411’s WWE This is Awesome Report: ‘Most Awesome WWE Champions’

-Well, this one should be pretty straight forward. There are certain names that have to be mentioned and if not then what are we even doing? Let’s get to it!



-Run Time: 52:22



-Greg Miller welcomes us to the show and today we look at the most Awesome WWE Champions of All Time. He notes 53 men have held the WWE Championship and they have narrowed the list to the best of the best. He makes sure to note this list doesn’t include NWA or WCW Champions for obvious reasons. The criteria is Number of Reigns, Duration of Reign, and being a WWE Ambassador. 

-Various talking heads discuss the WWE Championship being the top goal in the industry. You can’t be tired or hurt when you feel tired or hurt. You are the face of WWE and are always on call 24/7 when needed. They discuss the importance is the lineage and how it links generations. Sam Roberts notes it is the Title and how companies have come and gone and WWE Championship has remained. Kofi, Miz and Drew all discuss how it was surreal and they couldn’t believe It happened. 



–John Cena: 16 Time WWE World Heavyweight Champion (13 WWE and 3 World); 650 Make-A-Wishes granted (World Record)

-Bianca calls Cena a legend and one of the greatest of all time. Sam Roberts talks about the rise of John Cena through the start of the Ruthless Aggression Era. Cena wins his first WWE Title at WrestleMania 21 when he ends the long reign of JBL. Roberts: “I just wish his Championship Belt hadn’t been so ugly.” Brian Gewirtz says the younger audience loved the spinner and the older, traditionalists hated it. Campa tells us that it is John Cena and he can do whatever he wants. They hype that Cena is now tied with Flair as a 16 Time World Champion, but we all know that isn’t really true. Liv feels Cena checks all the boxes of what a great WWE Champion and Ambassador for WWE should be. We see Cena making appearances all over the place and credit Cena as he knew his role and ran with it and never complained. Lashley puts it simply: we put asses in seats and smiles on faces and Cena did it as well as anyone.

–JBL: 1 Time WWE Champion, Longest WWE Championship Reign in SmackDown History (280 Days); WWE Grand Slam Champion; Undisputed Stock Market Champion

-Seriously?

-I mean, I know we have to fill an hour, but what is this? Roberts mentions JBL was in the WWE for years and was never a top of the card guy. JBL mentions he grew up in Texas and hated the men who would rub their wealth in people’s faces, so he figured that would work for him. I mean, yeah, it’s Ted Dibiase. I will say JBL chasing people on the US/Mexico Border was next level dick heel behavior. JBL wins the WWE Title from Eddie Guerrero and then holds the title for 9 months. He escapes match after match before Cena finally ends the reign.



Randy Orton: 14 Time WWE World Heavyweight Champion; 10 Time WWE Champion; 4 Time World Heavyweight Champion (Youngest Ever at 24)

-When Nikki Cross thinks of WWE Champion, she thinks of Randy Orton. They put over his natural ability and how easy everything came for him. They discuss the longevity and how Orton has nearly worked with everyone possible. Roberts says nobody has been a spoiler in the WWE Title scene more than Orton and that leads us to Orton cashing in on Daniel Bryan at SummerSlam. They discuss the long running Orton/Cena rivalry that for whatever reason rarely produced all time classic matches. Gargano is amazed that Orton has won the WWE 10 times in 20 years.



-Hulk Hogan: 12 Time World Heavyweight Champion; 6 Time WWE Champion; 6 Time WCW Champion; 2nd Longest WWE Championship Reign in History (1474 days); 1st and Final WWE Championship Reigns Were 18 Years Apart (1984 and 2002)



-Well, DUH! This is all subjective, but I grew up on 80s WWE and Hulk Hogan will always be the first person I think of when someone talks about WWE Champions. He gets my vote for Greatest WWE Champion of All Time! This is going to make me smile as this is my childhood! Little kids dressed up as Hogan! I did that at the age of 4 for Halloween! I mean, who hasn’t ripped their shirt off like Hogan? Ciampa feels anyone who watched WWE in the 80s as a kid and says they aren’t a Hulk-a-maniac are lying. Gargano doesn’t think WWE gets as big as it has become without Hulk Hogan. Dolph Ziggler had the weight set and so did I! Ciampa had the lunchbox and book bag. I loved my Hogan book bag! They discuss Hulking Up and it’s glorious! They show Hogan winning his various WWE Titles over the years and mention none were bigger than his first. Hogan SQUASHES The Iron Sheik in MSG and the wrestling world is changed forever. WRESTLEMANIA III: THE STARE DOWN! THE BODY SLAM! Drew notes that Hogan/Andre is mythical at this point. Kane tells the old age lie of it being the first time someone slammed Andre. Hogan calls WrestleMania III the greatest moment of his career. Hogan wins his last WWE Title in 2002 when he knocked off HHH. It’s Hogan and this list doesn’t exist without him! 



–Brock Lesnar: 10 Time WWE World Heavyweight Champion; 7 Time WWE Champion (Youngest Ever at 24), 3 Time Universal Champion, UFC Heavyweight Champion, NCAA Division 1 Heavyweight Champion



-The funny thing is that if he had never come back after his fall out with WWE in 2004 he does’t make this list. They note that from the moment Brock walked in he busted people’s asses and won titles. For sure as he crushed The Rock at SummerSlam for the WWE Title only 5 months after his main roster debut. They show Brock SQUASHING Cena at SummerSlam and I still bust out laughing every time I watch that match. It’s just glorious and I like Cena. We get UFC stills and it is mind boggling that he went there and become Heavyweight Champion in short order. Beth Phoenix loves Cowboy Brock! Heyman says Cowboy Brock is a man of the people and Drew says it’s scarier to see him smiling. They make sure to show Brock using the tractor to lift the ring at SummerSlam! Shayna says it simply: Brock is a beast! 



–Bruno Sammartino: 2 Time WWE World Heavyweight Champion; Longest WWE Championship (2803 Days); Combined WWE Championship Reigns (4040 Days); Sold Out MSG 187 Times 



-Another no brainer as my mom, who isn’t a wrestling fans, even knows Bruno Sammartino was WWE Champion forever. Sammartino beats Buddy Rodgers in 48 seconds to become WWE Champion for the first time and it becomes the longest reign in history. Dolph notes a big chunk of WWE history is Madison Square Garden and that meant Bruno defending the WWE Title. Bubba Ray doesn’t think anyone will ever break Bruno’s 187 sell-out mark. Kane notes the connection Bruno had with the audience. Bruno finally gets inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013. It was fantastic that he got his flowers with the current WWE audience before he passed. 



–Triple H: 14 Time WWE World Heavyweight Champion; 9 Time WWE Champion; 5 Time World Heavyweight Champion



-They tease me with “My Time” and then don’t play it. Boo! That song is a BANGER! They show the sit-down where HHH tells us, “I am the fucking game, JR.” HHH wins his first WWE Title in Aug of 99 from Mick Foley. He headlines WreslteMania 18 and leaves as WWE Champion even though Hulk Hogan and The Rock stole the show and then a month later, Hulk Hogan took the Title. The best HHH though is heel HHH and his run in 2000 was off the charts. Gargano thought it was cool that HHH got that final WWE Championship Win in 2016 at The Royal Rumble. Damian Priest doesn’t know if there is anyone else to consider the greatest! Damian knows who his boss is now! I’m kidding! 



–Bret Hart: 7 Time World Heavyweight Champion; 5 Time WWE Champion; 2 Time WCW Champion; Longest WWE Championship Reign in the 1990s (654 Days)



-BRET! I wonder what that kid is doing now? Rikishi says he has one word for Bret as WWE Champion: RESPECT. Priest equates the Winged Eagle Title with Bret. Bret talks about his win over Ric Flair for his first WWE Title. Liv notes how huge the is. Bret won the WWE Title 5 times which tied Hogan for the most reigns up to that point. We see him beating Yoko at Mania X and the boys carrying him on their shoulders which was basically Vince apologizing for what happened at WrestleMania IX. BRET ON THE SIMPSONS! “Thank you Bret.” That is also burned into my memory. Bret had integrity and was a fighting Champion which made the title mean a lot. 



–”Stone Cold” Steve Austin: 6 Time WWE World Heavyweight Champion; Triple Crown Champion; 3 Time Royal Rumble Winner 



-This would be another one like Bruno, Hogan and Cena where they need to be in your Top 5 or what are we even doing? Kane tells us that Austin redefined what it meant to be WWE Champion and mentions he was an anti-hero. Austin wins his first WWE Title at Mania XIV for Shawn and as JR famously claimed, “The Austin Era has begun.” WCW was toast from that point forward and the WWE was off and running on it’s way to becoming a publicly traded company worth billions. What Hogan was to legions fans in the 80s, Austin was the same to fans in the 90s. BEER BATH! Waltman wonders if anyone has ever been as hot as Austin was at the time? Man has a point!



-The Rock: 10 Time WWE World Heavyweight Champion; 7 Time WWE Champion; 3 Time WCW Champion; The People’s Champion



-Another no brainer and it’s still incredible to think you got two once in a life-time talents like Rock and Austin battling as the top dog in the same era. Priest says Rock being Champion just looked right and it made sense. Rock wins his first WWE Title in 1998 when he joined Vince McMahon in the first of a few thousand references to Montreal. Rock comes back to WWE after Hollywood and wins the WWE Title (from CM Punk) for a final time. Rhea notes that everyone is captivated by The Rock and he will always be welcomes back to WWE. Liv says Rock is the epitome of what they all hope they a become. 



–Roman Reigns: 6 Time WWE World Heavyweight Champion; 4 Time WWE Champion; 2 Time Universal Champion (786 Days and Counting)



-We close with The Tribal Chief and the most dominant champion of the modern era. Heyman notes that Roman would be #1 at anything he ever wanted to do. Roman always knew he was supposed to be someone and be something special. We jump to Royal Rumble where Reigns has to defend the WWE Title in The Royal Rumble Match. I think people forget Reigns took a nap for most of the match. Reigns wins the Universal Title at Payback 2020 and has held it ever since. The WWE struck GOLD with The Tribal Chief and pairing with Paul Heyman. Who could have predicted that letting the guy go heel and show off his natural charisma while wrecking shop would work? Well, basically everyone! It can’t be stated enough how much of a star Reigns looks like once he got out of The Shield gear and got the new attitude. The talking heads note he checks every box and they acknowledge him. Heyman tells us that Roman has changed the game and the man himself tells us he has stepped up and is carrying the show. 

-Next time we get Most Awesome WWE Debuts of All Time: THE SHIELD, JERICHO, AJ STYLES, THE UNDERTAKER. Sweet!

-This was fun and I am still waiting for them to do the Top 50 Greatest WWE Superstars of All Time series like they did with the women and with tag teams. Lists like this will always be argued but I feel they hit all the big hitters with one person sticking out like a sore thumb. JBL should not have made this list over the likes of Randy Savage and Edge. CM Punk should have made the list before JBL, but there was no chance of that happening. AJ Styles and Kurt Angle deserve to be above JBL as well in my opinion. Some I can understand as Shawn never got the great run due to injuries and personal demons and Undertaker was always more about the chase than being Champion, but man did that JBL inclusion seem weird and I appreciate what JBL has done in the WWE. Outside of that this was a good watch and was fun for the nostalgia. It was kind of weird they noted they didn’t include WCW or NWA runs, but made sure to note them on each guys bio before their video ran. One day perhaps we will get a show where they rank every WWE Champion, but until then this is what we are getting. For now how you would rank the 11 that were included in this list only? Feel free to comment below! Thanks for reading!