10 REALLY Long WWE Title Reigns That Didn’t Work
2. AJ Styles - WWE Champion (234+ Days)
It's with a heavy heart that AJ Styles merits inclusion in a list of this nature.
Every bit the 'Phenomenal' performer he professed to be, Styles looked at points to be completely immune to WWE's dodgy booking by forces of will and skill. His matches superseded shoddy storytelling, effectively carrying angles over the line in spite of themselves thanks to the ultra-high quality payoffs that were guaranteed between the ropes.
This changed (for good?) during his summer series over a secondary strap with Kevin Owens. A series of matches designed to prop up 'KO's bristling rivalry with Shane McMahon, both wrestlers and the title itself were heinously damaged by the treadmill of p*sspoor finishes concluding p*sspoor contests.
Winning the WWE Championship back in November 2017 felt like salvation (more on that later), but the 'richest prize' hasn't really left the gutter since. Styles tried his best to find reason and reality in inherently silly circumstances at the start of the year, but the multi-man battles at Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber were deflating disasters.
Not to worry. 'Styles vs. Nakamura' was can't-miss dream match stuff. WWE even literally labelled it as the latter. They missed. Over and over again they missed. The only thing that did hit was Shinsuke's clenched fist - right up in the balls of one of the world's finest wrestlers. Reality couldn't meet "dream" expectations, even by the time their Money In The Bank Last Man Standing effort had drastically lowered the bar.