3 Most underutilized championship reigns of the decade

For the most part, championship wins have played a huge role in defining the career of a Superstar. In the recent past, however, it has become clear that some championships aren’t treated with the respect they deserve. Some factors that influence this poor treatment include the top feud of the company, or who the top champion is.

With WWE creative being underwhelming from time to time, it’s pretty obvious that some championship reigns were just there for the sake of it. Let's take a look at 3 such championship reigns that had so much more potential.

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#1 Sheamus' post-WrestleMania 28 title reign

This title reign suffered the consequences of Daniel Bryan's popularity!

Sheamus won the Royal Rumble back in 2012. This was a huge surprise for many fans, who expected the returning Chris Jericho to win. Jericho would then go on to feud with CM Punk for the WWE Championship, while Sheamus decided to fight the heel-ish Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania.

Sheamus would shock fans again, defeating Bryan in 18 seconds to win his only World Heavyweight Championship. Much to WWE’s displeasure, the fans rallied behind Bryan instead of the Celtic Warrior.

This was a sign of disaster for the new champion. However, Triple H had successfully conveyed to Vince McMahon that he wanted to see longer reigns in the championship scene. That meant Sheamus wasn’t losing the title any time soon. He defeated Bryan in the rematch, a well executed 2 out of 3 falls match at Extreme Rules.

He would then feud with Alberto Del Rio for the major portion of his reign. Del Rio had 3 singles matches for the title in consecutive pay-per-views, all preceded by a Fatal 4 Way encounter at Over the Limit 2012, involving Chris Jericho and Randy Orton.

Del Rio would’ve faced Sheamus at No Way Out, had he not suffered a concussion. He was replaced by Dolph Ziggler at the event. In the weeks building up to all of these pay-per-views, Del Rio faced Sheamus on weekly shows, in a variety of matches.

Once Sheamus was done with Del Rio, he would go on to feud with The Big Show. In a surprising outcome that followed a great match, Big Show knocked out Sheamus to win the championship at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, ending his reign at 210 days.

The problem with this reign was the excessive exposure of a single feud. Add to the fact that both Superstars had a stale gimmick that didn’t really connect with the fans, and you had the perfect recipe for filler content. More depth should have been added to Sheamus’ character, for he never struck gold as a face, and he should've been given a wider variety of opponents to work with.

#2 Dean Ambrose's 351-day US Title run

The 351-day title reign suffered due to Ambrose spending more time with the Shield!

The Shield is one of the best factions to ever grace the Squared Circle. They used their unity and numbers to their advantage, taking over the main roster like no other stable ever had.

They put on great six man tag team matches over the course of their career as a team, and won the WWE Tag Team Championships at Extreme Rules 2013, from Team Hell No. On the same day, Ambrose defeated Kofi Kingston to win the United States Championship.

Much of Ambrose’s reign was forgettable, as he was involved with The Shield and their dominance on the main roster. They entered the top story-line, siding with the Authority against rebels like Cody Rhodes, Daniel Bryan and CM Punk.

Through the beginning of 2014, The Shield would initiate a slow baby-face turn, assisted by the crowd’s adoration for the Hounds of Justice. They would then proceed to put on some of their best matches against The Wyatt Family and a reunited Evolution over the first half of the year.

That’s not to say Ambrose never defended his title at pay-per-views. He defended his title on 4 occasions, winning only one of his matches by pin-fall, and retaining the championship in other matches through disqualifications and count-outs.

Following the angle with the Rhodes brothers at Battleground, Ambrose never defended his title on pay-per-view. He would then lose his championship to Sheamus on an episode of Raw, in a battle royal involving 19 other Superstars.

The entire reign was unnecessary and unproductive. The championship could’ve been given to another Superstar, since Ambrose was always putting The Shield and their missions on top priority, with the belt serving the purpose of an accessory, and nothing more. I would’ve also considered all the members of The Shield defending the US Title once they lost their Tag Team Championships to Cody and Goldust.

#3 CM Punk's 434-day title reign

Not main-eventing PPV's hurt his reign!

This long reign came across as a surprise to many fans. In an era where championships were given the hot potato treatment, CM Punk became the 7th person to hold the top title for more than a year.

Fans had wanted Punk to be the WWE Champion ever since he cut the infamous Pipe-bomb promo. While he did win the championship at Money in the Bank, a returning Kevin Nash and MITB winner Alberto Del Rio limited his reign to 28 days. Punk then feuded with Triple H and John Laurinaitis, before defeating Del Rio at Survivor Series to win the belt. Punk would then hold on to the title until Royal Rumble 2013, where he would lose to The Rock.

Through all this, there was one glaring issue. CM Punk despite being top dog, only main-evented pay-per-views when he wrestled The Rock or John Cena.

Among the 14 pay-per-views that followed Survivor Series 2011, Punk couldn’t compete at one event, and main evented just 5 out of the remaining 13. Of these 5 main events, he won only one match without shenanigans that favored his win/resulted in his loss.

Regardless, Punk made the most out of his reign and profited from having the fans on his side. Once he was forced to turn heel, he needed Heyman and all the cheap heat he could incite, in order to maintain his momentum.

Many fans were disappointed with the heel turn because it meant that either John Cena or The Rock was going to become the next WWE champion. Essentially, the portion of his championship run while being a face wasn’t memorable. At best, it was remembered for this little nugget.

His matches with Daniel Bryan were great, but the endings were always murky. One match saw him tap out just microseconds after he pinned the Yes! Man, another match saw Punk pinning his other opponent, Kane after AJ Lee showed up and the last match ended with a suplex through a table. Not the sign of a fighting champion who comes out on top against all the odds.

I personally feel this reign would have been much better if he was allowed to headline pay-per-views and his character was still the anti-hero, instead of a clean face or a dirty heel. This reign could also have benefited from the main event at WrestleMania 29, pitting him against either Brock Lesnar or John Cena for the WWE Championship.