10 Most Wildly Unpopular WWE Title Changes

7. John 'Bradshaw' Layfield Defeats Eddie Guerrero - Great American Bash 2004

The late Eddie Guerrero's singular WWE Title win in February of 2004 against Brock Lesnar was one of the greatest moments in WWE history. The story that was Eddie Guerrero, fighting back from depression and a severe narcotic addiction; being fired by WWE in 2001, to ultimately return and become one of the most loved superstars of the modern era, led to a very real story-line culminating in the ultimate triumph. As much as this article is about title changes that were supremely reviled; there were few that were as universally loved as Eddie's redemption and rise to the top. Unfortunately for Eddie, at the time, Smackdown took a hit when Brock Lesnar decided to quit WWE for the NFL and Kurt Angle suffered an injury, leaving the roster very thin and without a genuine heel to challenge Eddie after Wrestlemania 20. In desperation, WWE turned Bradshaw- previously a tag-team wrestler- heel and made him into JBL, a characterised version of his real-life, stock-market expert self. With ratings on a low, WWE pulled the trigger in turning the title over from Eddie to JBL in June of 2004, ending Eddie's reign at about 4 months. It wasn't so much that Bradshaw was undeserving of a run at the top- although his subsequent 280 day reign as champion did see some very poor PPV main events- but more that people weren't ready to see Eddie's feel-good story come to an end. JBL was roundly hated amongst pretty much everyone throughout his long reign. His eventual defeat at Wrestlemania 21 couldn't come quickly enough. People took a long sigh of relief when he lost to John Cena.