10 Most Pointless WWE Title Wins

All that glitters ain't gold. 

Alberto Del Rio
WWE.com

With a non-title victory over Bayley, Nia Jax booked her place on the WrestleMania 33 card alongside the current champion, former titleholder Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks.

The fatal four way for the Women's Title should be an entertaining enough encounter, but it's hard not to lament what might have been on the 'Show of Shows'.

When Charlotte defeated 'The Hugger' at January's Royal Rumble, she maintained her inadvertent unbeaten streak in pay-per-view title matches, and the WrestleMania stage looked set for a final rematch for underdog Bayley to finally dethrone 'The Queen'.

Confusing it was then, when the switch actually occurred weeks later on a Monday Night Raw main event instead. Even more shocking was Bayley's victory in their rematch at the Fastlane pay-per-view, bewilderingly ending the streak a month before the biggest show of the year and effectively concluding their feud in the process.

As great a celebration as it was when Bayley scored the huge win, the follow-up has robbed the biggest date in the Sports Entertainment calendar of a true WrestleMania moment and the traditionally successful method of truly elevating a babyface.

And it's not the only time WWE have flummoxed fans with their championship decisions. Often dreadfully timed or woefully handled in the post-match, the company has damaged wrestlers, storylines and titles themselves with questionable decisions and miserable booking.

Looking through the history of WWE's major championships, here are the 10 most pointless title wins.

10. John Cena Defeats Rey Mysterio

Alberto Del Rio
WWE.com

A dream match under nightmarish circumstances, the WWE Title match between Rey Mysterio and John Cena was the climax to a perplexing creative mishandling of CM Punk's 2011 title-winning walk-out.

Defeating Cena at the monumental Money In The Bank pay-per-view, Punk left the company exactly as he'd promised to, and took the prestigious WWE Title with him.

Ahead of his return to television weeks later, an unravelling Vince McMahon announced that a tournament must take place to crown a 'new' champion, in a failing attempt to whitewash Punk from his organisation.

Setting out immediate brackets that lead to a Mysterio/Miz final the following week, McMahon wouldn't see the final himself, getting relieved of his duties later in the night by new authority figure Triple H via a 'Board of Directors' decision.

Winning the opening match of the following week's Raw, Mysterio was crowned new paper champion, then dodged a cash-in attempt from Alberto Del Rio.

However, his night wasn't over. Despite the babyface celebration, Rey was forced into defending the title against former champion John Cena.

It made no sense as to why Cena would want to take advantage of an exhausted Mysterio, but he did anyway, and claimed the disputed prize.

CM Punk's immediate return rendered the whole thing moot.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett