10 Worst WWE Championship Reigns Of The 2010s
Terrible reigns from the most recent full decade of WWE.
As the 2020s slowly lumber along (oh God, when will it end?), we have to look back to the 2010s to get the picture of how WWE has evolved over a full decade.
From the dominance of John Cena and Randy Orton to the rise of the indie darlings to the catastrophic mishandling of Roman Reigns as a babyface, the 2010s saw a lot of change, especially surrounding the main event.
We saw some amazing world title reigns during this period from the likes of Daniel Bryan, AJ Styles, and CM Punk. Unfortunately, for every great reign, there must be at least one duffer.
WWE took some wild swings with their top championship during this era. They crowned a huge number of first time champions; some of them worked; some of them didn't. It didn't help that they usually hitched their wagon to the wrong horse, while the real stallions were usually given pity reigns.
The usual criterion applies here. We're looking at everything from the length of these reigns to the matches had while champions to how the belts were won/lost.
Strap yourselves in.
10. Dean Ambrose (June-September 2016)
It feels really bad to put Dean Ambrose on this list.
The man currently known as Jon Moxley never suited the WWE mould. While his fellow ex-Shield members Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns seemed destined for greatness, fans worried that his small stature, rough background, and unorthodox style would keep him out of the main event.
And then he did it.
At Money in the Bank 2016, Ambrose cashed in his recently won briefcase to beat his old rival Rollins for the big one. Here was one of the least likely world champions the company had ever seen and it was a glorious moment.
But it wasn't to last. Ambrose wasn't really given a chance to succeed. His title win was overshadowed by the second brand split and he was given a weird defence against Dolph Ziggler at SummerSlam, which also underwhelmed. It didn't help that he had also given a horrendous interview to Steve Austin, which made him look like he couldn't give two hoots about the belt.
We've all seen how good Ambrose can be as a world champion, but this maiden voyage crashed and burned.