10 Best WWE Championship Reigns Of The 2010s
3. AJ Styles (September 2016-January 2017)
AJ Styles' first WWE Championship was about a third as long as his second one, but you could argue that he got a lot more done in that time.
His victory over Dean Ambrose at Backlash 2016 shocked everyone. There were concerns that AJ's TNA past would compromise any main event ambitions, but WWE did the right thing and gave him the top prize.
The Lunatic Fringe made up the bulk of Styles' matches for the rest of the year, which included a fantastic war at TLC. He did also have a micro-feud with James Ellsworth, but let's not get into that now.
The pinnacle of this reign was its finale.
In arguably the best WWE match of 2017, Styles put on an all-timer with John Cena at the Royal Rumble. AJ proved he was a class act in defeat, making Cena look like a million bucks as he picked up his record-tying 16th world championship.
After 140 days on top, AJ Styles had proven that he was more than capable of leading the biggest wrestling promotion in the world. This was make or break for the Georgia boy, and he made it.