10 Wrestlers Who Disliked Their Own World Title Reigns

Winning a world championship should rank as one of the high points of a professional wrestler’s career. 

While the novelty of winning a world title might never get old, it’s fair to say that sometimes the reign fails to live up to that initial win. Whether it was due to bad booking, burnout or being unable to handle the pressure of the position they were put in, there have been cases of wrestlers holding a world title who didn’t actually enjoy the experience. 

These are 10 Wrestlers Who Disliked Their Own World Title Reigns. 

10. Brock Lesnar - WWE Championship

No wrestler in the history of the business had a rookie year quite like Brock Lesnar, who won the King of the Ring, became WWE Champion and headlined WrestleMania XIX – where he won his second WWE Title – within 12 months of debuting on WWE television. 

The Next Big Thing was on top of the world and signed a new, more lucrative, long-term contract in July of 2003. By the time he won the WWE Title for the third time that September, however, Lesnar was miserable. 

The small-town farm boy hated the extensive international travel and media commitments required of a top-level WWE star, hated being away from home, and was masking the pain from numerous injuries with vodka and vicodin while also beginning to question the creative direction of his on-screen character. 

Lesnar didn’t see where the money was in feuding and wrestling long-term midcarder Hardcore Holly at the 2004 Royal Rumble, especially after programmes with established headliners like Kurt Angle and The Undertaker. He also wasn’t exactly happy to be dropping the WWE Title to Eddie Guerrero at No Way Out, but at that point he was beyond burned out and didn’t truly care if he had the title or not since he quit the company weeks later.

Lesnar would try out for the Minnesota Vikings, before joining NJPW and then UFC, before returning to WWE in 2012. 

9. David Arquette - WCW World Heavyweight Championship

One of the most infamous world title reigns in pro wrestling history began on the April 26, 2000 edition of Thunder when David Arquette won a tag team match with Diamond Dallas Page against Jeff Jarrett & Eric Bischoff to become the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion. 

The company was already in a downward spiral at this point, but many saw the stunt – designed to promote the film Ready to Rumble - as one of the final nails in WCW’s coffin. Arquette didn’t do much during his reign either, defeating Tank Abbott in his sole world title defence before dropping the belt back to Jarrett in a Triple Cage Match at Slamboree 2000 on May 7. 

Arquette, as a fan of the business and respectful of its history, was uncomfortable with the creative and, even today, it upsets him that he may have played a part in WCW’s demise. It bothered him so much that not only did he donate his WCW earnings to the families of Owen Hart, Brian Pillman and Darren Drozdov, but later had a full-on indie run to show just how much he really loved wrestling. 

8. Kevin Nash - WWE Championship

After toiling in WCW for years as Master Blaster, Vinnie Vegas, and Oz, Kevin Nash left the company for WWE and got his big break as Diesel, the bodyguard of Shawn Michaels, in 1993. 

Big Daddy Cool emerged as a breakout star the following year and, in an event that would have seemed highly unlikely not too long prior, beat Bob Backlund in just eight seconds at a Madison Square Garden house show to win WWE’s grandest prize. 

His 358-day reign was one of the longest in WWE history and there were highlights to be found in matches against the likes of Michaels and Bret Hart but, overall, Diesel’s run on top is widely considered a major disappointment hampered by rotten bouts with the likes of Sycho Sid, The British Bulldog, and King Mabel. 

The reign was even a disappointment to Nash himself and the seven-footer later admitted that while he “had no idea” what he was doing in the top spot, he resented the fact that the company never pushed him as the top, top guy, as evidenced by him not closing WrestleMania, while poor presentation ensured that Big Daddy Cool needed to turn heel after dropping the title to Bret.

“My thing is this, I went from f*cking Oz to having the IC, Tag, and World Title in three years. Even though I was the lowest-drawing champion of all time or whatever people want to say about me, I still am the longest-reigning champion in the 1990s which [includes] the Attitude Era. I just happened to be the president during the depression. I wouldn't change it. The reason I got everything I did…after the drug trials…I read someone say 'You're a good-looking giant dude - that's why you got to where you got.' No f*cking sh*t! I was the biggest dude…I was lean and clean. That's why I got pushed,” Nash said in 2023 on his Kliq This podcast.

H/T Wrestling Inc. 

7. Eddie Guerrero - WWE Championship

When Eddie Guerrero was booked against WWE Champion Brock Lesnar at No Way Out 2004, few, if any, predicted he would actually beat Brock to win the title. Incredibly, that is exactly what happened, as a wrestler of Mexican descent long considered far too small to headline in WWE did the improbable and became the smallest world champion in WWE history to that point. 

Initially, things were grand, as Latino Heat was programmed with Kurt Angle, leading to a rousing bout at WrestleMania XX. After ‘Mania, however, the Olympic Hero went in for yet another neck surgery, Lesnar quit to pursue the NFL, and Big Show joined Angle on the injured list. 

There was a dearth of heel challengers on SmackDown for Eddie to wrestle and he felt the pressure to bring career tag team midcarder Bradshaw up to his level. The first Guerrero versus JBL title match at Judgment Day sold out LA’s Staples Center, but a general slump in the blue brand’s ratings and live event business got to Eddie and he began to crack under the strain. 

In fact, it was said that the exhausted Guerrero was actually relieved when WWE booked JBL to dethrone him at the Great American Bash, ending his one and only WWE Title reign.

JBL recalled Guerrero struggling with the pressure in a 2024 interview on Something to Wrestle:

"Yeah, Eddie felt it tough. And I wish he'd got the title again, because I think he'd have been fine with it. When he got it the first time it was - you know, and I've seen this happen a lot with champions. Some people grow with the title, some people shrink with this title. Some people become overwhelmed with the title. Eddie became a little bit overwhelmed with it. And I don't mean that from the ring work, but Eddie was always looking at ratings and crowd size, and it was really - 'Okay, well the rating was down here. Is that my fault?'. And I would say, 'Eddie, you weren't even in the segment. So no, it wasn't your fault'.

"It really weighed on him, being champion. He knew the pressure of it. He took that pressure really tough. And I wish he had become champion again, because he would have been completely different. Now that being said, none of it showed in his work. Absolutely zero of it ever showed in his work that he was cracking or anything else. But there was a lot of pressure you could tell that Eddie felt. And by what he talked about. I said, 'Hey, let's just do quality. Let's not worry about ratings. Let's not worry about crowds'. And he said, 'Well, we gotta do this. We gotta do that'. You know, it really weighed on him".

6. Goldberg - WWE World Heavyweight Championship

The relationship between WWE and Goldberg was uneasy from the off and it was readily obvious that the company wasn’t sure on how to best utilise the former WCW star. Despite some hiccups along the way, Goldberg remained popular and showed flashes of his old self, such as at SummerSlam 2003 when he tore through Randy Orton, Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho in the Elimination Chamber. 

In hindsight, WWE should have pulled the trigger and booked him to win the World Heavyweight Title instead of succumbing to a Triple H sledgehammer shot and winning the belt one month later at Unforgiven. Winning the belt didn’t make Goldberg happier, though, as he believed his character was being mishandled by WWE creative, who instructed him to sell for prolonged periods in matches that were much longer than the short, dynamic outings that had gotten him so over during the Monday Night Wars. 

Goldberg let his frustration be known after dropping the title back to The Game at Armageddon when he tore up the backstage area, resulting in a brief suspension. Goldberg then finished up with WWE at WrestleMania XX before returning in 2016 for a popular mini run that became an unpopular longer stint. 

5. Kevin Owens - WWE Universal Championship

The Universal Title felt positively cursed soon after it was introduced to the world in the Summer of 2016. First, fans booed the belt’s design, then Finn Balor got injured while beating Seth Rollins to become the inaugural champion at SummerSlam. 

One week later, Kevin Owens won a four-way in which Triple H turned on Seth Rollins to become the second champion. KO’s victory brought some much-needed stability to the new championship, which he held for a not-inconsiderable 188 days before dropping it to Goldberg at Fastlane 2017. 

Though Owens had some decent matches during his reign and formed a winning partnership with Chris Jericho, the Prizefighter later admitted that he was unable to enjoy any of it while it was happening. 

"I was just too focused on trying to make it good, make it better, make it as good as it can be and I really, really didn’t enjoy it the way I should have. My wife was instrumental in making me realize that. My parents as well, even guys like Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and even Vince McMahon himself, they’ve all told me that it seemed like I forgot to enjoy this part of things and if you’re not going to enjoy being the champion, then what are you going to enjoy in this industry?" KO said in 2021.

"I’d love to be able to get back there just so I can enjoy it properly, but we’ll see. All I can do is do my best to stay in that story and hopefully I get to take it from Roman or somebody else in the future."

4. Big E - WWE Championship

Few world title wins in recent memory have had the feel-good factor that accompanied Big E cashing in his Money in the Bank contract on Bobby Lashley to win the WWE Title on the September 13, 2021, episode of Raw.

Fans were delighted for the ultra-charismatic and beloved New Day member, who felt long overdue for a shot in the main event. Victories over Lashley and Drew McIntyre camouflage the fact that Big E wasn’t presented as the most dominant champion, though, including suffering two losses on the Raw a week after his cash-in and a loss to Roman Reigns at Survivor Series. 

After 110 days with the gold, Big E said goodbye to his main event aspirations when Brock Lesnar took the title from him in a five-way at Day 1. Despite Seth Rollins, Bobby Lashley and Kevin Owens being in the match, it was the champ who was pinned after eating an F5.

In 2023, Big E admitted he wanted more from his time with the belt. 

"It was a great learning experience for me (being WWE Champion). It was one of those things where, you know, if I'm being honest, I wanted more. I didn't feel like I had the best reign. I feel like there was a lot of meat left on the bone, a lot more that we could have done there so yeah, for me, I was really fortunate and really blessed to have that opportunity and really grateful for it as well but you know, the one thing, I felt like I was proud of myself in that, the demands with that title are real," Big E said.

"There are times where when I had the title, in a week, I might be in seven different cities. Going from not just Raw and SmackDown, also going to live events and then having to do conferences in Vegas and then going to New York to do media. It was a constant grind but I really embraced the grind, I really loved it and one of the things I got to do too outside of the ring. I had just a myriad of things I got to do outside of the ring, even getting to do intros for Fury-Wilder 3, getting to do boxing walkouts, The Breakfast Club, so many of the things that went on outside of the ring during that time and really feeling like, man, I have the confidence and oh, I can go on these big platforms and I can crush it," he continued.

"Really feeling like, yeah, I'm meant to do this so, for me, in many ways, even though I wanted more out of the reign and felt like a lot more could have been accomplished in-ring and on TV, on SmackDown, on Raw. As much as I have those feelings, I'm also so grateful for the opportunity and so grateful for so many doors that have opened because of that run but yeah, it's definitely something that I'm incredibly proud of and grateful for and I can go on and on about it but honestly, truly, I don't get there without Kofi (Kingston) and (Xavier) Woods and just the experience with The New Day and really being able to open up and expand and grow as a performer because of those two."

3. CM Punk - WWE World Heavyweight Championship

When CM Punk successfully cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on Edge on the June 30, 2008, episode of Raw, he felt as though he had made it to the top of the industry. 

In Punk’s mind, he was now the guy. He had been ECW Champion before that, but Punk and everybody else knew that was very much the third brand. Now, he was the champion of Raw and was looking forward to all the big stars coming after him and his title. 

It didn’t work out that way, of course, as other feuds between John Cena & Batista and Shawn Michaels & Chris Jericho took the lion’s share of TV time, while the Straight-Edge Superstar found himself in the middle of the card, including at SummerSlam where he defended against JBL.

In his WWE DVD biography Best in the World, Punk spoke openly about how disappointed he was in being ‘quasi-invisible’ at the time, despite being in possession of one of the company’s top belts. He was also not shy in discussing how the manner in which he lost the title – being taken out by Legacy before a scheduled defence at Unforgiven and then not even attempting to make it to the ring – flat-out sucked.  

2. Chris Jericho - Undisputed WWE Championship

Chris Jericho’s first world title reign got off to a great start, as he beat The Rock and Steve Austin in the very same night at Vengeance 2001 to become the first-ever Undisputed Champion.

Y2J may have also beaten The Great One and Texas Rattlesnake in back-to-back pay-per-view outings, but Jericho was never positioned as the top guy on television. The return of Triple H from injury and the reformation of the original lineup of the New World Order ensured that the Undisputed Champion got lost in the shuffle heading into WrestleMania X8. 

Feuding with The Cerebral Assassin, Jericho had to take a backseat to the domestic drama storyline unfolding between Hunter and Stephanie McMahon, with the champion reduced to playing babysitter for the couple’s dog Lucy. 

Jericho knew it wasn’t good enough, later referring to his reign as ‘terrible’ and noting that he immediately slid down the card after Triple H beat him for the two belts at Mania. He didn’t hold another world title until 2008. 

1. Bret Hart - WWE Championship

Bret Hart captured his fifth and final WWE Championship when he beat The Undertaker in the main event of SummerSlam 1997. 

Ordinarily, this would have made The Hitman the top star in WWE. But the finish of the match – with special referee Shawn Michaels accidentally costing The Deadman the title – set up a readymade main event feud between HBK and ‘Taker, leaving Bret in limbo. 

At the next pay-per-view, In Your House: Ground Zero, Hart defended against The Patriot, and a month later, at In Your House: Badd Blood,  he was stuck in a tag team Flag Match. 

At both shows, The Undertaker versus Shawn Michaels headlined, while at the UK-exclusive One Night Only, Bret’s defence against The Phenom was put in the semi-main event, beneath Shawn’s European Title victory over The British Bulldog. 

Considering he’d done some of the strongest work of his career during the pro-Canada/anti-USA storyline that Summer, The Excellence of Execution had a right to be annoyed at being put on the backburner.

Adding insult to insult, Bret’s reign came to a shameful end when he was screwed out of the title at Survivor Series in the infamous Montreal Screwjob.