Favorite Heel Run as a Champion

[Franchize1990]

I'm pretty sure this thread has been done before a few times but, I hadn't seen anything posted in a while so I decided to post here to get some thoughts and opinions. I feel that in order for a babyface to have a successful "chase" towards a championship, the heel that they're chasing would benefit more from a good run as champion before dropping the title. This idea has spawned the question: What was your favorite heel championship run to witness and why was it so memorable to you? As someone who started watching more religiously when Cena was making his rise through the SmackDown roster, I always made it a point to catch JBL's escapades during his long reign as WWE Champion. From when he first won the belt from Guerrero in the Texas Bullrope Match, to finding unique ways to retain against the likes of The Undertaker, Booker T, Big Show, Kurt Angle, and Eddie Guerrero, JBL found countless ways to hold on to what he held most dear (being able to win a cage match after getting chokeslammed through the mat was great television to me).

So, again, I ask the question, what was your favorite heel championship run to witness and why was it so memorable to you? I look forward to hearing answers from everyone!

 

[King Patrick Star]

Chris Jericho's Undisputed WWF / WCW World Heavyweight Championship Title reign from December 9, 2001 to March 17, 2002.

Chris Jericho defeated The Rock for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship Title Belt (with help from Mr. McMahon), and then Chris Jericho defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship Title Belt (with help from Mr. McMahon and Booker T.), to unify the top two Championship Title Belts in the history of Professional Sports Wrestling Entertainment, and become the first ever Undisputed WWF / WCW World Heavyweight Champion.

I will admit, at the time, Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock were my 1A and 1B favorites at the time, and I was so upset at the results, that I told whoever would listen, that I would never watch Professional Sports Wrestling Entertainment again. That only lasted for about 22 hours.

Chris Jericho successfully defends the Undisputed WWF / WCW World Heavyweight Championship Title against The Rock (with help from Christian and Lance Storm).

Chris Jericho successfully defends the Undisputed WWF / WCW World Heavyweight Championship Title against Stone Cold Steve Austin (with help from the New World Order, Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall).

Chris Jericho unsuccessfully defends the Undisputed WWF / WCW World Heavyweight Championship Title against Triple H (with help, or lack thereof, from Stephanie McMahon)

If I had to guess, it was probably during WrestleMania X8 when I became a Jericho-holic. I was a fan of his during his WCW run, but he didn't become a top 5 favorite till he had the Big Eagle and Big Gold on each shoulder. He was the perfect foil for Triple H, specifically for HHH face return run. He really is the G. O. A. T.!!

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

Bobby Roode's first TNA world title reign. He took on all comers, had great matches throughout, some he cheated to win, others he got lucky and some he won cleanly.

 

[Lowdown]

I guess I'd have to go with Triple H's third run with the WWF title, from January 2000-April 2000 at Backlash. He was just hitting it out of the park as the guy you just had to hate. Mind you, he kinda took a back seat of sorts once Vince joined up with him and Steph. But his matches with Foley and Rock were nothing short of sensational.

 

[tdmoon]

I recognize that my pick is kind of coming out of left field, but I am going to go with Jerry Lawler's AWA World title reign. Though it ultimately fell far short of expectations, the basis of it really had me intrigued.

Lawler's title reign started off really well; he won it in a fine match against the excellent Curt Hennig in front of an electric hometown crowd that featured his mentor Jackie Fargo as the referee. The idea was Lawler would be a throwback to the touring world champs of the past, defending against stars in the AWA, World Class, Continental, etc. It was something different and had me excited to see how it would go over. Turns out, not well but between his title win and his unification bout with Kerry Von Erich(good match, shit ending), it was the most interesting championship run I can recall. Lawler was fantastic here, remaining a hometown hero in Memphis and playing a despicable heel elsewhere. Very few wrestlers in history could play both sides as well as The King could and I view him as the last true AWA World Champion.

 

[HeenanGorilla]

I think my favorite was the Honky Tonk Man's IC reign. It was the first time I had seen a champion have such a long title run by cheating and bending the rules exclusively. He would walk away from matches to keep the belt, hold the ropes while pinning someone, use Jimmy Hart's megaphone or one of his guitars to strike an opponent behind the ref's back. He was cowardice and fans could not wait for him to get his comeuppance. Popular stars like Savage, Duggan and Beefcake would come close...until a cheap win or non-title-changing loss for Honky. It was a long run based on nothing but heat. Warrior squashed him at the inaugural SummerSlam to a huge pop. But the run was done really well and made you hate this guy. There have been better heels, but this was my first taste of anything like it.