7 Greatest Champions of WWE’s Modern Era

WWE Championship statistics changed drastically with the advent of weekly TV and monthly PPVs in the early to mid-90s. This article looks at the top 7 stars to ever win world titles in the modern era of pro wrestling.

It is inevitable that at some point John Cena ties Ric Flair’s record as 16-time World Champion in WWE. The problem with this is that in reality, it makes little sense to celebrate this achievement. Having won a world championship on 16 occasions also means he has lost the title on 15 occasions.

If winning the title as many times as possible is what each WWE superstar is striving for then each champion would be advised to take a dive in their first title defense, thus allowing them to win the title back again as soon as possible. CM Punk’s year long title reign only counts as 1 championship, whereas Edge and Cena each have several world championships only because they kept losing the title to the other one…

While celebrating this statistic is somewhat peculiar, it can be difficult to measure storyline success across generations by any statistic. The advent of monthly PPVs and prime time television changed everything in wrestling. It is very difficult to compare championship reigns from within this time period to those not. John Cena has only ever competed in this modern era of wrestling that features more frequent title changes, and shorter championship reigns. Flair won the majority of his world championships before this time.

For the purposes of this article, the modern wrestling era is defined by the advent of weekly prime time TV and monthly PPVs. Therefore to be considered a champion in the modern era a title reign would have to have occurred in WWE after January 11th, 1993 (the 1st edition of Monday Night Raw) or in WCW after September 4th, 1995 (1st episode of Nitro). All World Titles from Raw and Smackdown during brand-split periods are eligible, as are Undisputed Championships.

Of the modern era, here are the top 7 champions thus far..