10 Great WWE Championship Reigns (That Ended In The Worst Way Possible)

Seth Rollins cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase in the main event of WrestleMania 31 is one of the great wrestling moments of the modern era. The build, the execution, the crowd response, it was all perfect, one of the few WWE creative decisions of recent years that will stand the test of time. On that night in Santa Clara, Seth Rollins became a made man.

Rollins dominated the main event scene in WWE over the next few months, although he didn’t do so alone. J&J Security was never far away, and it took a returning Undertaker looking for vengeance on Brock Lesnar’s junk for Rollins to escape with the title at Battleground. He may have been escaping with the title, but Rollins is and was a performer of such elite talents that the matches were always good to great. Rollins and the title were a perfect fit.

Rollins even picked up the US Championship along the way, albeit in fairly miserable circumstances when Jon Stewart (of all people) turned on John Cena. The misery was compounded a couple of months later when Rollins turned his knee at a live event in Dublin, tearing his MCL and ACL in the process. The video of the injury tells the entire story.

The Architect was forced to vacate the title, just as he was moving into a higher gear as champion. The 2015 WWE Superstar of the Year was gone for the next seven months.