We're living in a new golden age for professional wrestling with AEW recently setting a paid attendance record at All In at Wembley Stadium and WWE setting all-time merchandise records. Both WWE and AEW are creating mainstream stars and intriguing storylines, i.e. The Bloodline and MJF-Adam Cole bromance.
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There's no doubt wrestling has come out of the pandemic in better shape than it has been in many years, perhaps even since the mid-1990s. That said, not every booking decision, match, and championship reign has been a home run. Champions like Roman Reigns and MJF have captivated audiences, but these champions are either mostly forgotten or have had incredibly lackluster and uneventful title runs.
10 Austin Theory (WWE US Champion)
Despite being booked strong with wins over many top stars, including John Cena at WrestleMania 39, Theory hasn't been able to overcome - or benefit from - being Vince McMahon's on-screen, hand-picked next big star. He's completely fine in the ring and capable on the microphone but has been rightly criticized for not being believable or genuine in his promos.
As far as title reigns go, Theory is a two-time WWE United States Champion, but his first run was entirely forgettable. He won the title for the second time at Survivor Series: WarGames 2022 and held on to it for 257 uneventful days before losing it to Rey Mysterio on SmackDown.
9 Almost Every Team (WWE Women's Tag Team Champions)
Logic may suggest the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship isn't actually cursed, but it's easy to believe it is. Twenty-two teams have held the titles since they were introduced at the Elimination Chamber in 2019 and many reigns have been ended due to injuries or other issues. Sasha Banks and Bayley and The Iiconics are arguably the only teams to have memorable reigns.
Does anyone remember the reigns of Aliyah and Raquel Rodriguez? Alexa Bliss and Asuka? Carmella and Queen Zelina? Natalya and Tamina? Management and booking are also partly responsible for the poor status of the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship, but at some point, it's incumbent upon the talent to get themselves - and the titles - over. Chelsea Green is doing a great job in that regard.
8 Steve Maclin (Impact World Champion)
As Steve Cutler in WWE/NXT, the wrestler whose real name is Stephen Kupryk was a solid hand in the ring but never came across as someone with main event talent and charisma. He was part of the short-lived Forgotten Sons, which came to an abrupt end on the main roster due to a tweet for stablemate Jaxson Ryker. WWE released Cutler in February 2021.
Kupryk joined Impact shortly after as Steve Maclin and fought primarily in the X-Division, later engaging in mid-card feuds until being the fortunate benefactor to Josh Alexander having to vacate his Impact World Championship. Maclin beat Kushida to win the vacant title at Rebellion in April 2023. He lost the title to Alex Shelley less than two months later at Against All Odds, becoming no more than a transitional champion.
7 Pac (AEW International Champion)
Pac, if consistently healthy, could easily be one of AEW's biggest stars. He is as capable as anyone in the AEW locker room of putting on five-star matches but hasn't been reliable. He worked well as one-third of the AEW Trios Champions with Penta El Zero M and Rey Fenix, but his AEW International Championship, then known as the All-Atlantic Championship, reign was less than inspiring.
Pac became the inaugural titleholder by defeating Clark Connors, Malakai Black, and Miro in a great match at Forbidden Door in 2022 and held the title for 108 days, but was rarely featured on TV and the title wasn't treated as important until Orange Cassidy won it from him on an episode of Dynamite in October.
6 Big E (WWE Champion)
Big E winning the WWE Championship, cashing in his Money in the Bank contract on a September 2021 episode of Raw to beat Bobby Lashley, was a great and well-deserved moment. It seemed as though he would have an opportunity to be the face of Raw perhaps until WrestleMania, but his title reign was cut short in a last-minute fatal five-way match at Day 1 on January 1, 2022.
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Big E was on Raw without his New Day stablemates and didn't really have any memorable programs during his 110-day reign, beating the likes of Drew McIntyre and Theory. He was scheduled to defend the title against Seth Rollins at Day 1 and a singles victory there could have cemented him as a great champion, but Lesnar was added to a later planned four-way match hours before it happened because Reigns, his scheduled opponent, contracted COVID-19.
5 Karrion Kross (NXT Champion)
While he has mostly been a flop on the main roster, Karrion Kross was first presented as a star in NXT. He had a captivating entrance, a great look, and the sinister Scarlett Bordeaux by his side. Kross became NXT Champion when he beat Finn Balor for the title on NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver in 2021.
While his second reign lasted 136 days (his first ended in just four days after separating his shoulder in his win against Keith Lee at TakeOver 30), he failed to get over as an exciting and engaging champion and was even picked apart on the microphone by Adam Cole. He lost the title to Samoa Joe at TakeOver 36.
4 Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro (WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions)
Other than the Usos, WWE hasn't booked tag teams well at all in the last few years. The New Day has been up and down due to injuries and singles pushes and other teams haven't been able to stay together long enough to be remembered, in part due to poor booking. Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro were one of the many random pairings put together in recent years.
Nakamura and Cesaro beat The New Day for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules in July 2020. They held the titles for 82 days before dropping them to The New Day again days before the 2020 WWE Draft. Their run was meaningless, and they were barely given a chance to establish heat.
3 Sammy Guevara (AEW TNT Champion)
Love him or hate him, Sammy Guevara is an important part of AEW's past, present, and future. The Spanish God is considered one of the four pillars of AEW and has already created plenty of must-see TV moments, most notably diving off of the top of a ladder onto Cody Rhodes in a January 2022 Dynamite match to unify the TNT Championship.
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Guevara is a three-time TNT Champion, last losing the belt to Scorpio Sky in a ladder match on Dynamite in April 2022. His reigns have featured some great TV matches, but Guevara is only now starting to come into his own as a personality.
2 AJ Styles and Omos (WWE Raw Tag Team Champions)
Pairing AJ Styles with Omos was making the best of a bad situation. WWE didn't really have much for Styles to do in 2021, especially with Reigns as the top star on SmackDown and McIntyre and Bobby Lashley getting main event pushes on Raw. McMahon clearly wanted to push Omos as an attraction, but he was too green in the ring to be in any singles match that wasn't a squash.
Styles and Omos at least shook up the tag team scene on Raw for a short period, but they rarely defended the titles against serious contenders and didn't have any memorable matches. They held the titles from WrestleMania 37 to SummerSlam 2021, a span of 132 days.
1 Nikki A.S.H. (WWE Raw Women's Champion)
There's no denying Nikki Cross was deserving of more TV time in 2021. She was rarely used at the time, coming off of a partnership with Bliss, and was directionless, to say the least. She was rebranded as Nikki A.S.H. (Almost a Super Hero), a gimmick wherein she wore generic superhero gear and aimed to inspire others to be their best.
Nikki A.S.H. surprisingly won the Money in the Bank contract in 2021 and cashed in the following night on Raw, defeating new Raw Women's Champion Charlotte Flair. It was the right decision, sparing fans of another mediocre Flair reign, but only lasted 32 days before she lost the title to Flair once again at SummerSlam.
