Your Most Hated World Title Reign in History

[Powerful_Fox]

Jack Swagger was the first that came to mind for me. One of the dullest characters going when he won the belt. He had a certain level of arrogance in his persona before hand but even then, I saw it as not enough to rise above the midcard. It wasn't even developed on, let alone polished and tailored for a man event run.

His run summarised everything wrong with the boredom of the product, I can only assume they went with it to do the whole "anything can happen" shtick but in actuality it made people think they were just taking the piss as it was total bollocks.

As Sir Steve Redgrave said above, that little bit of character he had was completely sacked out of him and he just seemed like a bloke with a belt. It didn't even feel like a main event belt when he had it.

Instead of the belt elevating him, he brought it down. When his run finished, he plummeted to new depths until he aligned with Zeb Colter (Colter did more for him that his title run did!). So even with hindsight, the run was completely pointless. No one benefits from Jack Swagger being champion for anyone.

EDIT: I actually had to go back and check what other matches outside of the Orton one he had. A couple on Smackdown and a PPV against Big Show where he got himself disqualified to retain before dropping it to Rey a month later. Fucking tantalising.

[garynysmon]

As a child. I despised Shawn Michaels' 1996 reign. Talk about being shoved down people's throats. 

[air_raid]

Swagger's was terrible. It wasn't just that he wasn't ready to main event, it was that he'd done nothing of note, ever.

 

E - Something about shagging Francine despite looking like her dad taking her to work at his nightshift to stop her sucking cock for white lightning on the park

 

Brilliant.

[JakeRobertsParoleOfficer]

Jericho's undisputed reign in 01/02. Just couldn't take him seriously as champ even though he'd beat Austin and Rock for it. He was trying way too hard to be a heel (like Rollins currently) and was overshadowed by Rock, Austin/nwo and then Triple H, Steph and Steph's fucking dog in all three of his feuds as champion. Just seemed a waste of crowning an undisputed champion in the first place.

 

I'll second that.

 

Jericho for me is another whom i just never saw 'it' in!!!

 

for me he was:

 

too small to be a monster

not agile enough to be a flyer

not smooth enough to be a Hart/Hennig type

 

factor in i thought his:

 

facial hair looked sh*t

ring jackets looked sh*t

attire looked sh*t

hair looked sh*t

moveset was bland as f**k

 

and i found his promo's to be channel switch worthy and you have a guy i just couldn't understand why they put the title on (or keep bringing back) 

 

it seemed to be just to satisfy internet fanboys who for years had w****d over how they should be champion (like they did with Benoit, Guerrero, etc) only for it to backfire at the gate and in buyrate (after the initial pop)

[Sphinx]

My main memory of Swagger's reign, which was terrible, is him showing his trophy collection for what seemed like twenty minutes before Big Show obviously broke them. Smackdown at that time was so shite. I think you had the Teddy Long vs. Drew McIntyre dullness too and Kane ending Drew's winning streak abruptly with a small boot as he's sat down.

[Ambulance Chaser]

Been hammering some WCW on the Network recently, boy, Ron Simmons WCW Title Reign was rather depressing.

[The British Bushwacker]

Bob Backlund's run in 1994 was just horrible, granted the WWF was short on 'main event talent' but in the era of bright attire and brash characters this pasty bloke in blue underpants winning the belt was so left field, they wanted to show they had a 'new generation' of young talent and the best way they could do that was by putting the strap on a bloke who held it in 1978, that would be like Vince suddenly deciding in 2015 to bring back a bland wrestler from 1999 and chuck the world strap on him, anyone for a Mideon title run?

[JakeRobertsParoleOfficer]

Bob Backlund's run in 1994 was just horrible, granted the WWF was short on 'main event talent' but in the era of bright attire and brash characters this pasty bloke in blue underpants winning the belt was so left field, they wanted to show they had a 'new generation' of young talent and the best way they could do that was by putting the strap on a bloke who held it in 1978, that would be like Vince suddenly deciding in 2015 to bring back a bland wrestler from 1999 and chuck the world strap on him, anyone for a Mideon title run?

 

 

Oh jeez! that takes me back. I always thought Backlund musta had pics of Vince in a compromising position to get that gig.

 

Backlund at 46, was horrid then. Bad look, pasty, dated moveset, sh*t promo, small..........the lot!  He was everything that WWF in 94 didn't need! 

 

Its interesting to think but even 78 Backlund was considered to have .......................Bad look, pasty, dated moveset, sh*t promo, and too small etc some 16 years previous when he was supposedly at his peak (watch all the shoots that mention him then, WWF forced him down peoples throats, he wasnt over................. people even cheered when Sheik took him).

 

That whole Backlund thing was abit bizaare and i still don't get it?

 

The Backlund highlight for me..........................His utter squash vs Diesel!

[WyattSheepMask]

Surely the whole point of Backlund getting the belt in 94 was to just be obliterated by Diesel as they were pushing "the new generation". It's not as though Backlund fairly won the belt, he only got it through Owen Hart tricking his mother to surrender on Bret's behalf. Diesel annihilating Backlund at MSG was a way of saying the old generation is dead, this is the new generation of stars.

 

You had something similar at Wrestlemania 30 when The Shield fought The Newage Outlaws and Kane. It was Team Modern smashing The Attitude Era in less than 5 minutes. Having said that, we've ended with Kane in a WWE title match nearly two after that and WWE constantly pinning their hopes on stars from the past rather than fully pushing through on another new generation of stars

[King Pitcos]

Bob Backlund's run in 1994 was just horrible

How many Raws was it?

[PowerButchi]

Zero.

[Benno]

 

 

Enjoyed reading through this, I notice that nearly everyone has nominated a WWE reign. Do you think that's telling of the product? Was WCW booking much better? Or is it more a case of more viewers and the age of posters?

It's got to be age of posters primarily. Most of us didn't start hating wrestling until after WCW was dead, so it has a rose tint compared to stuff we've watched more recently as wrestling-hating adults.

I think anyone who lived through 2000-2001 WCW would recognise it as shit. It's just Sid and Jeff Jarrett swapping the belt was so boring who could even be fucked to do a write up about it.

 

For me, Seth Rollins character, promos, booking and overall effect on the product and it's ratings would probably make him one of the worst world champions of all time, he just happens to be really fucking good in the ring so you can't really seriously pick him. Really want to though.

[tiger_rick]

I had a think about WCW before I posted mine. There were a ton of shit reigns in the last couple of years but they were all so short that there was barely anytime to hate them. Obviously the Vince Russo and David Arquette ones stand out but they were fucking laughable more than genuinely hated.

 

Ron Simmons sprung to mind as a shit choice for Champion but the run itself was so dull it was inoffensive. Certainly not in the league of others mentioned in the thread.

 

My most hated WCW World Title run would probably be Nash's short run in December 1998. Not because he killed Goldberg's streak which I don't have a massive problem with if you follow up properly but because he broke Goldberg's streak only to give the title away (which says your title is not important) and to Hogan for a shit nWo reboot. He may as well have just pissed on it.

[Lenin]

Benoit's title run in WWE. It was the first time I thought the internet had influenced the outcome in advance, in as much as while he was great in-ring, nothing else about him stood out and the clamour for him to win seemed a bit much. Bit like the tog throwing over Bryan these last two years.

[DCW]

I enjoyed Benoit's title reign because I thought he earned it, and his journey to winning it was done very well. His reign was very unmemorable though, can't really remember who else he feuded with other than Orton.

 

Cant see how it compares to Bryan though. He was getting reactions Benoit could have only dreamed of because he had that natural likeability and everyday bloke aura, and was well worth a punt as champion.