Who Are The Greatest WWE Champions?

Throughout the course of this blog, the greatest champions throughout the history of the WWE will be discussed and hopefully identified. Of course, all opinions are simply those of TheWrestleReview and reflect the views identified in theWWE PPV reviews on the site, and obviously all opinions are subjective.

However, some opinions carry more weight than others, and those weighty opinions are usually the ones that come from considered views and are well formed. So here goes, how do you decide what makes one champion better than another? Lets try and put together some criteria...

Length Of Title Reign(s) - Obviously the longer you hold a title the more successful you have been (sorry Mountie, your chances of being named greatest Intercontinental Champion are slim, blame Rowdy Roddy Piper and for that one - read the Royal Rumble1992 Review for more info), however this is cannot be the only criteria as if that were the case then Bruno Sammartino would be the greatest (a possibility) and nobody would every have the chance to dethrone him due to the current and evolving nature of the industry, not only that, nobody would even come remotely close. And so length of reign alone cannot be the only deciding factor.

Quality Of Title Matches - Some matches are better than others, and the better ones undoubtedly feature superior wrestlers. Better wrestlers make better champions. Bret Hart had classic Intercontinental Title matches with Mr Perfect (Summerslam 1991), Roddy Piper (Wrestlemania 8) and The British Bulldog (Summerslam 1992). Road Dogg Jesse James had none.

Quality Of Opponents - Some wrestlers pride themselves on becoming "fighting champions", taking on all challengers regardless of the threat to their title reign. The higher the quality of opponents while holding a title, the better the champion.

Legacy - With the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship you would expect that the greatest ever champion went on to have numerous reigns, possibly avenging any title defeats and having numerous Wrestlemania and other high profile matches. As for championships such as the Intercontinental Title and the US Heavyweight Title, you would expect that the greatest of these champions would, once they have relinquished or been defeated for the title, go on to bigger and better things. For example, Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho went on to win the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships, thus adding integrity and prestige to any titles they previously held, The Godfather reached his potential with the Intercontinental belt, and so is doubtful for the moniker of "greatest".
There will unquestionably be other intangible factors in the deciding of who can be named "the best".

Please feel free to make your opinion heard!

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