Which AEW and WWE wrestlers were great champions?

A while ago, we talked about several pro wrestlers who excelled at chasing after championships. Now, it's time to look at a few at the other end of the spectrum: Those who performed better while wearing gold.

Unlike the title chasers, who serve almost exclusively as a cathartic conduit for fans to relish in seeing someone overcome an obstacle, champions can serve a more multifaceted function. In some instances, champions in wrestling, particularly top champions that are babyfaces, provide the fans with a welcome respite from the previous heel regime, fending off a slate of contenders in a manner reminiscent of a "Monster/Murder of the Week" format you'd see on broadcast television until the true big bad shows up.

Champions can also be the big bads themselves, lording over a promotion for months until a new lead protagonist emerges. Regardless of the scenario, though, champions have the unenviable job of maintaining fan interest on a weekly basis while elevating the wrestlers that they work with.

So, which former champions from WWE and AEW meet this criteria? That's what we're here to discuss today.

Orange Cassidy

When Orange Cassidy joined All Elite Wrestling, it was fair to wonder how his lethargic (until he isn't) wrestler gimmick would translate to a national audience. After a few great matches with the young promotion, the conversation shifted to whether he could become a credible champion in AEW.

In October 2022, Cassidy got his chance with the newly-created AEW All-Atlantic Championship (now the International Championship). With the overabundance of belts in Tony Khan's fed, fans could've dismissed this as a consolation belt for a wrestler that they admittedly liked, but then, something amazing happened.

Week after week, Cassidy stabilized episodes of AEW: Dynamite with outstanding defenses against a variety of opponents, cementing himself as one of the best wrestlers in the world. His efforts during his 326-day first reign also helped the International Title overtake the TNT Championship as the second-most important men's belt in the company.

Cassidy's momentum with the title eventually grew to where he wrestled company ace Jon Moxley in the main event of All Out 2023. Sure Cassidy lost the match, but it was proof of concept for him as a main event performer.

Fast forward to 2024 and Cassidy came close to the AEW World Championship. He wasn't successful, but the fact that it's even a reasonable possibility is a testament to the work he did with the International Title.

Bret Hart

Fans know Bret Hart as the "Excellence of Execution," among other monikers, and that extends beyond his in-ring résumé.

After a fruitful run in the WWF's robust tag team division with Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, Hart moved to the singles ranks in 1991 and got his solo career going by ending Mr. Perfect's 279-day reign as Intercontinental Champion in a classic match at that year's SummerSlam.

Hart's first go-round as champion lasted 143 days before losing to, of all people, The Mountie. He'd quickly regain the title in another great match at WrestleMania VIII, this time against compatriot "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. After that, Hart enjoyed another 145 days as champion before dropping the belt to The British Bulldog in one of the greatest matches of all time at SummerSlam 1992.

A few months later, Hart moved to the main event scene and unseated Ric Flair as WWF Champion. This led to, you guessed it, another lengthy reign as champion before he infamously lost to Yokozuna at WrestleMania IX (who immediately lost to Hulk Hogan in one of the most shameless political stunts in wrestling). A year later, Hart faced Yokozuna again at WrestleMania, but this time Hart vanquished the big man to earn his third world title reign, which lasted 248 days, a career-best.

More important than the days as champion is the common through-line of these reigns: In all of them, Hart was presented as a no-nonsense wrestler who wanted prove himself as a wrestler by taking on the best competition possible (a competitive athlete, in other words). It was a drastic shift for a federation that had relied on bombastic babyfaces to carry the product, but it worked thanks to Hart's immense bell-to-bell skills.

Whether it was a good worker like the 1-2-3 Kid or a...less-than-good worker like Kevin Nash, Hart always brought the best out of his opponents, an invaluable trait for any headlining babyface or heel. It's a shame that WWE never saw Hart's full value in that regard, but the fans who watched him certainly did.

John Cena

Being WWE's lead babyface for more than a decade means that John Cena has experienced as many moments as a title chaser as he has as a champion, and both have brought the future Hall-of-Famer mixed reviews.

All of Cena's quests to win a championship have been hindered by a sense of inevitability, and that same lack of unpredictability hampered his longer reigns as world champion. But even among the fog of "Cena Wins LOL", you could see the positives that wrestling a wide range of seasoned workers had on Cena as he grew from a greenhorn with boundless charisma into a reliable big-match hand.

This came to fruition after Cena won the United States Championship at WrestleMania 31. Starting on the Raw after the company's flagship supercard, Cena issued an open challenge for his title, a practice he continued on every episode until he lost the title.

Along with his great feud with Kevin Owens, these matches against the likes of Cesaro (Claudio Castagnoli), Dean Ambrose (Jon Moxley), Neville (PAC), and Sami Zayn earned Cena newfound appreciation from the fans and gave the WWE product that was wallowing amid the tired Authority storyline a needed injection of sports storytelling.

Whenever Cena shows up to WWE television now, he's met with overwhelming applause and adoration, and while that reality was always as assured as the wins he collected during his full-time run, but his time as the U.S. Champion sped up the process.