10 WWE Champions Who Didn't Draw
9. Sheamus
During Sheamus's first two reigns as WWE Champion, he was such an afterthought that it's almost hard to blame him for the company's woes. He captured the belt in a complete fluke at TLC 2009 and defended it in the undercard of the next two PPVs. His second title win came at Fatal 4-Way, one of the least-purchased WWE events of all time. His reign was short and notable for low buyrates.
Sheamus's real "accomplishment" as a horrible WWE Champion came three years ago. At Survivor Series 2015, Roman Reigns won a tournament to crown a new champion, and immediately afterwards, Sheamus cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase for a title shot. He defeated Reigns and claimed the belt, stunning fans who watched him lose earlier in the show.
WWE thought they'd come up with a foolproof plan by putting the belt on someone even less popular than Reigns, but that fan antipathy translated into disgust, not interest. The episode of Raw the evening after Survivor Series drew the lowest non-holiday rating in nearly two decades, with only 2.95 million viewers tuning in. Typically, Raws following title switches do better in the ratings, but that wasn't the case here.
Ratings stayed low during the remainder of Sheamus's three-week reign.