The 50 Greatest Singles Titleholders of WWE's Modern Era

I had the notion to compile a list of all the titleholders in wrestling history, but the list was going to be overwhelming and confusing. So I had to narrow it down in some fashion. I decided that I would focus on the WWE. Their title lineage includes WCW and ECW because each of those brands were incorporated into WWE. Unfortunately, this means that TNA is excluded, but perhaps I will get to that one day.

The second decision I made was to only include singles titles in this first compilation. I will definitely do a subsequent list for tag team championships. I limited the field even further by eliminating some of the championships that would otherwise be eligible, such as the WWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship, the Million Dollar Championship, the Diva's and Women's Championships, and the WWF Canadian Championship. Here are the championships I used for the list:

*WWE Championship
*WWE World Heavyweight Championship
*WCW World Heavyweight Championship
*ECW World Heavyweight Championship
*WWE Intercontinental Championship
*WWE United States Championship
*WWE European Championship
*WWE Cruiserweight Championship
*WWE Light Heavyweight Championship
*WCW World Television Championship
*WWE Hardcore Championship

The third step was to set up a formula so that I could rank the individuals in a more scientific manner. I decided that not every championship is equal, so I devised a quick point system in which the results could be tabulated. Each championship was given a point designation for each time a wrestler won the title and another for each day the title was held. Below is the point designation chart for each title win followed by the points per day total:

*WWE Championship & WWE World Heavyweight Championship -- 1000/4

*WCW World Heavyweight Championship & ECW World Heavyweight Championship -- 750/3

*WWE Intercontinental Championship & WWE United States Championship -- 500/2

*WWE European Championship, WWE Cruiserweight Championship, & WWE Light Heavyweight Championship --250/1

*WCW World Television Championship -- 100/1

*WWE Hardcore Championship -- 25/1

For example if you won a Hardcore Championship for 5 days, you get 25 points for winning the title and 5 points for holding it for 5 days, for a total of 30 points. If you won a United States Championship for 5 days, you get 500 points for winning it and 10 points for holding it 5 days.

You can see that winning a WWE Championship is worth much more than winning a European Championship. I think that is only fair. If it was not like this, D-Lo Brown would be ranked almost as high as Stone Cold. The Hardcore Championship is worth much less than the others because it changed hands so many times. There are a few wrestlers with over 20 Hardcore Championship reigns and the title itself was only in existence for less than 4 years!

The last thing I did was set a timeframe for the list. Originally, I was going to go throughout WWE history, but I had a problem. If I was to include wrestlers from the early days of the WWE, the list would be made up of only them. This is because old school wrestlers held titles for much longer than they do in the modern era. For example, Bruno Sammartino once held the WWE Championship for almost 8 years (This is also the reason I excluded the ECW Television Title).

So I came up with a time where the titles changed hands much more rapidly. Hulk Hogan held the WWE Championship from 1984 to 1988, then Andre the Giant defeated him and sold the title to the Million Dollar Man. I chose this moment as the beginning of my list's timeframe. Keep in mind that this means some wrestlers, such as Randy Savage and Ric Flair, will have some of their career championships not count towards this list, but the ones they won after this date will count.

Now that you have read my backstory, let's get to the list. I will list, in reverse order, the Top 50 Singles Titleholders of WWE's Modern Era. Under each wrestler, I will list their championships and total length of their reigns.



The Top 50 Singles Titleholders of WWE's Modern Era


50. Chavo Guerrero, Jr.
*1 ECW Championship (68)
*6 Cruiserweight Championships (277)

49. Jack Swagger
*1 World Heavyweight Championship (82)
*1 US Championship (49)
*1 ECW Championship (104)

48. Yokozuna
*2 WWE Championships (280)

47. Shelton Benjamin
*3 IC Championships (354)
*1 US Championship (240)

46. Kofi Kingston
*3 IC Championships (192)
*2 US Championships (175)

45. Mick Foley
*3 WWE Championships (47)
*1 Hardcore Championship (28)

44. The Miz
*1 WWE Championship (160)
*2 US Championships (321)

43. William Regal
*2 IC Championships (126)
*4 European Championships (179)
*4 TV Championships (558)
*3 Hardcore Championships (0)

42. Goldust
*3 IC Championships (168)
*2 US Championships (257)
*7 Hardcore Championships (13)

41. Goldberg
*1 World Heavyweight Championship (84)
*2 US Championships (78)
*1 WCW Championship (174)

40. Raven
*1 US Championship (1)
*2 ECW Championships (379)
*26 Hardcore Championships (94)

39. The Sandman
*4 ECW Championships (308)

38. JBL
*1 World Heavyweight Championship (280)
*1 IC Championship (27)
*1 US Championship (51)
*1 European Championship (8)
*17 Hardcore Championships (56)

37. The Ultimate Warrior
*1 WWE Championship (293)
*2 IC Championships (432)

36. Vader
*1 US Championship (88)
*3 WCW Championships (377)

35. Diamond Dallas Page
*2 US Championships (147)
*3 WCW Championships (29)
*1 European Championship (49)
*1 TV Championship (42)

34. Scott Hall
*4 IC Championships (438)
*2 US Championships (66)
*1 TV Championship (8)

33. Brock Lesnar
*3 WWE Championships (355)

32. Sheamus
*2 WWE Championships (161)
*1 World Heavyweight Championship (94+)
*1 US Championship (48)

31. Sycho Sid
*2 WWE Championships (97)
*1 US Championship (42)
*2 WCW Championships (77)

30. Kane
*1 WWE Championship (1)
*1 World Heavyweight Championship (154)
*2 IC Championships (57)
*1 ECW Championship (91)
*1 Hardcore Championship (16)

29. Eddie Guerrero
*1 WWE Championship (133)
*2 IC Championships (114)
*2 US Championships (161)
*2 European Championships (134)
*2 Cruiserweight Championships (89)

28. Rob Van Dam
*1 WWE Championship (22)
*6 IC Championships (211)
*1 ECW Championship (21)
*1 European Championship (0)
*4 Hardcore Championships (134)

27. Shane Douglas
*1 IC Championship (0)
*1 US Championship (22)
*3 ECW Championships (851)

26. Lex Luger
*4 US Championships (810)
*2 WCW Championships (235)
*2 TV Championships (168)

25. Sting
*2 US Championships (234)
*6 WCW Championships (250)

24. Jeff Hardy
*1 WWE Championship (42)
*2 World Heavyweight Championships (28)
*4 IC Championships (329)
*1 European Championship (14)
*1 Light Heavyweight Championship (20)
*3 Hardcore Championships (18)

23. Randy Savage
*2 WWE Championship (520)
*4 WCW Championships (53)

22. Kevin Nash
*1 WWE Championship (358)
*1 IC Championship (138)
*5 WCW Championships (97)

21. Rey Mysterio
*1 WWE Championship (0)
*2 World Heavyweight Championships (140)
*2 IC Championships (128)
*8 Cruiserweight Championships (481)

20. Christian
*2 World Heavyweight Championships (30)
*4 IC Championships (176+)
*2 ECW Championships (247)
*1 European Championship (91)
*1 Light Heavyweight Championship (30)
*1 Hardcore Championship (0)

19. Big Show
*2 WWE Championships (78)
*1 World Heavyweight Championship (0)
*1 IC Championship (28)
*1 US Championship (147)
*1 ECW Championship (152)
*2 WCW Championships (111)
*3 Hardcore Championships (29)

18. Batista
*2 WWE Championships (37)
*4 World Heavyweight Championships (507)

17. Chris Benoit
*1 World Heavyweight Championship (154)
*4 IC Championships (142)
*5 US Championships (357)
*1 WCW Championship (1)
*3 TV Championships (43)

16. Shawn Michaels
*3 WWE Championships (396)
*1 World Heavyweight Championship (28)
*3 IC Championships (406)
*1 European Championship (82)

15. CM Punk
*2 WWE Championships (260+)
*3 World Heavyweight Championships (160)
*1 IC Championship (49)
*1 ECW Championship (143)

14. Kurt Angle
*4 WWE Championships (297)
*1 World Heavyweight Championship (82)
*1 IC Championship (35)
*1 US Championship (21)
*1 WCW Championship (6)
*1 European Championship (54)
*1 Hardcore Championship (0)

13. Undertaker
*4 WWE Championships (238)
*3 World Heavyweight Championships (207)
*1 Hardcore Championship (58)

12. Booker T
*1 World Heavyweight Championship (126)
*1 IC Championship (34)
*4 US Championships (271)
*5 WCW Championships (253)
*6 TV Championships (204)
*2 Hardcore Championships (0)

11. Stone Cold Steve Austin
*6 WWE Championships (529)
*2 IC Championships (65)
*2 US Championships (240)
*2 TV Championships (431)

10. Ric Flair
*2 WWE Championships (118)
*1 IC Championship (155)
*1 US Championship (56)
*8 WCW Championships (508)

9. The Rock
*7 WWE Championships (297)
*2 IC Championships (339)
*2 WCW Championships (97)

8. Jeff Jarrett
*6 IC Championships (297)
*3 US Championships (184)
*4 WCW Championships (58)
*1 European Championship (1)

7. Randy Orton
*6 WWE Championships (420)
*3 World Heavyweight Championships (138)
*1 IC Championship (210)

6. Chris Jericho
*1 WWE Championship (98)
*3 World Heavyweight Championships (106)
*9 IC Championships (318)
*2 WCW Championships (15)
*1 European Championship (1)
*4 Cruiserweight Championships (231)
*1 TV Championship (112)
*1 Hardcore Championship (0)

5. Bret Hart
*5 WWE Championships (654)
*2 IC Championships (290)
*5 US Championships (188)
*2 WCW Championships (56)

4. Hulk Hogan
*5 WWE Championships (711)
*6 WCW Championships (1,177)

3. Edge
*4 WWE Championships (139)
*7 World Heavyweight Championships (409)
*5 IC Championships (171)
*1 US Championship (6)

2. John Cena
*10 WWE Championships (1,058)
*2 World Heavyweight Championships (105)
*3 US Championships (219)

1. Triple H
*8 WWE Championships (539)
*5 World Heavyweight Championships (616)
*5 IC Championships (196)
*2 European Championships (160)



My Thoughts

Although it makes sense, I was surprised to see Triple H at number one. Without doing the math, I would have thought either John Cena or Hulk Hogan would be number one.

Jeff Jarrett finished extremely high on the list with no WWE Championships or World Heavyweight Championships to his credit. But with his large number of Intercontinental, United States, and WCW Championships, his spot is justified.

The older generation of wrestlers obviously still had the advantage of longer title reigns, but if the list was expanded back to the 1970s or even the early 1980s, it would have been even more lopsided.

John Cena needs to win either 3 WWE/World Heavyweight Championships or hold 2 for nearly a year to overtake Triple H for the number one spot.

Daniel Bryan, Alberto Del RIo, and Dolph Ziggler narrowly missed making the cut. Something tells me that within the next year, all three will have earned their way onto the list.

I used the official championship lineage on WWE.com and cross referenced this with the lists on Wikipedia.org for my numbers.