10 WWE Champions Who Didn't Draw
4. Roman Reigns
Part of the reason that WWE didn't care enough to book Seth Rollins properly as champion was that he wasn't the brass' top priority - Roman Reigns was. While Rollins was repeatedly made to look like a paper champion, the company tried to strengthen Reigns to the point that they could eventually put the title on him without a backlash.
It didn't really work, but Reigns won the title anyway - first at the Survivor Series 2015, then on the Raw after TLC. Both of those reigns were brief, and were only designed to set him up for a big win at WrestleMania. At the show, he defeated Triple H to begin his first proper run as champion. Finally, WWE had a titleholder they could truly get behind.
It didn't help ratings. Whether it was because fans hated Reigns or because too much damage had already been done, TV numbers were still treading new lows. Furthermore, house show numbers on the Reigns-led tour were lower than those on shows headlined by Dean Ambrose, despite Reigns's push and the involvement of the WWE Title. The Roman Reigns experiment, two years in the making, was a flop. But they've kept trying.