Ranking Each Of Randy Orton’s 12 World Title Wins
Including a record-breaking victory, a Money In The Bank cash-in and two title wins in one night.
This April, Randy Orton has the chance to achieve something that has so far alluded him in his WWE career: capturing a World championship at WrestleMania.
While he’s entered the show of shows as champion before - and even left the show with the title in tow having successfully defended it - never has he walked in as the challenger and walked out as the champion.
Not that this should throw shade on any of his previous world titles wins, though. Even though none of his 12 successes have arrived at WrestleMania, each of them have still been memorable in their own right - for reasons both good and bad.
We’ve seen Orton strike gold in Hell in a Cell, Last Man Standing and Tables, Ladders and Chairs matches, while on the flip side, we’ve seen him literally handed the title by Vince McMahon in far less auspicious circumstances. There was also the small matter of a Money In The Bank cash-in back in 2013 which likely still stings for a fair few fans.
But how do each of these instances stack up against one another?
12. WWE Championship Vs. Nobody (No Mercy 2007)
At No Mercy 2007, the pay-per-view kicked off in unusual fashion.
After John Cena had suffered a legitimate torn pectoral muscle on Raw, Vince McMahon was forced to take to the ring and announce that Cena had been stripped of his WWE Championship. The boss then went on to very graciously guarantee us that history would be made that night: a new WWE Champion would be crowned, a WWE Championship match would be taking place and, most importantly, the fans would be given exactly what they want.
Cue a widespread Y2J chant in Chicago’s Allstate Arena, which McMahon acknowledged and summarily ignored before announcing Randy Orton as the WWE Champion. Classic McMahon.
In fairness, though, he was right about the WWE Championship match part. In a bizarre evening, he actually delivered three title bouts, the first of which kicked off the show and saw Triple H defeat the newly-crowned Orton to end his reign in a matter of minutes.
Simply being awarded the title was underhanded enough - but to go on to lose it almost as quickly made this a title win to forget.