Every WWE Champion Of The 2000s Ranked From Worst To Best

I have a feeling that people who grew up with this era will criticize my placement of JBL on this list. Although the Texan bully has earned much criticism over the years for his 280-day run with the WWE Championship, many have grown to look back on his time as a "wrestling god" with a certain fondness.

It's an oft-used comparison, but JBL was very much the original Jinder Mahal. After suddenly and without warning trading in his APA gimmick for a truer-to-life wall street tycoon persona, John "Bradshaw" Layfield was quickly hoisted into the main event picture, and with only his second attempt, got a fluke win over Eddie Guerrero to win the title. From there, he would have mostly mediocre to bad matches that involved him using cheating and interference to scrape by with his title. From that standpoint, he is very much Jinder's companion.

However, unlike Mahal's reign, which was just a cynical grab at a demographic, JBL's ascension was more-or-less a necessity. In the wake of Brock Lesnar's departure, Chris Benoit's move to RAW, and Kurt Angle's hiatus with injury, SmackDown desperately needed new main-eventers. And from a promo and character standpoint, JBL lived up to the task of a delusional heel champion, which has led people to be more forgiving of his shortcomings in-ring.