10 Worst First Days For WWE Champions

9. Seth Rollins

Batista Injury
WWE.com

Seth Rollins' 2016 return from a lengthy injury layoff came with the carefully marketed slogan "Redesign. Rebuild. Reclaim".

In a navel-gazing Network piece on his comeback, Rollins explained how connected he felt to the ethos, noting the scale of the surgery and rehabilitation, right the way through to eventually getting back what had been taken away from him along the way in the form of the WWE Championship.

He managed it fairly quickly, too. Though devastated to miss WrestleMania 32 in April, he was able to make it for Extreme Rules in May to set up a blockbuster main event against Roman Reigns at Money In The Bank the following month. On the night, he got the job done against a 'Big Dog' set to serve a suspension, but forgot all about the titular match earlier on the card.

Longstanding rival/former partner Dean Ambrose ambushed him with the Money In The Bank briefcase and cashed in, completing the trifecta of Shield WWE Champions in a matter of seconds. 'The Architect' went nearly three full years without the gold before building himself back up to where he'd been before.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. 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 sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett