Good and Bad first title runs

[AnotherCrapUsername]

Jericho's first run was the shits. However the absolute worst was Rugged Ronnie Garvin's first and only reign. 

[RedRooster]

Rey Mysterio. I was so excited when he won the Rumble, and from there, he was essentially booked to fail. 

[Tsurutagun]

For how great his title victory at GAB 90 was (one of my all-time favourite title wins) Sting's first run with the big gold belt was awful

The Sid match at Havoc is crap and then the Black Scorpion debacle to then lose the belt to Flair at a house show. 

[simonworden]

Its shocking how many first runs were actually pretty piss poor when you think about it. I went back to Kurt Angle's in my head the other day and while his TV antics and some matches were fun his big PPV record at that time sucked balls. He got squashed bar the switcheroo finish by snazzy pants taker at Survivors, he was an absolute sixth wheel in the cell match at Armageddon and then squeezed in a dull as dishwater match against Triple H at the Rumble which was the weakest men's match on the card. 

 

How about Joe's first TNA title reign? After getting to run the red hot MMA style story with Angle he was put in dull or terrible storylines until looking like a whiny baby in his feud with Sting.  

[unfitfinlay]

Seth Rollins first run might be my least favourite ever.

He went from being “The brains behind The Shield” to an annoying, spoiled brat who couldn’t do anything on his own. He was so far from a star that HHH and Steph would regularly talk down to him - like he was a child - and he’d just stand there and sulk.

Worst thing is, his reign seemed to go on forever. 

[Fog Dude]

On 9/14/2022 at 11:18 AM, ThommoLincs said:

Jericho's first run was the shits. However the absolute worst was Rugged Ronnie Garvin's first and only reign. 

If you mean his phantom win in April 2000 or (presumably) his Undisputed Champion run then I agree, but his first go with the Big Gold Belt I don't think that was bad per se, just short. It came at a time when there were 10 titles to juggle and, with the Attitude Era still fresh in the memory, they were being hot potatoed every week. Jericho himself still acknowledged it on TV as finally winning a proper world title even though he'd previously left WCW under a cloud.

Rey's only WWE title run also lasted for less than a single full TV show although WWE actually recognises that one, but by the end of the night Cena and Punk had completely overshadowed his achievement. His run as SmackDown champ was obviously terrible for different reasons. 

As for that Angle-HHH match, it's a lukewarm heel-on-heel bout and is just there to start getting all the pieces in place for No Way Out and then Mania X-7. It's the kind of booking you can only really get away with when the Rumble match itself is going on last and clearly a bigger deal. 

[wandshogun09]

Did Angle and Triple H ever have a really good match? I can only really remember the PPV ones - Unforgiven 2000, Royal Rumble 2001, No Way Out 2002 - and they were all really underwhelming. The 2000 match was especially disappointing from my vague memory of it. That was one of Triple H’s best years in the ring and it had the storyline with Angle and Stephanie going for it, which was pretty hot as I recall. But it wasn’t that good and they both moved on after. If that was the first singles match in the feud then whatever but it turned out to be the blowoff. I don’t know if it was just a lack of chemistry for whatever reason or the fact Triple H was babyface in 2 of them? That can’t have helped. It’s funny but their best match together was probably the mixed tag with Ronda and Stephanie at WrestleMania a few years ago. 

[Tsurutagun]

On 9/15/2022 at 4:45 AM, simonworden said:

Its shocking how many first runs were actually pretty piss poor when you think about it.

It's probably due to the mentality of "the belt makes the guy" which leads to lazy booking.

Are we counting the Undisputed title run as Jerichos first title run because technically his first world title was his WCW Title win in October 01 and that run was a victim of the constant title changes going on at that time. 

[Devon Malcolm]

1 hour ago, wandshogun09 said:

It’s funny but their best match together was probably the mixed tag with Ronda and Stephanie at WrestleMania a few years ago. 

And that was less to do with HHH and Angle, and more to do with how brilliant Ronda and Steph were.

[wandshogun09]

Exactly. Way better than it had any right to be considering Ronda was green, Steph isn’t even a wrestler and Angle had all the flexibility of a WCW Galoob figure. 

[Sheffbag]

Might be his only run but JBL comes to mind here. Really evolved into the character and had a good run as cowardly champ

Bad one would be RVDs WWE reign, pulled the trigger on him way too late then he blew it. Know he was only down for a caretaker run as WWE champ (according to his PS interview) but should have had a good run with the ECWWE belt 

[Version1.0]

Jericho's first world title run was beating The Rock for the WCW Title at No Mercy 2001 (5*) and he lost it back to Rock via small package 15 days later on Raw.

Edited September 16, 2022 by Version1.0

[air_raid]

Roman Reigns had a chunk of 2014 being positioned as the next top guy. He won the Rumble then failed to win the belt at Mania 31. They spent 2015 building him back up to eventually win the belt, which he did at Survivors, to hold it a few seconds before getting blindsided and cashed-in-on by midcard afterthought Sheamus and close the PPV flat on his back covered In confetti. Takes beating for worst first reign.

[TheDude]

Sheamus has to be up there. Beats Cena because Cena fell like a dildo into the table, beats Orton in a nothing match, Loses it at the Chamber.

[AshC]

On 9/13/2022 at 6:30 PM, Matthew said:

Surely the thread closing answer to the question is Jinder Mahal?

I liked Jinder as champion. I mean, he didn't have loads of blinding matches, but as an act, with the entrance, the look, the clobber and the Singhs, I thought it was good.

He had an air of the corporate, JBL-style champion and an air of the muscleman champion, which made him a decent boss to conquer. 

I was a bit gutted they took it off him.