Recently, you read about the 10 Worst WWE Champions of all time. That article caused me to consider the worst World Heavyweight Champions of all time. For those who do not know, the WHC was created in 2002 in order for both RAW and SmackDown to each have their own World Title.

Triple H was awarded the belt by Eric Bischoff on RAW. Since then, there have been 49 WHC reigns, much fewer than WWE Championship reigns. Therefore, instead of ranking World Heavyweight Champions, I have decided to present to you the five worst World Heavyweight Championship reigns.

5. Jeff Hardy, Dolph Ziggler and Big Show (Total: 0 Days)

These three superstars tie for fifth place due to holding the WHC for less than 24 hours. Jeff Hardy had just won his first World Heavyweight Championship in a ladder match at Extreme Rules 2009. However, CM Punk decided to cash in his Money in the Bank contract on a beaten down Jeff Hardy and win his second WHC. Dolph Ziggler was awarded the WHC by Vickie Guerrero when she was acting as general manager of Smackdown in February 2011. Ziggler’s reign ended the same night when Teddy Long returned and called for a rematch between Ziggler and Edge. Finally, Big Show’s reign came at the end of his feud with Mark Henry. However, Mr. Money in the Bank at the time, Daniel Bryan, decided to cash in his contract and win his first World Heavyweight Championship.

4. Christian (Total: 2 days)

Thanks to his brother/best friend Edge, Christian was able to win his first World Title in WWE in May 2011. Christian defeated Alberto Del Rio at Extreme Rules to win the WHC. However, five days later (although taped two days later), the WWE Universe chose to have Randy Orton challenge Christian for the belt. Orton would win and begin a great feud that began with a poor title reign. Christian and Orton exchanged title reigns for a while until Christian was demoted to the mid-card.

3. Batista (Total: 8 days)

Batista defeated Chris Jericho for his fourth WHC at Cyber Sunday 2008 with Stone Cold Steve Austin as guest referee. Jericho won the title back eight days later in a steel cage match. Batista would have more successful reigns as WHC and WWE Champion, including defeating someone else on this list. However, his eight day reign would go on to be one of the worst reigns in history.

2. Jack Swagger

In March 2010, Swagger was Mr. Money in the Bank and he cashed it in on Chris Jericho after he had been speared by Edge. Swagger would have a good run, defeating big name superstars such as Edge, Chris Jericho, Randy Orton and the Big Show. Swagger lost his championship at the Fatal 4 Way PPV (which I attended) to Rey Mysterio. As stated earlier, Swagger had a good run, but the fact that he has gone downhill so much since then raises questions. Should Jack Swagger have been WHC to begin with? Did WWE give him enough of a chance? His downfall makes him appear weak and not deserving of ever being a World Heavyweight Champion.

1. The Great Khali

The Great Khali was the worst World Heavyweight Champion for many reasons. First, he won his only World Title in a 20-man battle royal. The guy is over seven feet tall, he is obviously difficult to eliminate in a battle royal. Khali only held the championship for two months. Since then, he has been a Punjabi Playboy, has danced around the ring and overall, has done nothing of importance. Khali’s wrestling ability is very limited, more so than other giants of the past. At least the others on this list have been other champions before and after their WHC reign. Khali’s WHC reign really was his fifteen minutes of fame.

Do you agree or disagree? Which World Heavyweight Championship reigns would you put on the list?

Seth Guttenplan is the writer and editor of GuTTWrenchPowerBlog, a brand new WWE blog. Seth also writes for WrestlingRambles.com and WrestleEnigma.com. When Seth is not writing about wrestling, he is a Special Education teacher in New Jersey. To read more from Seth, follow him on twitter ( @sethgutt ) and visit http://guttwrenchpowerblog.com

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