2009

166 days into his tenure on the main roster, Sheamus won the WWE Championship from John Cena at TLC 2009. The monumental push, combined with his opponent in this bout, made clear that Sheamus was a talent that WWE thought would be worthy of success.

Unfortunately, they refused to book the first Irish-born champion as such. His reign would last longer than most on this list, but it was filled with retentions by disqualification and lackluster exposure. Sheamus was and is an extremely talented superstar, but this was too much success too soon, and it ultimately stalled his momentum.

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