10 REALLY Long WWE Title Reigns That Didn’t Work

3. Sheamus - World Heavyweight Champion (210 Days)

Sheamus World Champion
WWE

Sheamus may have experienced an 'Irish Curse' the moment he won the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXVIII in just 18 infamous seconds.

His victory over Daniel Bryan inadvertently poured gas on a gently-simmering 'YES! Movement', and the flames blew directly back in his face. Despite strictly occasional strong performances in defences throughout 2012, 'The Celtic Warrior' never shook off a smattering of boos that stuck around long enough to guide his heel turn upon a 2014 return from injury.

Whilst CM Punk gamely tried to make some history under the looming shadow of John Cena with his WWE Championship, Sheamus seemed so morbidly content boring audiences with indifferent efforts against Randy Orton, Alberto Del Rio, Dolph Ziggler and any other midcarder the company could laughably reframe as a headline attraction.

Sheamus was no more a 'top guy' then than he is today, despite the tacit implication by virtue of his title. A strap surrender to The Big Show of all people still felt like a breath of fresh air compared to the dull and dingy fog his stint had crafted around the prize.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say. With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling. 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 music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.