7 WWE World Championship reigns on SmackDown Live so far, and their ratings

The WWE Championship has lost its prestige and main event status after the company introduced the WWE Universal Championship. Since the brand split in 2016, the WWE World Championship has been a key feature of the blue brand. In the 2 years since the show went LIVE on Tuesday nights, the land of opportunity has had 6 unique WWE Champions.

Here is a list of WWE Champions since the brand split, as well as their ratings.

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#1 Dean Ambrose

The Lunatic Fringe

Dean Ambrose brought the title to Shane McMahon’s show, and he lost it to the phenomenal AJ Styles at the first PPV of the brand - WWE Backlash. Ambrose’s run was lackluster, as it led to fans booing the face Ambrose. He had 1 successful PPV defense against Dolph Ziggler at SummerSlam 2016.

Dean's championship reign rating - 3/10

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#2 AJ Styles (first reign)

AJ Styles had a phenomenal run with the title as a heel thanks to some blockbuster matches against John Cena and Dean Ambrose. The Leader of Cenation ended AJ‘s reign at WWE Royal Rumble 2017.

The sad part of this reign was it proved to be a comical feud as John Cena was absent from the show. In fact, AJ lost singles matches against James Ellsworth on WWE TV.

AJ's championship reign rating - 6/10

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#3 John Cena

John Cena won his 16th WWE World Championship at the Royal Rumble PPV, and equaled The Nature Boy Ric Flair's record for the most reigns.

Cena could however hold the gold for a mere 2 weeks as he lost the title to Bray Wyatt in an epic Elimination Chamber match.

John's championship reign rating - 2/10

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#4 Bray Wyatt

Bray Wyatt won his first ever title on the main roster when he pinned AJ Styles and emerged as the WWE Champion out of the Elimination Chamber. The problem with this title run was that the focus of the show was not at all the champion, but his challengers.

After Randy Orton rejected the opportunity to face Wyatt, and AJ Styles as well as Luke Harper battled hard to become the #1 contender. However, The Viper would betray his master in a few weeks to set up a clash at WrestleMania.

The match and the feud gained much heat from the WWE Universe thanks to poor booking decisions by the creative.

Bray's championship reign rating - 1.5/10

#5 Randy Orton

Randy defeated Bray Wyatt to win the WWE Championship, and kicked off a lukewarm reign with the belt. He faced off against Wyatt in a horrible non-title "House of Horrors" match at WWE Payback.

The land of opportunity crowned the jobber Jinder Mahal the new #1 contender for the title, and the unthinkable happened when The Modern Day Maharaja beat The Legend Killer to become the first WWE Champion of Indian descent.

Randy Orton's championship reign rating - 3/10

#6 Jinder Mahal

The WWE Universe expected a lot from Jinder’s reign at the top. Instead of booking a creative angle, the creative team took the easy way out by choosing the foreign heel storyline.

Jinder always retained the title with the help of the Singh Brothers and The Great Khali. His feuds with Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura depreciated the championship’s value as the Jinder Mahal experiment completely fall flat.

Jinder's championship reign rating - 5/10

#7 AJ Styles (second reign)

AJ Styles pinned Jinder Mahal on a SmackDown episode in the United Kingdom to win his second WWE Championship. Fans were happy to see a credible superstar holding the gold.

Sadly, the WWE writers messed up again by putting AJ in a meaningless feud against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. He would however retain the championship despite the odds stacked against him.

AJ’s current reign has not witnessed a classic match-up despite repeated matches against Shinsuke Nakamura and Samoa Joe.

AJ’s championship reign rating - 6/10

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WWE Creative has been short of ideas for booking the WWE Championship, and this has led to the title being reduced to mid-card level. The WWE Universe hopes to see these baffling decisions end as soon as possible.