10 Shortest WWE World Championship Title Reigns

8. Rey Mysterio

dean ambrose seth rollins
WWE.com

Length of WWE Championship Reign: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Set the Wayback Machine to 2011, when the Summer of Punk was upon us. CM Punk had just defeated John Cena as his contract expired, and he left with the title.

The following night on Raw, Vince McMahon announced that the title was officially vacated, and he was launching a mini-tournament to fill it. Rey Mysterio and The Miz would advance and square off the following week to open Raw, where Rey captured his first (and only) WWE Championship.

Unfortunately for him, Cena immediately challenged him to defend the title later that night, which Mysterio did… unsuccessfully. Yep, Rey won the title in the opening match and lost it in the main event.

But don’t sweat it – Cena would be exposed moments later as just holding Punk’s title, as the Second City Savior returned with his title in tow.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.