Who is the best heavyweight champ since the beginning of the "WWE" era?

[matty256]

Since the summer of 2002 when WWF changed their name to WWE who has been the best heavyweight champion in this industry? Heres the list of superstars who have held gold:

The Undertaker
The Rock
Brock Lesnar
Triple H
The Big Show
Shawn Micheals
Kurt Angle
Bill Goldberg
Eddie Guerrero
Chris Benoit
JBL
Randy Orton
John Cena
Batista
Edge
Rey Mysterio
Rob Van Dam
Booker T
The Great Khali
Chris Jericho
CM Punk
Jeff Hardy

I think thats everyone, but i'm not sure. Let me know if I forgot someone.
But anyways, I can't pick just one, so i'll pick who imo i thought was the best champ for each year.

2002:Brock Lesnar
2003: Triple H
2004: Chris Benoit
2005: Batista
2006: John Cena
2007: John Cena
2008: Chris Jericho
2009: To early to tell who the best champ is going to be this year but i'm just going to make a prediction and say Punk.

So what are your opinions? Who do you feel has been the best heavyweight champ since the beggining of WWE

 

[RKO18]

John Cena from Unforgiven 06 to his pec injury in October 07 was to me the best championship reign of the WWE era. The guy was so dominant that you didnt know when he was going to lose. It was fitting that he lost the belt due to injury because it preserves that reign as he was never beaten for the championship. Edge, Umaga, Michaels, Khali, Lashley and Orton all lost one on one matches to Cena during this time. There are some big names on that list.

Honerable mention goes to HHH when he was awarded the title from Bichoff, and Ortons late 07 to April 08 run.

 

[Blue Chipper]

Obviously, this question is subjective; there's not one correct answer, it's just mere opinion. This particular question involves determining the quality of the professional wrestler related to how good their specific heavyweight title reign was.

Personally, I believe John Cena has been the best Heavyweight champion from the start of the federation name change. He's had several reigns. My justification is because any one of his given reigns has improved and aided the business, in numerous aspects, the most out of any champion since the name change. Cena solely garnered large reactions, dramatically improved ticket sales, ratings, and p.p.v buy rates (take a look at Sly's pie charts), sold tons of merchandise, He was putting on top tier performances with other top notch superstars (Cena/HBK 1 & 2, Cena/RVD ONS, Cena/Edge TLC) and therefore entertained an abundance of fans, making a lot of people care, forcing the business as a whole to prosper.

 

[Joehaha]

yeah not a fan of cena, but his reigns have probably been the best and most dominant, i know thats how its booked but its stil the way it is.

 

[rd2490]

Same here, Im not a huge fan of Cena but you gotta admit. Since the brand name changed he has carried it on his back with everything, buy rates, ratings, ppvs. I gotta disagree with you though on Punk being 09...I cant see punk carrying that title more than 2 months. I think 09 is between orton or edge.

 

[matty256]

Same here, Im not a huge fan of Cena but you gotta admit. Since the brand name changed he has carried it on his back with everything, buy rates, ratings, ppvs. I gotta disagree with you though on Punk being 09...I cant see punk carrying that title more than 2 months. I think 09 is between orton or edge.

Orton I don't think so. Edge maybe.
Honestly, I can see Punk keeping it until Wrestlemania.
This reign is already better then his first one, and Punk is an excellent heel.

 

[DEFINITEONE]

Booker T and Undertaker are not even on the list. This list is a joke and way too subjective.....how can you forget the Undertaker?

 

[Superman]

you forgot hulk hogan he was the champion right after they renamed it to the wwe. But my pics are Hulk , Brock Lesnar, Eddie Guerrero, John Cena, Edge, HHH, Chris Benoit, and chris Jericho

 

[Saritafan]

I think brock lesner has been the best champion,he came to WWE in 2002 and in less then 4-months,he was main eventing against the rock and actually won the title from him at summerslam,brock also won king of the ring,lets just say he was vinces 1-hit wonder because the HEIGHTS that brock reached in just 1-year was UNBELIEVIBLE,it's never happened before.he went on to beat taker in hell in a cell and then he won the royal rumble and main evented wrestlemania against kurt angle and it was the last match on the card and it was a classic,one of my favorite wrestlemania matches of all time and when brock messed that shooting star pressed,I think he showed people that he is the real deal.Brock lesner was vinces GOD of WWE,reaching the main event of wrestlemania in just 1-year but sadley,nothing ever came out of it,brock left WWE in just 2 years after his debut and even though he will probably never come back,his title reigns were just awesome and made smackdown very fun to watch every thursday back then

Brock could play a super evil heel like randy orton and could also play a super babyface like cena,Brock lesner was a GOD in WWE,the things this man could do and I even believe that brocks match with cena at backlash was what jump started cena career.Brock IMO is the best champion since WWE started and I don't think anyone will EVER compete with brock

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

1. John Cena- While I found his one-year reign a bit too long, he put on some of the greatest matches in the past five years. His matches with HBK were great, as was his battles with Khali and Umaga. If he hadn't gotten injured, I wonder how long he would have kept it.

2. JBL- He played his character better than anyone I have seen in recent memory. He created a stable to help him keep the title and he defeated some of the biggest names in Taker, Booker T, Angle, Guerrero, and Big Show. He found numerous ways to keep his title even escaping through the bottom of the cage against The Big Show.

 

[Saeros]

My opinions by year are based on who i enjoyed watching with their feuds, not based on how long they held it because basically anyone can hold a title for a year or 2, its all up to Vince. But these are based on who i actually enjoyed having as a WWE Champion.

2002:Brock Lesnar
2003: Kurt Angle
2004: Eddie Guerrero (JBL as close second)
2005: Batista
2006: Edge
2007: John Cena
2008: Chris Jericho
2009: Randy Orton (So far)

 

[matty256]

Booker T and Undertaker are not even on the list. This list is a joke and way too subjective.....how can you forget the Undertaker?

This may sound rude, but are you fucking blind? The Undertaker was the first name on the list and Booker T is in the middle.

 

[matty256]

1. John Cena- While I found his one-year reign a bit too long, he put on some of the greatest matches in the past five years. His matches with HBK were great, as was his battles with Khali and Umaga. If he hadn't gotten injured, I wonder how long he would have kept it.

He was planned to lose it to Orton in the last man standing match at No Mercy

 

[RKO18]

matty256: Are you sure that Cena was booked to lose to Orton at No Mercy? It seems that they would have already given it to Orton at that point if they wanted him to have it.

 

[matty256]

matty256: Are you sure that Cena was booked to lose to Orton at No Mercy? It seems that they would have already given it to Orton at that point if they wanted him to have it.

I'm pretty sure. I read on this website the night after No Mercy that the original plans were for Cena to drop it to Orton. But like they say "not everything you read is true" so i may be wrong

 

[Mark0820]

Yeah Vince is constantly changing, right up until the guys are ready to go out to the ring. I'd say the best champ has been Cena. Say what you want about his wrestling ability but he's carried the company on his back for about five years now.

 

[Ben-Phillips]

I'm not the guy's biggest fan, but I do have to say John Cena was easily the best top-tier champion the WWE has had since 2002. He's held five world championships that have amounted up to 898 days as champion. That's two and a half years as champion in the four years he was a main event wrestler. John Cena has added prestige to the championships, as they are merely handed around nowadays. Surely, the previous champion to Cena's first 280 day/9 month reign, JBL who held the title for the exact same amount of time helped.. Regardless, Cena surpassed Bret Hart, and had held the WWE Championship longer than anyone has held a major world championship in the last 19 years. John Cena's two most previous championship reigns both ended to circumstance. Granted, it's pro wrestling, they still were never exactly the type of championship reigns someone of his caliber usually attains.

John Cena and JBL saved the WWE Championship, in my eyes, as the World Championship have been a joke of a championship since Triple H's nine-month reign back in 2002-2003 came to an end. John Cena primarily added credibility to the WWE Championship and made it look like.. Well, exactly what it is: THE crown jewel in the industry. Long reigns = credibility... Not how many big names have held it. Having little hand-offs between Randy Orton, Triple H, Edge and Batista won't do a damn thing for the prestige other than water it down.

Best Champions by Year:
2002: Brock Lesnar: Sheer dominance
2003: Triple H: Similar reason.. 9-month reign.
2004: John Bradshaw Layfield: Another 9-month reign that ended in early 2005
2005: John Cena: Yet another 9-month reign!
2006: John Cena: 9-month reign ended, to be followed by four and a half months, just to begin his 13-month reign.
2007: Randy Orton: Despite his reign coming out to extenuating circumstances, I believe he would have won the LMS match at No Mercy, and him becoming champion was impactful as hell whether or not he beat John Cena.
2008: Edge: Not as good as his first two title reigns in 2006, and he'd grown fairly stale, but seriously... Five separate championships this year, he was everywhere.
2009: Hopefully Randy Orton gets a legitimate title run (Read my Randy Orton's Crappy Push Thread; sorry for the plug, lol). If not, I'm hoping Jericho steps up on SmackDown and does what he should have been doing all along... Being top-dog.

 

[bighomie]

Its actually kinda hard 4 me to choose just 1 cuz there's 3 reigns that stand out to me..the first was Cena's year and month long run as the champ..he had some extremely memorable matches during that reign..like him or not u can't deny that..second is Orton's 07-08 reign where 4 the rare time in the WWE a different opponent at almost every ppv event until the end of his title reign where it was a HHH marathon..and finally 3rd is Kurt Angle's breif reign in late 05(where he won the title in a battle royal after Batista's injury)until WM22 where he was suplexing version of Goldberg and was practically unbeatable(the wrestling machine if u will)..he wasn't even pinned 2 lose the title at Mania...what do you guys think of those choices?..

 

[matty256]

Its actually kinda hard 4 me to choose just 1 cuz there's 3 reigns that stand out to me..the first was Cena's year and month long run as the champ..he had some extremely memorable matches during that reign..like him or not u can't deny that..second is Orton's 07-08 reign where 4 the rare time in the WWE a different opponent at almost every ppv event until the end of his title reign where it was a HHH marathon..and finally 3rd is Kurt Angle's breif reign in late 05(where he won the title in a battle royal after Batista's injury)until WM22 where he was suplexing version of Goldberg and was practically unbeatable(the wrestling machine if u will)..he wasn't even pinned 2 lose the title at Mania...what do you guys think of those choices?..

I agree with you about Cena. His reign was damn good being that today no one holds the title for 3 months or less before losing it it seems. Orton's 07-08 reign was def his best. But i felt he could have had more victorys and less dq's the only 3 people he beat one on one was Triple H after Trips had already had 2 matches so that made that win look less credible.Then he beat HBK but only because HBK couldnt use the superkick. Then he beat Jeff Hardy clean which was good. Kurts 06 run was disappointing cus he had to lose it to Mysterio only because the death of Eddie Guerrero which i never agreed with but back to the point That reign was ok. But i liked his 02-03 reign more he had an amazing match with Benoit then capped it off with Lesnar with another amazing match at Mania

 

[RH23]

John Cena. I'm to big of a fan of this guy, but he is the face of the WWE right now and his reigns have been decent. His first reign was good, it lasted over a year. He can draw fans in and get reactions from them(wether their good or bad).

 

[RicSpade]

Its like it was said the list is kinda an opinion thing and it is actually kind of hard to determine who was the best just by their title reign, I mean you can say Brock was the best at the time because he was the first breakout superstar that rose immediately from midcard to main eventer. Then again you have Undertaker who proved no matter what gimmick he had been given he was a dominant champion. You have RVD who if he had not messed up his reign by his recreational habits probably would've had longer than a two month reign beating out both Edge and Cena showed how much faith Vince had in RVD and RVD was probably the only main eventer named mid-carder in the WWE for most of his run.

Honestly in my opinion the best WWE champion of the WWE era has to go to either Eddie Guerrero or Edge. Even though Eddie was champion during a real down time in professional wrestling he showed that he could carry the belt and with the matches he had with guys like The Rock, Angle, Batista, Mysterio he was definitely a guy that was interesting to watch and his antics made his reigns enjoyable, but the quality of match he put on passed his lie, cheat, and steal method was undeniably of great caliber, even when he finally lost the title, he lost the belt to a guy the were looking to build into a main eventer and they did.

In the case of Edge it was another case of paying his dues and finally being a main eventer. A guy who had been around through the brood, became intercontinental champion through Jeff Jarrett and losing it the next night, being a multi-time tag champion, building him as a top star by teaming him with the Immortal Hulk Hogan, and then showing he was a guy who could carry his own weight by being an incredible heel and performing in almost every match imaginable, and through all the injuries still be on top and not be dropped down into mid-card status again like so many former IC and US champion had in the attitude era (Val Venis, D-Lo, Kane, all held a midcard belt or heavyweight title only to be a stepping stone of the superstars of today)