5 Interesting title facts from the WWE in 2019

Championships are the most prestigious prize a performer can win in professional wrestling. They are indicative of both a star's status in a particular company as well as faith from management. Some wrestlers win multiple titles throughout their careers while others struggle just to get that one important title reign.

With so many titles to vie for in the WWE, we often see multiple champions hold a particular belt in any given year. Some titles even change hands more than five times per year. Depending on a star's status in the company, like Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch, they might hold the title for most of the year.

In 2019, we saw the creation of the 24/7 and Women's Tag Team titles and redesigns for both the Universal Championship and the Intercontinental Championship. In the ever-changing landscape of the company, there are no shortages of interesting facts surrounding some of the WWE's most prestigious titles. Here are five interesting title tidbits from the past year.

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#5 The title that changed hands the most - other than the 24/7 title - was the United States Championship

The US title was a hot potato in 2019.

The 24/7 Championship has most certainly been the title that has had the most holders this year, but those matches are merely often won by roll-ups. 2018 saw the United States Championship and both sets of Tag Team titles change hands the most. Nothing has changed in that regard as all three titles have changed hands seven or more times again in 2019. Due to Rey Mysterio's title win on November 25th, however, the US Championship takes the cake with eight changes in the calendar year.

I'm not sure if it's to keep things moving or if injuries played a factor (the Master of the 619 was hurt and had to relinquish it to Samoa Joe), but that's a lot of swaps in one year. Shinsuke Nakamura won the title at the end of January by besting Rusev.

R-Truth, Samoa Joe (2 reigns), Rey Mysterio and Ricochet would all have brief runs as US Champion between March 5th and July 14th of this year. To recap, that would be five champions in a little less than four months. On July 14th at Extreme Rules, however, AJ Styles would capture the title from Ricochet and have the longest reign with the title this year at 134 days before being toppled by Mysterio last month.

The RAW and SmackDown Tag Team Championships swapped places seven times each with the Revival running with the red brand's belts twice in 2019. On the blue brand, the Revival also had a run as Champs whereas the New Day won the titles on two separate occasions in 2019.

#4 Brock Lesnar's longest title match was against Seth Rollins at SummerSlam

The Beast faced Rollins at SummerSlam.

One thing about Brock Lesnar and title matches is that when he's in a match with a Championship attached to it, it's not going to be a Triple H-esque marathon of over 20 minutes. His appearances are always to set up programs for PPVs, and in 2019, he fought for or defended a title at five PPVs. His lone non-PPV title match was the squashing of former WWE Champion, Kofi Kingston.

The Beast entered 2019 as the Universal Champion once again after "defeating" Braun Strowman at last year's Crown Jewel event. His first official defense in that reign was against Finn Balor at the Royal Rumble. Due to the massive size differential, not many were giving the first-ever Universal Champ a chance. But shockingly, Balor's match with Lesnar at the Rumble was actually the second-longest match (8:40) for the Beast in 2019.

His longest match involving a title was during his defense against Seth Rollins at SummerSlam. The Architect won the title at the Biggest Party of the Summer after a bout that lasted 13:25. His two shortest matches for the title were against Kofi Kingston on the debut episode of SmackDown (10 seconds) and against Cain Velasquez at crown Jewel (2:10). Velasquez had an ankle injury that cut the vaunted rematch short.

Below is a list starting with the shortest match and ending with his longest title match in 2019. His Money in the Bank cash-in was not counted because he was not announced for the PPV at all.

1. Defeated Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship on the debut episode of SmackDown on FOX - 10 seconds
2. Defended WWE Championship against Cain Velasquez at Crown Jewel - 2:10
3. Lost Universal Championship to Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 35 (pre-match attacks not included into match length) - 2:30
4. Defended WWE Championship against Rey Mysterio at Survivor Series - 7:00
5. Defended Universal Championship against Finn Balor at Royal Rumble - 8:40
6. Lost Universal Championship to Seth Rollins at SummerSlam - 13:25

#3 Becky Lynch's one reign as RAW Women's Champ is longer than all four of Charlotte's combined

Flair and Lynch are always trying to one-up each other.

As of this writing, Becky Lynch has held the RAW Women's Championship for approximately 260 days after winning both titles at WrestleMania 35. The interesting aspect of her one reign with the title is that it alone has surpassed all four of Charlotte Flair's runs with the same prize.

Combined, all four of Flair's reigns as RAW Women's Champ add up to approximately 242 days. Her first reign lasted the longest at 113 days. This was back during the period of time when she and Sasha Banks traded the title back and forth like sugar between neighbors. Flair's second reign lasted 43 days and her third was for only 29 days. Her last reign with the title lasted a whopping 57 days until she was topped by Bayley for the belt.

The quick changes back and forth between Banks and Charlotte were likely done to fast-track the Queen towards breaking her father's record. While it will indeed get her closer to a record-breaking reign, it diminished both her reigns and Banks' reigns as Champ. There's an adage that says you're not really a champion until you defend your title. So if that's true, then was Banks never really a Champion and are a few of Flair's reigns unworthy?

Once again, it's all in the eyes of the beholder. If you think more is better than that is fine. If you are more about quality of reign rather than the number of reigns, then that's also fine. Which type of title runs are more memorable? That's debatable. Personally, I think that successfully retaining and defending one's title in any one-on-one encounter is more important.

#2 Lesnar won the Universal/WWE Championships and Money in the Bank this year

The Beast had a fruitful 2019.

While he hasn't been around nearly as much as the other Champions who carry WWE, Brock Lesnar has had one of the most successful years in WWE history. Not only did he carry the Universal Championship from the beginning of the year until WrestleMania, but he also had two reigns with the title in 2019.

If that wasn't enough, he was actually the winner of the 2019 Money in the Bank contract for the men, making his second run with the belt possible. It appears that if he's coming back for more, he'll only do it if he's holding gold.

But his year didn't stop there. Since he lost the title twice to Seth Rollins this year, he went AWOL following SummerSlam. He wasn't gone for long because all hands were on deck for the debut of SmackDown on FOX. One of the biggest possible matches booked for the show was Lesnar challenging Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship.

Well, we all know how that played out as the 10-second squash of Kingston quickly turned into the debut of Cain Velasquez. Some stars like Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Kingston have won multiple titles in a calendar year, just not both top prizes in the company. The Beast is one of the few stars who can brag that he has.

#1 Bayley and Alexa Bliss became the first female triple crown winners in WWE history this year

Bayley and Bliss have battled each other for much of their careers.

You may or may not know the answer already, but who's the first person who comes to mind when you think of Triple Crown winners for WWE women? It's probably Flair or Lynch, but neither woman has won the Women's Tag Team titles. Banks has but she has not hoisted the SmackDown Women's Championship.

In 2019, both Bayley and Alexa Bliss became Triple Crown winners in the WWE. Only Bayley can add being NXT Women's Champion to that accolade. Bliss and the former Hugger had both already won the top prizes on both RAW and SmackDown in the earlier stages of the brand split. While Bayley is currently the top woman on the blue brand, Bliss hasn't held singles gold since dropping the RAW Women's title to Ronda Rousey at last year's SummerSlam.

With the creation of the Women's Tag titles earlier this year, it offered up another opportunity for the women of WWE to hold a title. The titles may not have been booked the best initially, but it has at least afforded women like the IIconics, Nikki Cross and Kairi Sane the chance to be called Champions on RAW and SmackDown.

Bayley was the first to accomplish the trifecta when she and Banks became the inaugural Women's Champions. She was joined in the accomplishment later in the year once Bliss and Cross won the titles from The IIconics.