7 WWE World Championship reigns on SmackDown Live so far, and their ratings
The WWE Championship has lost its prestige and main event status after the company introduced the WWE Universal Championship. Since the brand split in 2016, the WWE World Championship has been a key feature of the blue brand. In the 2 years since the show went LIVE on Tuesday nights, the land of opportunity has had 6 unique WWE Champions.
Here is a list of WWE Champions since the brand split, as well as their ratings.
#1 Dean Ambrose
Dean Ambrose brought the title to Shane McMahon’s show, and he lost it to the phenomenal AJ Styles at the first PPV of the brand - WWE Backlash. Ambrose’s run was lackluster, as it led to fans booing the face Ambrose. He had 1 successful PPV defense against Dolph Ziggler at SummerSlam 2016.
Dean's championship reign rating - 3/10
#2 AJ Styles (first reign)
AJ Styles had a phenomenal run with the title as a heel thanks to some blockbuster matches against John Cena and Dean Ambrose. The Leader of Cenation ended AJ‘s reign at WWE Royal Rumble 2017.
The sad part of this reign was it proved to be a comical feud as John Cena was absent from the show. In fact, AJ lost singles matches against James Ellsworth on WWE TV.
AJ's championship reign rating - 6/10
#3 John Cena
John Cena won his 16th WWE World Championship at the Royal Rumble PPV, and equaled The Nature Boy Ric Flair's record for the most reigns.
Cena could however hold the gold for a mere 2 weeks as he lost the title to Bray Wyatt in an epic Elimination Chamber match.
John's championship reign rating - 2/10
#4 Bray Wyatt
Bray Wyatt won his first ever title on the main roster when he pinned AJ Styles and emerged as the WWE Champion out of the Elimination Chamber. The problem with this title run was that the focus of the show was not at all the champion, but his challengers.
After Randy Orton rejected the opportunity to face Wyatt, and AJ Styles as well as Luke Harper battled hard to become the #1 contender. However, The Viper would betray his master in a few weeks to set up a clash at WrestleMania.
The match and the feud gained much heat from the WWE Universe thanks to poor booking decisions by the creative.
Bray's championship reign rating - 1.5/10