Better title reign: Orton or JBL

[LongLiveTheStreak]

Which WWE Championship reign was better: Randy Orton's "One Man Dynasty" or JBL's run as the longest reigning champion in Smackdown history?
Here's a look at the PPV title defenses of the two superstars title reigns.

John Bradshaw Layfield's Smackdown reign

Won it from Eddie Guerrero at Great American Bash.

SummerSlam- defeated Undertaker by DQ

No Mercy- defeated Taker after Heidenreich interfered.

Pinned Booker T at Survivor Series.

Pinned Booker T in Fatal 4 Way also featuring Eddie Guerrero and Undertaker at Armageddon.

Pinned Kurt Angle in a triple threat also with Big Show a Royal Rumble.

No Way Out- beat Big Show in a barbed-wire steel cage match.

Lost it to John Cena at Wrestlemania 21.

The Age of Orton

No Mercy `07- Orton was awarded the vacant WWE title, but lost it to HHH minutes later. He would regain the title in a Last Man Standing match later that night.

Cyber Sunday- got DQ'd against Shawn Michaels.

Survivor Series- beat HBK by pinfall.

Armageddon- wrestled to a no-contest with Chris Jericho after JBL interfered.

Royal Rumble- beat Jeff Hardy by pinfall

No Way Out- got DQ'd against John Cena

Wrestlemania 24- won the triple threat match over HHH and John Cena

He finally lost it at Backlash `08 to HHH is a Fatal 4 Way also with JBL and John Cena.

I believe Randy Orton had the better title reign because I feel he represtnted the WWE as it top recognized champion. It was the perfect title reign to follow up Cena's 380-day reign as WWE champion. Ialso feel that Orton performed better in the ring as WWE champ than JBL did. I have always found JBL to be a dud in the ring.

So who do you think had the better title reign?

 

[JuviJuiceIsLoose]

I'd say Orton, because I think JBL and his WWE title reign was extremely overrated.

When JBL won the belt, there was pretty much nobody left on Smackdown as a heel that could be a Main Event guy.

Lesnar was gone and Angle was injured, so they didn't have anybody else.

He may not even have gotten the title then if he wasn't already friends with Eddie. Apparently, JBL was the only person who he was willing to drop the belt to.

So yeah with the kind of talent Orton went against like Hardy, Triple H, Jericho, Cena, and HBK he wins.

 

[Super Strudel]

I think JBL had the better title reign.
Orton had already been a champion and was continuing to build himself up as one of the WWE's top heels.
JBL literally came from tag team obscurity to become the top heel on Smackdown. And he did it convincingly. Sure, his matches were traditionally quite mediocre, but this is a man whose previous singles reigns had revolved around the European and hardcore titles.
On top of this, he was the perfect heel. You knew he shouldn't have been holding that title, and as such you were dumbfounded every time he managed to hold on to it, even against guys with the standing of the Undertaker.
Orton's reign was great and added much needed stability to the title. But in terms of memorable reigns, JBL wins, simply if to signify his rise from Farooq's homeboy to Wall Street winner.

 

[daniel bryan mark]

I would have to say JBL. Orton got 2 DQ's and a No Contest. No Mercy was ridiculous. He loses as soon as he won the title and then, in Triple H's 3rd match of the night, beats him in a Last Standing match. Just about all of JBL's match were clean(meaning not much interference).

 

[CyDeez]

I think JBL's is a solid reign for an out of nowhere turn heel and on partner, switch gimmicks, win world title run.

Though he did not succeed in his defense of The WWE Championship at Wrestlemania, losing to John Cena.

His counterpart in this discussion, Randy Orton, went in to Wrestlemania as WWE Champion against not only John Cena (Who defeated JBL) and another unbelievably OVER guy, if not the MOST OVER guy ever, Triple H.

Randy Orton won The Triple Threat Match and retained his WWE Title.

I think they are sort of even as far as who they defended the title against. But Orton might have a slight edge there simply because of the name Heidenreich. LOL

JBL held the title for more days. 77 days more to be exact. IMO... I enjoyed Orton's gimmick better and his matches more.

Plus... Orton's was on Raw and JBL's was on SmackDown. I think Orton has the advantage there. The matches he had with HBK were awesome. He even got by a returning Y2J.

Overall for me... I choose Orton's reign simply because he is better than JBL in EVERY way, but his Title Defense at Wrestlemania gives him a distinct supremacy over John Bradshaw Layfield's sole reign.

 

[barclayteo]

i go 50\50 because like 1 person said jbl went from midcard with farooq to stabbing him in the back and becoming heavyweight champion with a hugh push right off of a character change.

then orton who has 1 of the best characters in wwe history and had better people who challenged for it.

the downsides were that orton never really won cleanly even for a heel. to jbl having not so successful feuds compared to orton.

 

[jhauth11]

Hard to Choose. JBL had a great come uping. Went from Tag team to Main Eventer basically Over night. BUT has heyman said best JBL was champ for so long as HHH didnt wanna work Tuesdays. another bad point to JBL's Ruin was he only one One Match clean. This Bullrope Match with Eddie was a Dusty Finnish,
Summerslam Against Undertaker ended in DQ, No Mercy Heidenreich had helped him.
Survivor Series against Booker T I think was his first Pin Fall win but i think he had help from his Cabinet in order to do so.
Armageddon Heidenreich once again helped him win
Royal Rumble was a Triple Threat and if i remember he just ran in the ring n picked up the scraps.
No Way Out: Another Dusty Finnish with his going through the Ring n crawling out.

Orton's ruin was good. A great way to pick up after Cena being gone. had some good matches and started his Whole Push to where he is now. Not that great as it wasnt his first run as champ

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

John 'Bradshaw' Layfield

Before his run to the top, Layfield was nothing more than one half of a damn entertaining face tag team (see what I did?), but a sudden change of gimmick & character and mere moths later JBL was lifting the WWE Championship above his head. JBL defeated Eddie Guerrero (Twice), the Undertaker (Twice), Booker T & The Big Show (Twice) before losing it to Cena. JBL held it for longer, won more convincingly (Half of Orton's Defences Ended in DQ's) and overall had a better ascension to the top of the card. His run also meant more in the end. It was the last long heel WWE Title run of memory and he kept it until the new face of the company could take his spot, and that is what Cena did.

 

[HBKevin]

I'd say JBL by far. JBL was really one of the last long-term heel world champions before the transition era began with Cena in 2005. JBL and the Cabinet were really just an epic stable and he had a lot of big wins over many opponents. Top it off with his feud with Cena as a rising star, ending with Cena's big win at Wrestlemania 21 on the same night that Batista won the other world title from Triple H, and there you go.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

JBL and it's not even close.

All of Orton's matches as champion are totally forgettable. His matches with HBK were average as well as his match with Jeff Hardy. JBL interfered in his match against Jericho and Orotn had to resort to slapping the referee at No Way Out. At WM 24 everyone was almost emotionally drained from the Flair/HBK match and the triple threat was just your basic one. Nothing bad but nothing great.

JBL had an excellent match against Guerrero at the Great American Bash as well as their match on Smackdown. His feud with Undertaker was very good and involved the first Last Ride match at No Mercy. His match with Booker T was a dud at Survivor Series but the Fatal Four Way at Armageddon and the Triple Threat Match at the Royal Rumble were good. JBL and Big Show impressed me in their barbed wire steel cage match and had a good ending to top it off.

JBL played the quintessential heel and even though there was a lot of interference, it didn't really take away from any of the matches. His mic work was better and I believe his quality of opponents were better when he faced them.

 

[save_us_222]

i think randy ortons reign was better and more relevant... for me was an almost perfect push for him as when he was given it he didnt seem like one of the top guys in the company and was almost a stand in for cena. at first his cheap wins n dqs backed this up as he looked out of his depth against guys like hbk and then even when cena came back he didnt look ready. then at wrestlemania against cena and hhh the two guys who almost always have the title, the biggest 2 contenders on raw he beat them cleanly. although he lost it shortly after i think the build up of making him seem inadequate made his victory at wrestlemania look as if he had finally evolved to the level of hhh and cena.

jbl on the other hand didnt have as much consistency with his reign as sometimes he got clean victories other times not. it was hard to work out if he actually deserved to be champion. plus it was pretty much a push for cena, as if when he beat jbl he didnt only prove he was better than jbl but every guy that couldnt beat jbl. i think that the clean loss to cena ended up making jbls run look a lot weaker and less dominant.

 

[El Rev sXe]

Indeed a tough call..I mean, how can you ignore SD!'s longest championship reign? Or how can you ignore the first REAL reign (the WHC reign doesn't count it was lame) of probably the most over wrestler in WWE today?

JBL crawling under the apron to win one of the most brutal cage matches I've ever witness!
Randy Orton getting a huge, and I mean HUGE swaton bomb of Jeff Hardy!
Both crazy moments difficults to forget.

However, looking back IMO it's a call between a guy that is almost bigger than Cena, or a guy that after that one and ONLY reign pratically faded into obscurity until a pathetic match against Rey that lead into his retirement.

Yeah, his reign lasted 10 months! But after that? He became US champ, IC champ and nothing more. On the other hand you've got the Nemesis of John Cena! What I'm trying to say is that JBL was a transitional champ for ten months while Orton started his maineventer career.

RKO over JBL!

 

[I_Am_Electro_Boy]

I have to say JBL's reign. His was alot longer than Orton's and about half of Orton's matches ended in DQ. Although JBL's reign was overrated he still defended against alot of people icluding Eddie, Undertaker and Big Show.