5 WWE Title matches from this decade you might not remember

We are in the final few months of the 2010s, and what a decade it has been. While the WWE product has not been at its best, like in the previous decade, there has been a plethora of matches, moments and stories that will remain a major part of the company's storied history. Some of them include CM Punk's monumental victory over John Cena in Chicago, the end of the Undertaker's WrestleMania streak and the first-ever women's WrestleMania main event.

With that being said, there have also been many bizarre happenings on WWE programming. Much like every other decade, the 2010s have seen some weird stuff happen in this crazy world of sports entertainment, some of which you might not even remember.

There have been quite a few WWE Championship matches featuring some out of left field names, ones that you would not necessarily expect to see compete for the biggest title in the company's history.

Here are five one-on-one WWE Championship matches that happened in the 2010s which you may have forgotten about.

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#5 AJ Styles vs James Ellsworth (SmackDown 2016)

No Chin Music

At the beginning of the second brand split in 2016, SmackDown became a consistently great program to watch. From the road to SummerSlam up until WrestleMania 33, the blue brand was mostly excellent. One of the reasons why that was the case was the fact that the entire roster was utilised effectively. It genuinely was the Land of Opportunity. One of these opportunities fell to the way of an actual jobber by the name of James Ellsworth.

He had been squashed by Braun Strowman, but impressed WWE officials in the way he did it. Ellsworth got a run on Smackdown shortly after, becoming a part of the WWE Championship storyline between AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose.

He even got multiple victories over the Phenomenal One, with heavy assistance from the current Jon Moxley. This would lead to a couple of title matches, one of which saw him come a second within winning the WWE title. It almost became a joke that went too far.

#4 John Cena vs R-Truth (Capitol Punishment 2011)

Truth was a great heel

These days, R-Truth is one of the best things on WWE programming, as he and Drake Maverick are leading the 24/7 Championship shenanigans. Back then, he was more of a bit-part babyface in the midcard of either Raw or Smackdown. That's why his heel turn in 2011 was pretty surprising.

He turned into a bitter man who thought there was a conspiracy against him, initially entering the ring to no entrance music. The current 24/7 Champion found himself in the main event of the one and only Capitol Punishment pay-per-view WWE produced in June 2011.

R-Truth challenged John Cena for the WWE Championship in what was a strange match. Despite being extremely entertaining in his role, nobody really bought him as the WWE Champion. Cena would obviously win, thanks to a young fan in the crowd who splashed a drink in Truth's face. It was bizarre to see, much like when he is hitting a crossbody on Drake Maverick in his hotel room when he was supposed to consummate his marriage.

#3 The Miz vs Jerry Lawler (RAW 2010 / Elimination Chamber 2011)

The King almost became the Champ

Jerry Lawler was one of the greatest heels in wrestling history, with an amazing ability to get real heat from fans. However, he was nowhere near the WWE Championship. That was until The Miz cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and became the champ.

The King was Miz's first title defense, facing him in a TLC Match on the King of the Ring edition of Raw in November 2010. He actually looked to be the clear winner before a distraction from broadcast partner Michael Cole caused the Awesome One to retain.

Unfortunately, this would spark a feud between two commentators which resulted in a WrestleMania match. Surely Lawler would pick up the easy victory over Cole, right? No, the then-super heel announcer won by disqualification. However, before that, Lawler had another crack at The Miz and his title at Elimination Chamber. He could not get the job done and went on to have probably the worst and most frustrating feud in the WWE that year.

#2 Sheamus vs Zack Ryder (RAW 2010)

This match lasted around 10 seconds

Raw in mid-2010 was eventful. The Nexus was running amuck on the show, destroying faces all around the place. Sheamus capitalised on that and became WWE Champion. During a late-August edition of Raw, the Celtic Warrior was tasked with picking his title challenger for the night by the anonymous Raw general manager. After several matches involving the likes of Chris Jericho, John Morrison and Randy Orton, Sheamus picked Zack Ryder. This was before he blew up as the Internet Champion.

No matter what the circumstances, seeing the Broski get a one-on-one WWE Championship match at any time is pretty unbelievable. As expected, Sheamus rolled over Ryder within ten seconds. It was a preview of Sheamus' WrestleMania 28 match with Daniel Bryan, over a year in advance.

Zack Ryder is a world title victory away from becoming a Grand Slam champion so hopefully, he somehow makes his way to the main event scene. It would be the WWE feel-good story of the decade, at the very least.

#1 Seth Rollins vs Neville (Raw 2015)

Neville was this close to winning the title

All the other names on this list are names that are usually confined to the lower card or elsewhere, but Neville was a decent upper mid-carder in WWE. While many people will remember his run as the King of the Cruiserweights, the 'Man that Gravity Forgot' came within inches of capturing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Amid his title-for-title feud with John Cena, Seth Rollins issued an open challenge on Raw to anybody below 6 feet and 200 pounds.

It was answered by Neville, who put up one heck of a fight. This was one of the best world title matches on free TV at that point. He came within inches of escaping with Rollins' title on multiple occasions. Despite only being on the main roster for four months, Neville made everyone believe he had won the match when he hit a beautiful Red Arrow on the champ.

However, Rollins put his foot on the rope in the luckiest way possible and finished Neville off with a Pedigree. This was a great match, one of the Newcastle native's best in WWE.

Despite its quality, you would be forgiven for being unable to remember this match, along with the other WWE Championship matches on this list. Are there any other scarcely remembered WWE Championship matches that happened in the 2010s? Comment below.