5 Interesting title facts from the WWE in 2019
Championships are the most prestigious prize a performer can win in professional wrestling. They are indicative of both a star's status in a particular company as well as faith from management. Some wrestlers win multiple titles throughout their careers while others struggle just to get that one important title reign.
With so many titles to vie for in the WWE, we often see multiple champions hold a particular belt in any given year. Some titles even change hands more than five times per year. Depending on a star's status in the company, like Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch, they might hold the title for most of the year.
In 2019, we saw the creation of the 24/7 and Women's Tag Team titles and redesigns for both the Universal Championship and the Intercontinental Championship. In the ever-changing landscape of the company, there are no shortages of interesting facts surrounding some of the WWE's most prestigious titles. Here are five interesting title tidbits from the past year.
#5 The title that changed hands the most - other than the 24/7 title - was the United States Championship
The 24/7 Championship has most certainly been the title that has had the most holders this year, but those matches are merely often won by roll-ups. 2018 saw the United States Championship and both sets of Tag Team titles change hands the most. Nothing has changed in that regard as all three titles have changed hands seven or more times again in 2019. Due to Rey Mysterio's title win on November 25th, however, the US Championship takes the cake with eight changes in the calendar year.
I'm not sure if it's to keep things moving or if injuries played a factor (the Master of the 619 was hurt and had to relinquish it to Samoa Joe), but that's a lot of swaps in one year. Shinsuke Nakamura won the title at the end of January by besting Rusev.
R-Truth, Samoa Joe (2 reigns), Rey Mysterio and Ricochet would all have brief runs as US Champion between March 5th and July 14th of this year. To recap, that would be five champions in a little less than four months. On July 14th at Extreme Rules, however, AJ Styles would capture the title from Ricochet and have the longest reign with the title this year at 134 days before being toppled by Mysterio last month.
The RAW and SmackDown Tag Team Championships swapped places seven times each with the Revival running with the red brand's belts twice in 2019. On the blue brand, the Revival also had a run as Champs whereas the New Day won the titles on two separate occasions in 2019.