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The World Heavyweight Championship made it's way to WWE when Eric Bischoff awarded the title to former champion Triple H in 2002, giving the Raw brand a world championship since Brock Lesnar held the WWE Championship on SmackDown. The title was held by many great WWE legends like Edge, Batista, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Kane, John Cena etc. before being retired in 2013 with Randy Orton becoming the last man to carry the title before it was unified with the WWE Championship.
Throughout the title's history, it has been defended in the main event of multiple PPVs and episodes of Raw & Smackdown while being WWE's secondary world championship. While many superstars have taken the title to new heights, others failed to do the same and thus became really bad champions. Not only did they not look good as world heavyweight champion, but they didn't have what it took to stand at the top of the mountain and call themselves a champion.
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With that being said, let's look at 5 of the worst World Heavyweight Champions in the history of the WWE.
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#5. Dolph Ziggler
Dolph Ziggler is regarded as an underrated superstar by many WWE fans, but he's actually a 2-time world champion. Ziggler won his first world title in 2011 when he was defeated by Edge, but he was awarded the title anyway since Edge used the spear during their championship match, a move that was banned by Ziggler's then-girlfriend Vickie Guerrero.
Dolph held the title for only a few days before losing it back to Edge a week later on Smackdown. His first reign was very short and not only did he win the title in controversial fashion, but he went on to lose his first title defence clean. This is by far one of the worst world title reign in WWE.
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After winning the title, Ziggler suffered a concussion which took him out of action for one month and when he returned to have his first title defence against Del Rio, he lost the match and his title, ending his reign at just 69 days. From that day on Dolph never went near the world championship gold. He has never successfully defended his titles on two occasions and he was still green during his two reigns.
After losing his title to Edge, Ziggler went on to win the Smackdown Money in the Bank contract in 2012 and failed to cash it in on Sheamus multiple times to win the World Heavyweight Championship. He successfully cashed-in his briefcase the night after WrestleMania 29 and won the title by pinning Alberto Del Rio.
#4. The Big Show
WWE veteran The Big Show won his first World Heavyweight Championship title in 2011 when he defeated Mark Henry at WWE TLC, and after the match, Henry knocked out Show with a DDT on a steel chair. This allowed Daniel Bryan to come in and cash in his Smackdown Money in the Bank briefcase, defeating Big Show for the title.
This gave Show the shortest-ever World Heavyweight Championship reign at only 45 seconds. Big Show made his WWE debut in 1999 and won the title for the first time in 2011 then lost it in just 45 seconds. Not only does he fall under Dolph Ziggler as one of the worst World Heavyweight Champion of all time, but for a guy of his size and accolade to lose the title so quick only gave him a negative effect.
He won the title for the second time in 2012 by defeating Sheamus at Hell in a Cell. Show defended his title several times but mostly retained his titles by disqualification and due to a no-contest. He lost his title in 2013 to Del Rio ending his reign at just 72 days. From what he achieved in WCW and his early days in WWE, his run as World Heavyweight Champion was lacklustre and unimpressive.
#3. Rey Mysterio
Rey Mysterio is regarded by many as the greatest cruiserweight wrestler in history. Despite his size, he has won multiple championships in WWE including the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship. He won his first World Heavyweight Championship in 2006 by pinning Randy Orton at WrestleMania 22.
Even though Mysterio won his first title defence and successfully retained his title multiple times, his run with the title seemed like it was on the rocks, even though his victories were quite enjoyable. Rey Mysterio was being booked to look like the weakest World Heavyweight Champion in WWE history and was placed in a David and Goliath situation several times.
He eventually lost the title to King Booker at The Great American Bash PPV. His second reign was even worse, as he lost his second World Heavyweight Championship to Kane at Money in the Bank in 2010, after retaining the title against Jack Swagger. From that day on Mysterio never became World Heavyweight Champion again.
#2. Jack Swagger
Jack Swagger was pushed to the top very quickly after his debut. He accomplished so much in a small amount of time after he joined the company. He debuted in ECW on September 2008 where he began an undefeated streak that lasted until February 2009. In January of that year, he won the ECW Championship, less than four months after debuting.
He went on to lose the title and then won the Money In The Bank ladder match. Subsequently, on an episode of SmackDown, he successfully cashed in the contract against Chris Jericho to become World Heavyweight Champion. When we look at where Swagger's career was heading towards his departure and we look back at his run as World Heavyweight Champion, it still comes to a surprise that he held the title.
Swagger eventually lost his only World Heavyweight Championship to Rey Mysterio at Money in the Bank in 2010 and his career finally went downhill faster than he could say, jobber. Swagger went on an extended losing streak in 2012 before taking time off. After his return in 2013, in the lead-up to WrestleMania XXX--he went on yet another losing streak, while Cero picked up multiple victories over him.
#1. The Great Khali
The Great Khali signed with WWE in 2006 and went on to win his first and only World Heavyweight Championship two years later by eliminating Kane and Batista in a 20-Man Battle Royal on Smackdown. He successfully defended his title several times before losing it to Batista, ending his reign at just 61 days.
Khali is regarded by many as not only one of the worst champion in WWE history but also one of the worst wrestler in WWE history. He was very stiff in the ring, his legs were his weakness and he had a very weird finishing move; a karate chop.
His title defences were dull just like most of his matches and his title run was a massive disappointment. He also lifted the World Heavyweight Championship upside down, and not just once. Thankfully that was his last run as World Heavyweight Champion.
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