JBL: Smackdown's Last Great World Champion

[Little Jerry Lawler]

I figured this would go in the Old School section since it happened six years ago but feel free to move it to the Smackdown section.

As I was walking from history class, I thought about the world champions that have been on Smackdown. Mainly because everyone has been saying Swagger's reign was poorly booked and how Mysterio doesn't deserve to be champion. I started to think to myself that JBL may have been the last great champion. He stole victories from Kurt Angle, Big Show, Eddie Guerrero, Undertaker, and Booker T with the help of his Cabinet and never failed to let us down on the microphone. Let's look at the champions on Smackdown since JBL and my opinion of them and their title reigns.

2005

Cena: Even though he was a champion on Smackdown for a couple of months, he did have that one great I Quit match with none other than JBL. The rest is history.

Batista: Average title reign all the way around. His best match as champion may have been against Jonathan Coachman at Taboo Tuesday. Scary thought.

2006

Kurt Angle: Had one of my favorite matches of all-time against the Undertaker at No Way Out but nothing much happened other than that. Mark Henry was in the final match of the Royal Rumble. Let that sink in.

Rey Mysterio: He may have or have not gotten the belt because of Eddie but bad booking killed his reign. Smackdown had Orton, Booker T, Angle, and Benoit on the roster but they chose to put him up against JBL, Khali, and Henry. I feel sorry for Rey.

King Booker: At least he got to be World Champion. The highlight of his reign may be Kevin Federline helping him retain the title at Cyber Sunday. Horrible matches with Batista.

Batista: See 2005 reign except less interesting. Had an ok match with Kennedy at the Royal Rumble so I'll cut him some slack.

2007

Undertaker: Had a series of good but not great matches with Batista. Sucks that he gotten injured.

Edge: Good matches with Batista highlighted by Dave's stupidity at Vengeance 2007 even though I still think that Edge being rolled back into the ring should have broken the count.

Khali: Everyone hates on his reign and I don't see why. If he would have gotten the belt a year earlier when he was dominant, it would be a different story. Mysterio vs. Khali at Unforgiven wasn't going to work so they had to add Batista.

Batista: Good Hell in a Cell match against Taker until Edge had to interfere. Sneaky bastard that Edge is.

2008

Edge: Great build-up in his feud with Undertaker. Sucks to have been Ryder, Hawkins, and Chavo being whipping boys for Taker. Culminated in one of the better title matches in the past five years at WM.

Undertaker: His other matches with Edge was good but couldn't live up to the one they had at Wrestlemania. Vickie stripped him of the title and took 100 people to defeat him at One Night Stand. I think it was 100.

Edge: Defended the title at NOC against Batista and then got served by Batista and Punk the next night on RAW. MITB FTW

HHH: He and Edge had that one match GAB which was forgettable (Mark my words, there will be a HHH/Edge feud this year). May have given Khali his best match ever at Summerslam and helped Jeff Hardy reach main event status. Still was boring to me. Kendrick must still be seething.

2009
Jeff Hardy: Everyone thought that Edge or Christian was trying to take Hardy out but it was his own brother Matt. Go figure. Good Royal Rumble match against Edge. Look on Matt's face was priceless.

Edge: Lost the title at No Way Out in the Smackdown EC just to win the other title at the RAW EC. Interesting to say the least.

HHH: I believe he was still on Smackdown during his feud with Orton. Somebody will have to tell me.

Edge: Why does Edge keep appearing? He must be something of an opportunist. One of the better ladder matches with Hardy which resulting in Hardy winning the belt which lead to....

Punk: Another MITB cash-in. This is where he started to turn heel and most likely save his career. Gave a great promo at NOC and then lost to Hardy. What a let-down.

Jeff Hardy: Poor guy lost it to Punk at Summerslam. WWE tried everything they could to keep one of their biggest merch sellers but drugs were a problem and off to TNA he went.

Punk: This time wasn't much better. Montreal Screwjob II against the Undertaker and backstage issues may or may not have led to him losing the belt to Undertaker at HIAC.

Undertaker: He held the belt for four months which might be a record for him. Okay matches against Big Show, Jericho, and Mysterio. SCM at EC lost him the belt.

2010

Jericho: Words cannot describe how much fail this title reign was. Maybe that had to do with Edge coming back maybe sooner than he should have and his horrible face turn. I think I fell asleep during their WM match. And some people said that Jericho/Edge was a WM match.

Swagger: He started off good and then tailed off. His feud with Big Show showed that he has decent mic skills and maybe his speech impediment won't be as big of a hinderance as I had previously assumed.

Mysterio: The jury will be out on this one since it's nearing Summerslam. I hope for a good reign because he has consistently had great matches over the past three years but I can smell a title match with Kane or Undertaker down the road. Might as well get it over with.

The one wrestler you can argue that has had a great championship reign since JBL other than him is HHH. I just can't make a case for anybody else. JBL still stands as Smackdown's last great champion.

Who do you think is the last great champion of Smackdown? If you agree with me that it is JBL or not, list who you think and give reasons as always.

 

[Ferbian]

Mostly due to the fact that I can't relate to all the reigns 100% because I wasn't a viewer back then. But from what I know sure JBL had long reigns where he stole victories left and right.

But it's in the sentence "stole" half of his victories were handled through disqualification and interference victories with like one or two retains through a clean victory.

JBL was good on the microphone yes. That's most likely the only thing that is gonna save him in terms of getting a good reign. I feel that besides the microphone work JBL's reign might have been forgettable compared to some stuff that was done in the other reigns.

My favorite reign (and this limits me to the fact that I was a viewer during that period) was actually Undertaker's reign as champion in 2009 - 2010. Not so much because it had better promos or anything. But mostly due to it having some fairly decent matches. At least taking Undertaker's limited work into consideration due to his body getting older and nagging injuries.

But however I do feel that it is a very close thing compared to JBL's reign. They were both good and I could easily have agreed with JBL as well. I just have a personal preference for Undertaker's reign.

And actually the primary match that makes me remember this reign was the Fatal 4 way match at Bragging Rights. It was pretty damn awesome and could easily have had other winners as well.

 

[Money Inc.]

Cena: Even though he was a champion on Smackdown for a couple of months, he did have that one great I Quit match with none other than JBL. The rest is history.

I agree the I quit match at Judgment Day was epic.

Batista: Average title reign all the way around. His best match as champion may have been against Jonathan Coachman at Taboo Tuesday. Scary thought.

I'm not going to argue with your points there, but In his/creatives defense he was the 2nd most over guy in the company at this time. However I felt the WWE missed a huge opportunity around this time and missed out on Hassan having a title run.

2006

Kurt Angle: Had one of my favorite matches of all-time against the Undertaker at No Way Out but nothing much happened other than that. Mark Henry was in the final match of the Royal Rumble. Let that sink in.

I just wanted to reply to thank you for reminding me of that match.

Rey Mysterio: He may have or have not gotten the belt because of Eddie but bad booking killed his reign. Smackdown had Orton, Booker T, Angle, and Benoit on the roster but they chose to put him up against JBL, Khali, and Henry. I feel sorry for Rey.

First of all this title run will always have an asterisk next to it simply because the majority of fans feel it was handed to him. Rey had to set the record for most losses while having a Heavyweight Championship in WWF/E history. I agree with the shitty booking

King Booker: At least he got to be World Champion. The highlight of his reign may be Kevin Federline helping him retain the title at Cyber Sunday. Horrible matches with Batista.

I felt the intro into this title reign was awesome. Chavo who had been stale since the days of Los Guerreros comes out and plowed Rey Rey. The only beef I had with this run was the fact I had to listen to Sharmell talk every 10 minutes..

Batista: See 2005 reign except less interesting. Had an ok match with Kennedy at the Royal Rumble so I'll cut him some slack.

Completely agree.. I'm still confused on why he recently left. I figured if he were to leave he would of left sometime around here. His character was so stale and I felt his latest heel turn was the most relevant he has been since being the enforcer of Evolution

2007

Undertaker: Had a series of good but not great matches with Batista. Sucks that he gotten injured.

The only problem I had with this was putting Undertaker in a World Title match at mania. I felt it lost a bit of steam simply because you know the Undertaker was going to win no matter what. IMO Taker can't win the title at Wrestlemania or it takes away from the match simply because the Streak>Title

Edge: Good matches with Batista highlighted by Dave's stupidity at Vengeance 2007 even though I still think that Edge being rolled back into the ring should have broken the count

I always enjoyed Edges matches and pre-match hype. Nothing bad to say about this one

Khali: Everyone hates on his reign and I don't see why. If he would have gotten the belt a year earlier when he was dominant, it would be a different story. Mysterio vs. Khali at Unforgiven wasn't going to work so they had to add Batista.

He just isn't mobile enough to be a believable dominant champ. It's the same thing Giant Gonzalez struggled with. Yes his size itself can get him over, but he is just so damn boring. That is why you have to give Credit to guys like Yoko and the Big Show who are freak athletes with believable dominant size.

Batista: Good Hell in a Cell match against Taker until Edge had to interfere. Sneaky bastard that Edge is.

See last Batista title reign

2008

Edge: Great build-up in his feud with Undertaker. Sucks to have been Ryder, Hawkins, and Chavo being whipping boys for Taker. Culminated in one of the better title matches in the past five years at WM.

La Familia

Undertaker: His other matches with Edge was good but couldn't live up to the one they had at Wrestlemania. Vickie stripped him of the title and took 100 people to defeat him at One Night Stand. I think it was 100.

I agree the quality of the matches could never top the WM performance. Like I mentioned before though, It was sometime more fun though simply because you didn't know if Taker would retain. Where as at Wrestlemania you knew you were going to get a great match, but the ending was obvious

Edge: Defended the title at NOC against Batista and then got served by Batista and Punk the next night on RAW. MITB FTW

Shout out to CM Punk on handing the ultimate opportunist a loss in a ultimate opportunity.

HHH: He and Edge had that one match GAB which was forgettable (Mark my words, there will be a HHH/Edge feud this year). May have given Khali his best match ever at Summerslam and helped Jeff Hardy reach main event status. Still was boring to me. Kendrick must still be seething.

Yes i've read about the possible HHH/Edge feud this year as well. I heard creative has also been playing out other scenarios because the delays of Hunters injuries. The rumor was to have the feud end at Summerslam which obviously would be impossible now. Interesting to see how they start that off.

2009
Jeff Hardy: Everyone thought that Edge or Christian was trying to take Hardy out but it was his own brother Matt. Go figure. Good Royal Rumble match against Edge. Look on Matt's face was priceless.

The only thing that upset me about this was the fact we all though Christian was going to make this huge entrance at the Rumble. Don't get me wrong, Matt walking down and cracking Jeff (and then this culminating into a good fight at wrestlemania) was great. I was just upset because they completely failed with Christians debut. "This moment has just become instantly classic"

Edge: Lost the title at No Way Out in the Smackdown EC just to win the other title at the RAW EC. Interesting to say the least.

This was great! Him coming out and taking Kofi out before the match.. Him and Rey had a lot of fun spots to end this match as well.

HHH: I believe he was still on Smackdown during his feud with Orton. Somebody will have to tell me.

Yes, it was some what confusing because Edge and HHH somewhat switched spots. The build up to the Mania match was great.. the match itself sucked.

Edge: Why does Edge keep appearing? He must be something of an opportunist. One of the better ladder matches with Hardy which resulting in Hardy winning the belt which lead to....

Yes, the other day when the member created the "who will end with the most title reigns in the wwe" thread.. I couldn't believe Edge had 9 already. But sure enough I looked it up and ya.. blew me away. Like i mentioned before, I've always enjoyed his stuff besides La Familia, so I didn't mind

Punk: Another MITB cash-in. This is where he started to turn heel and most likely save his career. Gave a great promo at NOC and then lost to Hardy. What a let-down.

See next Punk

Jeff Hardy: Poor guy lost it to Punk at Summerslam. WWE tried everything they could to keep one of their biggest merch sellers but drugs were a problem and off to TNA he went.

Great match.. and this leads into my vote for your thread

Punk: This time wasn't much better. Montreal Screwjob II against the Undertaker and backstage issues may or may not have led to him losing the belt to Undertaker at HIAC.

This is my choice as the last great reign. Yes it was cut way to short, but the promos were golden. The man got over so quickly as a heel people literally forgot how good of a face he was. His future might simply be a heel because the fact fans hate him so much (than again Randy Orton kicked a 60 yr old man in the head, DDT'd the Boss's daughter and kissed her unconscious self while her husband was force to watch.. and no he's the most over guy in the E

Undertaker: He held the belt for four months which might be a record for him. Okay matches against Big Show, Jericho, and Mysterio. SCM at EC lost him the belt.

I was very happy with him dropping the title before the match with Michaels. Like i've mentioned before a couple times... I just don't like Taker in title matches at Mania

2010

Jericho: Words cannot describe how much fail this title reign was. Maybe that had to do with Edge coming back maybe sooner than he should have and his horrible face turn. I think I fell asleep during their WM match. And some people said that Jericho/Edge was a WM match.

Too short to comment... WWE needs to learn how to legitimize a title run

Swagger: He started off good and then tailed off. His feud with Big Show showed that he has decent mic skills and maybe his speech impediment won't be as big of a hinderance as I had previously assumed.

This made no sense... Winning the title was good...his promos that followed were good. But why in the hell did they stick him in his first title feud against a guy who he won't be able to complete 3/4 of his moves on? He was unable to get over in the ring simply because half his move set was impossible to complete on Show.

Mysterio: The jury will be out on this one since it's nearing Summerslam. I hope for a good reign because he has consistently had great matches over the past three years but I can smell a title match with Kane or Undertaker down the road. Might as well get it over with.

I disagree with him winning the belt here. There was no build up and once again (not his fault) but Rey will have an asterisk behind this title reign as well (rumors saying he got the title simply because WWE won't let him compete in the Mexico Tournament dedicated to him) I hope him vs Swagger continues to a series of great matches.

The one wrestler you can argue that has had a great championship reign since JBL other than him is HHH. I just can't make a case for anybody else. JBL still stands as Smackdown's last great champion.

Who do you think is the last great champion of Smackdown? If you agree with me that it is JBL or not, list who you think and give reasons as always.

CM Punk's reign is my last great reign IMO. His promos on Undertaker/Hardy/Matt Hardy/The Fans just got instantly over.

The scary thing is.. I think this is a lot more impressive if you compare this to the last couple years of Raw.

 

[Takerfan93]

No not at all. I thought Edge, HHH and Jerichos reigns were great too

Infact I think the Undertakers 2007 title reign is on par with JBL, or almost, only because it got cut short due to injury, otherwise it would definately be up there. This was Undertakers first World title reign, or title reign at all since 2002 and so it was a fantastic feeling that fans hadn't experienced for a long time, or for me, ever as I only started watching in 2004. But also, it was his first world title reign in his deadman persona since 1999 and I think his title reigns in that persona are great because of how unique they are. It was the first world title reign in such a long time that I felt genuinley excited about, and I think most fans felt that way at the time if I remember because it had been such a long time and the Undertaker/Batista WM rivalry had such a great build up, it made the climax all the more worth it. It was a "fairytale" story of sorts, I mean Undertaker won the RR for the first time in his career after last eliminating long time rival HBK in a great showdown, then he teased all the world champions for weeks until he chose Batista which was an epic moment and the pop was HUGE, the build up as I said was amazing, it felt like an old school Undertaker rivalry and took longtime fans back. The match itself at Wrestlemania was fantastic too, Undertakers first big time match at WM since he faced Flair at WM18, it deserved to be higher up on the card, technically should have closed the show since Taker won RR but nevertheless the crowd were fully behind Undertaker and booing Batista who was usually a crowd favourite. The feeling when he won the world title was indescribable and the whole Batista rivalry was faultless. The last main standing match was even better than their WM match and the steel cage match which followed was amazing as well. I'm sad that it ended so soon because I felt none of Undertakers reigns since then have had that same feeling, they've just felt like it was to make up for his planned long run being cut short (I know they were anyway but it just seemed so obvious). I think Smackdown as a show got a new found adrenaline and heart when he became champion, I remember going to one of the house shows as they come to UK after Wrestlemania and Teddy Long came out and got everyone excited about the "new world heavyweight champion The Undertaker" being there, he said "this hasn't happened in a long time playas" and got everyone to chant his name going "whats his name?!" repeatedly to which the crowd shouted "UNDERTAKER!". It was just such a great feeling at the time and I think it is because it was such a well deserved run that everyone was happy about.

 

[JakeSnow]

I agree the I quit match at Judgment Day was epic.



I'm not going to argue with your points there, but In his/creatives defense he was the 2nd most over guy in the company at this time. However I felt the WWE missed a huge opportunity around this time and missed out on Hassan having a title run.



I just wanted to reply to thank you for reminding me of that match.



First of all this title run will always have an asterisk next to it simply because the majority of fans feel it was handed to him. Rey had to set the record for most losses while having a Heavyweight Championship in WWF/E history. I agree with the shitty booking



I felt the intro into this title reign was awesome. Chavo who had been stale since the days of Los Guerreros comes out and plowed Rey Rey. The only beef I had with this run was the fact I had to listen to Sharmell talk every 10 minutes..



Completely agree.. I'm still confused on why he recently left. I figured if he were to leave he would of left sometime around here. His character was so stale and I felt his latest heel turn was the most relevant he has been since being the enforcer of Evolution



The only problem I had with this was putting Undertaker in a World Title match at mania. I felt it lost a bit of steam simply because you know the Undertaker was going to win no matter what. IMO Taker can't win the title at Wrestlemania or it takes away from the match simply because the Streak>Title



I always enjoyed Edges matches and pre-match hype. Nothing bad to say about this one



He just isn't mobile enough to be a believable dominant champ. It's the same thing Giant Gonzalez struggled with. Yes his size itself can get him over, but he is just so damn boring. That is why you have to give Credit to guys like Yoko and the Big Show who are freak athletes with believable dominant size.



See last Batista title reign



La Familia



I agree the quality of the matches could never top the WM performance. Like I mentioned before though, It was sometime more fun though simply because you didn't know if Taker would retain. Where as at Wrestlemania you knew you were going to get a great match, but the ending was obvious



Shout out to CM Punk on handing the ultimate opportunist a loss in a ultimate opportunity.



Yes i've read about the possible HHH/Edge feud this year as well. I heard creative has also been playing out other scenarios because the delays of Hunters injuries. The rumor was to have the feud end at Summerslam which obviously would be impossible now. Interesting to see how they start that off.



The only thing that upset me about this was the fact we all though Christian was going to make this huge entrance at the Rumble. Don't get me wrong, Matt walking down and cracking Jeff (and then this culminating into a good fight at wrestlemania) was great. I was just upset because they completely failed with Christians debut. "This moment has just become instantly classic"



This was great! Him coming out and taking Kofi out before the match.. Him and Rey had a lot of fun spots to end this match as well.



Yes, it was some what confusing because Edge and HHH somewhat switched spots. The build up to the Mania match was great.. the match itself sucked.



Yes, the other day when the member created the "who will end with the most title reigns in the wwe" thread.. I couldn't believe Edge had 9 already. But sure enough I looked it up and ya.. blew me away. Like i mentioned before, I've always enjoyed his stuff besides La Familia, so I didn't mind



See next Punk



Great match.. and this leads into my vote for your thread



This is my choice as the last great reign. Yes it was cut way to short, but the promos were golden. The man got over so quickly as a heel people literally forgot how good of a face he was. His future might simply be a heel because the fact fans hate him so much (than again Randy Orton kicked a 60 yr old man in the head, DDT'd the Boss's daughter and kissed her unconscious self while her husband was force to watch.. and no he's the most over guy in the E



I was very happy with him dropping the title before the match with Michaels. Like i've mentioned before a couple times... I just don't like Taker in title matches at Mania



Too short to comment... WWE needs to learn how to legitimize a title run



This made no sense... Winning the title was good...his promos that followed were good. But why in the hell did they stick him in his first title feud against a guy who he won't be able to complete 3/4 of his moves on? He was unable to get over in the ring simply because half his move set was impossible to complete on Show.



I disagree with him winning the belt here. There was no build up and once again (not his fault) but Rey will have an asterisk behind this title reign as well (rumors saying he got the title simply because WWE won't let him compete in the Mexico Tournament dedicated to him) I hope him vs Swagger continues to a series of great matches.



CM Punk's reign is my last great reign IMO. His promos on Undertaker/Hardy/Matt Hardy/The Fans just got instantly over.

The scary thing is.. I think this is a lot more impressive if you compare this to the last couple years of Raw.

Someone has some free time on their hands....