Welcome to my blog. This is the start of a new series, where I’ll be looking back at the history of WWE World Titles (not counting ECW) and ranking all the World Title reigns since the “Modern Era”. The “Modern Era” goes all the way back to the birth of Hulkamania in 1984, and that’s where we’ll end. Today we look back at the year 2012, and we’ll continue to go back from here.
In front of my star ratings for the matches, you’ll either see “HR”, “R” or “RTA”. “HR” means the match is highly recommended ; “R” means the match is recommended ; “RTA” means recommendation to avoid. In case nothing appears, the match is watchable but nothing spectacular.
WWE CHAMPIONSHIP
CM Punk (November 20, 2011 – January 27, 2013)
- Televised matches: 70
- Record: 40-24 (6 draws)
My match ratings:
- CM Punk def. Alberto Del Rio(c) – Survivor Series 2011 (***1/2) *R*
- CM Punk(c) def. Alberto Del Rio and The Miz in a TLC Match – TLC 2011 (****1/4) *HR*
- CM Punk def. Dolph Ziggler – Royal Rumble 2012 (***1/4)
- CM Punk(c) def. Chris Jericho, Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, R-Truth and The Miz in an Elimination Chamber Match – Elimination Chamber 2012 (***1/2)
- CM Punk(c) def. Chris Jericho – WrestleMania XXVIII (***1/2) *R*
- CM Punk(c) def. Chris Jericho in a Street Fight – Extreme Rules 2012 (****) *R*
- CM Punk(c) def. Daniel Bryan – Over the Limit 2012 (****3/4) *HR*
- CM Punk(c) def. Daniel Bryan and Kane – No Way Out 2012 (***1/4)
- CM Punk(c) def. Daniel Bryan in a No DQ Match – Money in the Bank 2012 (****1/4) *HR*
- John Cena def. CM Punk(c) by DQ – RAW 1000 July 23 2012 (***)
- CM Punk(c) def. John Cena and Big Show – SummerSlam 2012 (***1/2) *R*
- CM Punk(c) draw. John Cena – Night of Champions 2012 (****1/2) *HR*
- CM Punk(c) def. Ryback in a HIAC Match – Hell in a Cell 2012 (**3/4)
- CM Punk(c) def. John Cena and Ryback – Survivor Series 2012 (***)
- CM Punk(c) def. Ryback in a TLC Match – RAW Jan. 7, 2013 (***1/2) *R*
- The Rock def. CM Punk(c) – Royal Rumble 2013 (****1/2) *HR*
I feel like people are going to talk about this one for a long time, isn’t that right!? After defeating Alberto Del Rio to win the title at Survivor Series 2011 and retaining in a fantastic TLC match against both ADR and Miz, Punk spent the whole year of 2012 as WWE Champion. Notable feuds against Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan, John Cena, Ryback, The Rock and others would follow during the next year, before dropping the gold to The Rock at Royal Rumble 2013. Out of the sixteen matches rated above, ten are recommended which is incredible. Out of those ten, half of them are highly recommended – the TLC match with Del Rio and Miz (TLC 2011), against Daniel Bryan (Over the Limit & Money in the Bank 2012), against John Cena (Night of Champions 2012) and against The Rock (Royal Rumble 2013). However, during his reign he only got to main-event when he was working with guys like Cena or Rock, because god knows what happens if John Laurinaitis doesn’t main-event the PPV!! Not everything was perfect, particularly the booking, but it was as close to a perfect reign as you can get in these last number of years.
Rating: 9/10
WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Daniel Bryan (December 18, 2011 – April 1, 2012)
- Televised matches: 26
- Record: 16-5 (5 draws)
My match ratings:
- Daniel Bryan def. Big Show(c) in a MITB cash-in – TLC 2011 (N/R)
- Daniel Bryan(c) def. Big Show and Mark Henry in a Steel Cage Match – Royal Rumble 2012 (*1/2) *RTA*
- Daniel Bryan(c) def. Big Show, Cody Rhodes, Wade Barrett, Santino Marella and Great Khali in an Elimination Chamber Match – Elimination Chamber 2012 (***)
- Sheamus def. Daniel Bryan(c) – WrestleMania XXVIII (DUD)
When Daniel Bryan cashed in his Money in the Bank contract at TLC 2011, nobody could believe it. Apparently, not even WWE wanted to believe it either. Ater winning the title, Bryan immediately was given a goofy gimmick where he’d win matches by DQ or count-out and celebrate as if he’d just won the World Cup. That’s all fun and stuff for the undercard, but this was the World Heavyweight Champion. At the Royal Rumble, he was booked like an absolute joke and only won because Big Show made a mistake and Bryan literally slipped to retain. After winning an Elimination Chamber match that almost saw Santino Marella (of all people) win the title, Bryan went on to lose the belt to Sheamus in eighteen f*cking seconds at WrestleMania. This was the World Champion, people. For what we know Daniel Bryan can do, this was absolutely horrible.
Rating: 2/10
Sheamus (April 1, 2012 – October 28, 2012)
- Televised matches: 57
- Record: 46-9 (2 draws)
My match ratings:
- Sheamus def. Daniel Bryan(c) – WrestleMania XXVIII (DUD)
- Sheamus(c) def. Daniel Bryan in a 2/3 Falls Match – Extreme Rules 2012 (****1/4) *HR*
- Sheamus(c) def. Chris Jericho, Randy Orton and Alberto Del Rio – Over the Limit (***1/2) *R*
- Sheamus(c) def. Dolph Ziggler – No Way Out 2012 (***)
- Sheamus(c) def. Alberto Del Rio – Money in the Bank 2012 (***1/2) *R*
- Sheamus(c) def. Alberto Del Rio – SummerSlam 2012 (***1/4)
- Sheamus(c) def. Alberto Del Rio – Night of Champions 2012 (***1/4)
- Big Show def. Sheamus(c) – Hell in a Cell 2012 (***3/4) *R*
After botching his run as a heel in 2010, WWE finally had something going with Sheamus once he turned babyface in 2011. It wrote itself, all Sheamus had to do was be the one to finally end Mark Henry’s Hall of Pain run at WrestleMania to win the title and he’d be the hottest babyface in the world. Instead, he beat Daniel Bryan in eighteen seconds, who had been made to look like a joke and was one of the crowd’s favourites. Well, can’t blame anyone but themselves on that one. A fantastic match with Bryan at Extreme Rules followed, and then he just feuded with Alberto Del Rio… forever. He showed a few heel dick moves during this time that almost made the viewer feel sorry for the heel Del Rio, such as stealing his car and destroying it for no particular reason. After beating Del Rio seven thousand times, he lost the gold to Big Show in a pretty good match actually. This reign had its moments, but overall it was a big failure. After Sheamus lost it, he was just sort of there.
Rating: 4/10
Big Show (October 28, 2012 – January 11, 2013)
- Televised matches: 21
- Record: 12-9
My match ratings:
- Big Show def. Sheamus(c) – Hell in a Cell 2012 (***3/4) *R*
- Sheamus def. Big Show(c) by DQ – Survivor Series 2012 (**3/4)
- Big Show(c) def. Sheamus in a Chairs Match – TLC 2012 (***)
- Alberto Del Rio def. Big Show(c) in a Last Man Standing Match – SmacKDown January 11 2013 (***1/2) *R*
Big Show was actually having the run of his career at this time, putting on some of the best matches around this time. The match at Hell in a Cell with Sheamus where Show wins the belt exceeded all expectations, but their feud didn’t get better from there. The matches weren’t bad, but they were never going to top their first bout and they could and should’ve moved on to different things. Show was DQ’d against ‘The Great White’ at Survivor Series to set up a Chairs Match the next month. Show would win that to end the feud, and then lost the gold to Alberto Del Rio immediately on SmackDown in another really good match. The matches were much better than I thought and the reign wasn’t bad, but it was weird and it deserved a better ending than just losing to Alberto Del Rio one week after he turned babyface!
Rating: 3/10
ALL-TIME CHAMPIONS RANKING
- CM Punk (WWE Championship, 20/11/2011 – 27/01/2013) 9
- Daniel Bryan (WWE Championship, 13/11/2018 – 07/04/2019) 9
- AJ Styles (WWE Championship, 11/09/2016 – 29/01/2017) 9
- Brock Lesnar (WWE Championship, 17/08/2014 – 29/03/2015) 7
- John Cena (WWE Championship, 07/04/2013 – 18/08/2013) 7
- AJ Styles (WWE Championship, 07/11/2017 – 13/11/2018) 7
- Randy Orton (WWE Championship, 18/08/2013 – 15/09/2013) 6
- Kevin Owens (WWE Universal Championship, 29/08/2016- 05/03/2017) 6
- Alberto Del Rio (World Heavyweight Championship, 16/06/2013 – 27/10/2013) 6
- Seth Rollins (WWE Championship, 29/03/2015 – 04/11/2015) 6
- Roman Reigns (WWE Championship, 03/04/2016 – 19/06/2016) 6
- The Rock (WWE Championship, 27/01/2013 – 07/04/2013) 5
- Brock Lesnar (Universal Championship, 02/11/2018 – 07/04/2019) 5
- Randy Orton (WWE Championship, 27/10/2013 – 06/04/2014) 5
- Daniel Bryan (WWE Championship, 06/04/2014 – 09/06/2014) 5
- Seth Rollins (Universal Championship, 11/08/2019 – 31/10/2019) 5
- John Cena (WWE Championship, 29/01/2017 – 12/02/2017) 5
- Sheamus (World Heavyweight Championship, 01/04/2012 – 28/10/2012) 4
- John Cena (WWE Championship, 29/06/2014 – 17/08/2014) 4
- Dean Ambrose (WWE Championship, 19/06/2016 – 11/09/2016) 4
- Kofi Kingston (WWE Championship, 07/04/2019 – 04/10/2019) 4
- Alberto Del Rio (World Heavyweight Championship, 11/01/2013 – 08/04/2013) 4
- Seth Rollins (Universal Championship, 07/04/2019 – 14/07/2019) 4
- Brock Lesnar (Universal Championship, 14/07/2019 – 11/08/2019) 3
- Brock Lesnar (Universal Championship, 02/04/2017 – 19/08/2018) 3
- Triple H (WWE Championship, 24/01/2016 – 03/04/2016) 3
- John Cena (World Heavyweight Championship, 27/10/2013 – 15/12/2013) 3
- Big Show (World Heavyweight Championship, 28/10/2012 – 11/01/2013) 3
- Roman Reigns (Universal Championship, 19/08/2018 – 22/10/2018) 3
- Jinder Mahal (WWE Championship, 21/05/2017 – 07/11/2017) 3
- Bray Wyatt (WWE Championship, 12/02/2017 – 02/04/2017) 3
- Roman Reigns (WWE Championship, 14/12/2015 – 24/01/2016) 2
- Goldberg (Universal Championship, 05/03/2017 – 02/04/2017) 2
- Dolph Ziggler (World Heavyweight Championship, 08/04/2013 – 16/06/2013) 2
- Daniel Bryan (World Heavyweight Championship, 18/12/2011 – 01/04/2012) 2
- Sheamus (WWE Championship, 22/11/2015 – 14/12/2015) 2
- Randy Orton (WWE Championship, 02/04/2017 – 21/05/2017) 1
- Daniel Bryan (WWE Championship, 18/08/2013) –
- Seth Rollins (WWE Championship, 19/06/2016) –
- Roman Reigns (WWE Championship, 22/11/2015) –
- Randy Orton (World Heavyweight Championship, 15/12/2013) –
- Finn Bálor (WWE Universal Championship, 21/08/2016 – 22/08/2016) –
- Daniel Bryan (WWE Championship, 15/09/2013 – 16/09/2013) –