10 Dumbest WWE Title Changes
2. Randy Orton Beats Christian (SmackDown, 2011)
It took WWE more than a decade to recognise Christian's star potential. Even after he came back from three years in TNA, in fact - where he grew into one of the industry's most beloved performers - Vince McMahon was still content to dump him on ECW, after one of the most low-key returns in history.
After a couple of years proving his worth (again), the 'Instant Classic' finally got his chance to headline one of the main two shows when injury to, of all people, Edge left a position vacant for SmackDown's leading man. To one of the biggest post-Attitude Era pops, Christian won his first real WWE world title at Extreme Rules 2011.
The company seemed finally to be giving him the chance to shine, but it was all of 48 hours before they had him lose the belt to Randy Orton. The feud that the pair subsequently shared was some of both men's best work, in all fairness, but having spent years on the sidelines Christian desperately needed a meaningful run to establish himself in the main event.