9. Ambrose Rarely Defends U.S. Championship, Loses It In Battle Royal
WWE.comFor a while, Dean Ambrose had the longest ongoing title reign in WWE, as he held the U.S. Championship for 50 weeks, falling 14 days shy of one year. Its the longest reign for the WWE incarnation of the title. For the majority of that time, he was competing more often than not in six-man tag matches as part of The Shield, so the title seemed to be little more than a prop. Even JBL began mocking him in the waning months of his reign. Whenever Michael Cole would gush about how long Ambrose had held the title, JBL would point out that its easy to hold onto a title if you never defend it. Indeed, you could probably count on two hands the number of televised title defenses Ambose had in 50 weeks. But yet, even though the U.S. title was rarely defended, it suddenly became a huge deal when The Authority wanted to punish The Shield and force Ambrose to defend his title in a battle royal. Sorry, but a battle royal has got to be one of the worst ways to crown a new champ (Royal Rumble 1992 excluded). It came out of nowhere with no build, and Sheamus beat a guy who was rapidly becoming more and more popular. But then rather than turning heel, the Celtic Warrior stayed a good guy. It just didnt make sense.