TRANSITIONAL | Short Term WWE Champions!

[@WRESTLEWITHANDY]

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[@RyanRumbles434]

How about "Wrestling Lifers" or "Multi-taskers" who retired early because they realized they wanted other things, didn't have it anymore or decided to work as an announcer, commentator or backstage role? Example: Savage, Kidman, Michael Hayes etc.

[@irenarasonja5996]

hey bro during the rock 2002 segment you can see a part of the youtube end screen, just mentioning

[@southerngent]

No one has done a deep dive on finishers and who actually created them.

[@bentoka3453]

How do you know?

[@balpreetsingh6834]

Drew McIntyre's WM40 reign is the best transitional one.

[@AnnoyedGrunt]

I feel like his current character arc feeds off resent & anger. If he has the belt, there's nothing left for him to be angry about

[@patrickmilner4149]

I'm sure he's happy he got his moment in front of a capacity crowd which he never got at Mania 36 due to the pandemic. Triple H will most likely have Priest lose at Clash at the Castle this year

[@brandocalrissian3294]

Money in the bank makes winning a title so lame. What is cool about coming down after a guy had a 20 minute match and is already beat up. It just comes off as cheap to me.

[@Hillthugsta]

​Which is why its mostly the heels that do the cashing in.

[@noirknight9770]

Drew screwed Drew

[@criminalmindsgirl2936]

Mick Foley was a transitional champion 3 times. You forgot how he won the world title at SummerSlam 1999 and lost it to Triple H the next night. WWE could've given him a much better run with the title.

[@Rocket1377]

Mick had already told Vince that he wanted to retire before that first championship win. He wasn't the same after the Hell in a Cell, that match literally took years off his career. They gave him the titles as a way of saying "thank you for everything you've done", but there was never any intention to make him the face of the company.

[@TheBamaPrinceable]

I was surprised he didn't mention that one considering that one was the easily his shortest run with the belt and was definitely the most transitional run of his 3 short reigns.

[@mariorickman321]

Kane at king of the ring

[@jamesabbott7035]

that's the only time he was a transitional champ. him and rock hot potatoed the belt. Not a transitional champ

[@criminalmindsgirl2936]

I don't know...but it still makes me mad that he didn't have a longer title reign

[@williamsummerson1204]

The Iron Sheik was one of the greatest heels and technical wrestlers of all time. R.I.P Legend. 🙏

[@boxboxerson991]

I'm not sure I agree with many of these. A transitional reign is a reign to move the belt from one wrestler to another without having a match between those two wrestlers. Iron Sheik is a great example of this because Backlund didn't want to work with Hogan. True transitional champions could also include Andre in 88, Sgt Slaughter in 91, Backlund in 94 and so on. I'd never consider The Rock or Foley transitional champions at any point because a, what match are they avoiding by crowning these guys champions, and b, both are worthy of the championship in whatever era they happened to win it.

[@Rocket1377]

Yeah, WWE had a habit of hotshotting the belts during the Attitude era to pop a rating. Only a handful of wrestlers were used to move the belt from one guy to another. Foley definitely doesn't count, since those reigns were used to further his rivalry with the Rock, and as a nice reward for everything Foley had done (as his career was winding down, and he wasn't capable of having a long reign as champion). The WWE wanted to make it clear that he was a main event level star, so that he could help elevate other wrestlers in the later stages of his career. Beating a former champion makes a wrestler seem more legit.

[@jamesabbott7035]

Foley losing the belt to Triple H on Raw the night following Summer Slam 99 was his only run as a transitional champ. Austin didn't want to drop the belt to Triple H at SS so Foley was your middle man.

[@MrOhara77]

What about Stan "The Man" Stasiak? Even he didn't know he was going to be WWF champion until they told him right before the match. He often said they were the happiest 9 days of his career.

[@ricardodiego8693]

Aswell as Ivan Koloff, who was told he was going to win the WWWF champion by beating Bruno Saamartino in 1971, who would then lose it to Pedro Morales around 3 weeks later. This was because the WWWF didn't want to put 2 of its top stars of the company face to face for the title at the time, which was what I heard

[@MrOhara77]

@@ricardodiego8693 True. That was the same reason Stasiak was given the title. Only this time it was to drop the belt back to Bruno. They didn't want to risk there two biggest draws getting injured and sidelined. Although Bruno and Pedro did do battle at Showdown at Shea (it was a draw).

[@kadharefinley224]

Bray Wyatt having a transitional reign in 2017 really sucks because the fans love him and thought he was gonna have a nice run with it but WWE made him drop it to Randy Orton at WM 33

[@martynduro6722]

Bray wyatt sucked

[@ark_6_9_]

If you have the audacity to say something like that...Well you're just stupid.​@@martynduro6722

[@QuoththeRavenRequiem]

It especially sucks because Randy Orton then lost the title to Jobber Mahal.

[@johnnymason2460]

​@@martynduro6722Really? He looked pretty good to me. Especially as the Fiend.

[@ark_6_9_]

@@martynduro6722 Dawg you're just stupid

[@MattSinz]

Correction: The reason Iron Sheik won the title was because Bob Backlund refused to drop it to Hulk Hogan.

[@mwhooker]

Bob was going to turn, but refused because he wanted to drop to a legitimate wrestler

[@djtrankilo231]

I don't blame Bob

[@MattSinz]

@@djtrankilo231 100%

[@jeremywilliams5141]

How are you going to talk about transitional champions without mentioning Ivan Koloff and Stan "The Man" Stasiak? In 1971, Koloff ended the eight-year long reign of Bruno Sammartino to win the WWWF World title only to lose it to Pedro Morales three weeks later. And in 1973, Stasiak would end Morales' reign at three years and lose the title nine days later to Sammartino.

[@BoereViking]

My man, excellent as usual! How about a best hodge-podge tag team champions ever? ♥️🇿🇦

[@Pierrepaule]

Prediction : Becky Lynch right now is a transitional champion for Liv Morgan.

[@MJHDRi]

I can see Becky holding it until Money In The Bank or maaaaaybe Summerslam

[@Pierrepaule]

@@MJHDRi personally I don’t think Becky will be champion until SummerSlam.

[@stevenb427]

😂😂😂 No that's not happening. Becky has it till Rhea returns. 👊

[@perceivedvelocity9914]

Liv cannot wrestle and she was a terrible champion last time they put the belt on her.

[@justinlinquist6995]

Surprised you didn’t mention Yokozuna winning and losing it in the same night.

[@robertclark2253]

The original WWWF/WWF/WWE champion Buddy Rogers was transitional as well his reign was recognized as being 21 days long .

[@HeelSection3825]

I was a little kid when The Iron Sheik was wrestling. I hated him SOOOOO MUCH! Looking back, I realized that was because he was one of THE GREATEST heels of all time!!! The man was also A TOTAL BADASS irl. Look it up. It's VERY impressive!

[@djugedead]

I remember Mark Callaway sharing a story where Sheik would be performing Indian squat at 2:00am on a balcony in Canada 😂

[@HeelSection3825]

@@djugedead The way he would twirl those Turkish clubs around was so impressive. Hogan said he tried to turn one of them 180 degrees one time, and it felt like his wrist was going to snap?!?👽 STRENGTH!!!

[@Usedplungerstotheface]

Mick Foley winning the title is advertised by WCW I believe

[@samclark379]

The same night WCW have us the Fingerpoke Of Doom.

[@UnstableOne]

Bray should've beat Cena at Wrestlemania 30, broken the streak at Wrestlemania 31, and beaten Orton at both Manias he faced him at.

[@shashwotmarsani8417]

looking back now all of big show's world title reign in wwe has been transitional

[@khesipresents1885]

Jeff,big show,Rey ... transitional champions

[@Mr.Stimmy]

HE HAD THE WHOLE DAMN WORLD… IN HIS HANDS 👏🏼🥺

[@HeelSection3825]

Nope. I was never anywhere near his hands.

[@AnthonyMcqueen1987]

I don't think will ever see long title Reigns for a while now since Roman, Gunther and others lost their belts. Now they are going to people who will lose those belts and have them thrown around like they did during the Attitude Era.

[@joeyfarris2543]

Hulk Hogan vs Sgt. Slaughter was at WrestleMania 7 in 1991 not WrestleMania 8

[@danielpeter9308]

I put asuka here. She's the most talented transitional champion in the women division. She's been so strong they had to make her tap out to weird match randomly that the audience feel bad about her reign. She may be the most decorated talent right now,but her reign was really lackluster except for her NXT and tag title

[@kenthegamer]

Where’s Kane’s and Andres reign at?

[@robertclark2253]

Also Undertaker , Bret Hart , Yokozuna and Hulk Hogan .

[@richardpage2082]

I still see Y2J undisputed champion as transitional, only cause HHH was out if the picture. If HHH was not injured, he would have been in that match and win instead. Y2J just held onto it until his return

[@michaelvanderworken4987]

Slaughter vs Hogan was Mania 7 and im almost 100% positive Sarge defended the title against Duggan not too long after he won it on an episode of either SNME or The Main Event

[@rickjames2.0]

He did I brought this up in another video as well he always leaves it out for some reason

[@trinity-hopetricia3241]

Legendary video and Thank you and Keep it up please 🏆🐐🎯🙏❤️

[@mariorickman321]

Edge winning in 2006 losing it to cena at the rumble

[@bubbajoshproductions3990]

In Foley's case is it really a transitional reign when you lose the title back to the person you beat for it. Transitional usually means different person

[@izumolee6714]

I'd argue 3 heck maybe even 4 out of Bret Hart's 5 championship reigns were transitional as Vince was looking for his next 'big guy' whether it be Diesel, Yokozuna, Shawn & Hogan. Other than Bret's first title reign the others didn't really feel like it was Bret's time to run with it. Vince only reason to give the belt back to Bret was the other guys just didn't work out or in Shawn's case 'He lost his smile".

[@troyfew2373]

Ivan Koloff should always be the top transitional champion for beating Bruno and then the Iron Sheik.....

[@marcohavokkhaos]

Part time wwe champions should not exist

[@thegameradic8916]

John Cena from 2017 is another example as he lost it to Bray Wyatt in a elimination chamber match

[@mariorickman321]

Vince mcmahon winning the wwf title in 1999. Undertaker losing the belt to hogan in Tuesday night in tuesday

[@tyreepowell8367]

Wrestle With Andy Got The Best KZbin Channel Ever

[@WRESTLEWITHANDY]

Appreciate you bro☝🏻👊🏻🤘🏻

[@SwaveyHardaway]

I remember when Edge was top dawg on smackdown 😮‍💨he really deserved it fr

[@DrZohaibHidayat]

Iron Sheik should have been given atleast 6 months title run.

[@JeieVaret]

Damien Priest has joined the chat

[@jamesbonnen]

You missed Summerslam 1999 Mick Foley's 3rd title run where he lost it the next day to Triple H

[@NeroPiroman]

kane 1 day and rey 2 hours by far hurt the most

[@BlueOpinion]

Kane's win in 98 was to just get a shock factor out of the audience to get that massive pop the next night on RAW.

[@C.Mustard]

Edge was one of the best champions no doubt

[@melasnexperience]

Backlund's 94 championship win is one of Owen's finest moments.

[@stuffingtonjfluffypantsiii]

Don't forget Randy Orton's first world title win. Taking it off Benoit just to drop it to Triple H a month later, and Big Show's infamous 45 second title reign.

[@Pub2k4]

Drew McIntyre should have been on this list, with his 5 minute right at Wrestlemania 40 😂

[@stingrey1571]

despite being a mutli time world champion, vince never liked bray wyatt. anytime he gained momentum, vince would undercut it.

[@Legit1one310]

Are you doing more yearly reviews these other videos are practically all the same as everybody else uploading content but when you do a yearly review it's actually really really good

[@RobSkillz881]

Rey Mysterio should've been included

[@RomaroBrandon]

I hate The Miz's second WWE Championship reign! He deserved to have held the title longer than one week and should have been champion back in 2017-2019 instead during his feud with Dolph Ziggler and Daniel Bryan.

[@eduardoortiz8255]

The rock is the greatest transitional champion of all time

[@andrewburgess-linden9612]

You overlooked the Greatest Transitional Champion of All Time, Ric Flair. He made a Legendary Career as being a transitional Champion for both WCW and the WWF.

[@joeshar.]

For other titles; IC belt has been circled between Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannety for a short time. Same as Tag Team title between Money Inc and Steiner Brothers.

[@Rocket1377]

That doesn't really count as transitioning the belts. It was just a way to keep those rivalries going. If the babyfaces don't win occasionally, the fans lose interest in them. Marty was too unreliable to be a long term champion, and the Steiners went back to WCW after a year. The tag and IC divisions were also quite thin during the early 90s.

[@RyanRumbles434]

Mr. Bob Backlund should have never beaten Bret at Survivor Series 94. I guess winning your championship due to someone throwing in the towel, was a throwback to Skaland throwing it in for Sheik to beat Backlund.

[@Rocket1377]

Yeah that's exactly what they were going for. Vince also wanted to make Diesel the champion, and didn't want Bret to lose to another babyface.

[@RyanRumbles434]

@@Rocket1377 I'm a big Kevin Nash fan. More less so over the years but not much. I think it him beating Bret clean one time would've been cool. Yeah baby face to baby face can always backfire. Nash should've never been one to begin with, if I think about it. I'm glad Bret and him had good matches together. His best imo.

[@marcohavokkhaos]

Kane is the worst transitional champ. After a one day reign, he didn't win a world title again for over 10 years. And just gave it back to Austin, like when HHH vacated the title and won it back in the chamber.

[@mariorickman321]

Rey mysterio winning the wwe title in losing it to john cena in the same night

[@hasanx8066]

It's wasn't long, but we can always say He had the Whole...Damn World in his hands.

[@HeelSection3825]

Nope. I'm part of the world.

[@eddhardcore6881]

in recent years long title reigns have been hated and made fans turn on wrestlers. there fixed your intro so it factual

[@Rocket1377]

True. Modern fans don't have the patience for long-term champions anymore. It's not exciting to have one person hold the belt for over a year. That doesn't necessarily mean that long title reigns can't work, but when the champ rarely even defends their championship, it doesn't mean anything.

[@davidparkes7741]

*Side-eyes Roman Reigns.*

[@jamesbonnen]

16:03 WROND!! He defended it against Hacksaw Jim Duggan on the Main Event and lost by DQ.

[@MCWAY1]

And he faced Hogan at WM7, not WM8. Speaking of WM8, what about Undertaker as transitional champion in 1991, among with Hulk Hogan? All of that was done to vacate the title so Flair could win it in the 1992 Royal Rumble, so that Hogan could win it back. But, that went belly up because of Hogan's movie schedule, the steroid trials, and lack of fan interest. So, Savage ended up beating Flair at WM8 instead.

[@antonscott3963]

Where is Jeff Hardy in this list ??🤔🤔

[@robertclark2253]

Other notable transitional WWF/WWE champions Undertaker , Bret Hart , Yokozuna , Kane , Hulk Hogan and Andre The Giant . Undertaker had a 6 day reign after beating Hulk Hogan for the title at 1991 Survivor Series , losing the belt back to Hogan at This Tuesday In Texas . Hogan didn't hold the title for long because Jack Tunney vacated the belt due to the controversial ends to both matches the winner of 1992 Royal Rumble would be the next champion . Bret Hart won a Fatal 4 Way in 1997 after Shawn Michaels vacated the belt , Hart lost the title next night on RAW . Yokozuna beat Bret at Wrestlemania 9 and lost the title Hogan a few minutes later . Kane beat Steve Austin in a First Blood match at 1998 King of The Ring Austin won the title back next night on RAW . At Saturday Night Main Event Andre The Giant beat Hogan via some twin magic officiating and immediately sold the belt to Ted DiBiase this set up a tournament for the title at Wrestlemania 4 . Perhaps all this can be covered in a second part to this video .

[@stevegallo8483]

Then there's Yokozuna who beat Bret Hart at Wrestlemania and then lost it to Hogan the same night.

[@robertclark2253]

@@stevegallo8483 I mentioned that in my rather long comment . Thanks anyway for your reply .

[@TheLonelySoulja]

I don’t care what anyone says Miz’s last WWE win was one of the best reigns he had.. Because he got it to Bobby. Plus that backstage segment.

[@rhedosaurus2251]

I still maintain that Chris Jericho's reign as transistional WHC reign in 2010 shouldn't have had happened and that Taker vs. Michaels 2 should also have been for the title as well.

[@joesant1943]

Jericho deserved it.

[@rhedosaurus2251]

​@@joesant1943 It never felt like it was truly earned, though. The whole reign felt, and was, utterly pointless.

[@dominicsmith743]

You have a point. I honestly think they shouldn't have put the title on Jericho unless Edge was gonna beat him. The fact Swagger won it from Jericho devalued it. Why bring back Edge in a dramatic Royal Rumble and have him win it. Only to lose at Mania, and have Jericho lose to someone undeserving a couple days later. Although HBK vs Taker had a strong enough storyline that it didn't need the title. HBK costing Taker the title made the storyline a little more interesting. I mean the storyline was so much better than anything else it main evented over the two World title matches. The whole situation makes even less sense when you realize that they drafted Edge to Raw and turned him heel again, only to have him go back to Smackdown later that year, turn face again and then win the world title. They should have just kept Edge face and have him win the title earlier.

[@Cw1047]

That match doesn’t need the title. Tbh none of takers mania matches after edge needed a title. The streak itself became just as important as any title

[@rhedosaurus2251]

@@dominicsmith743 While HBK costing Taker the WHC may have made the match more interesting, it also cheapened Jericho's reign from the start.

[@criminalmindsgirl2936]

Wrestling promotions often book transitional champions terribly

[@nickmontoya3001]

U did both Foley's reigns, but u forget his final 1 day reign winning against austin/hhh at summer slam then losing to hhh the next night on raw. Or what about Cena vacating the title, hhh vs Orton with hhh winning then defend and beat Umaga then defend against Orton again and losing it to Orton all in one night

[@biigguy9451]

Is it really a transitional reign if you lose it to the same guy you won it from?

[@danielhess1082]

I don't know if I would consider The Rock's 2002 run a Transitional run, when you look at what came before that run, Triple H won it at Mania, Hogan won it the next month at Backlash, Taker won it the next month at Judgement Day, and then Rock won it two month later at Vengance. If that's a Transitional run, then all of those stars were "Transitional" As for Mankind his exchange of the WWF title with The Rocm at the beginning of 1999 was more a case of Hot Potato......you seemed to forget that he won the WWF title at Summer Slam 1999 in a triple threat match with TripleH and Austin, then lost it the next night on Raw to Triple H......this was allegedly because Austin was politicking not wanting to drop it directly to Triple H......THAT is the very definition of Transitional!

[@chadbrisco4042]

I have a feeling this is going to happen to Damien Priest at Backlash.

[@stevegallo8483]

What about Chris Jericho? Y2J beat both Stone Cold and the Rock on the same night to unify the WWF/E Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship aka the big gold belt only to lose BOTH to Triple H shortly after winning them.

[@Rocket1377]

The plan was to give Jericho a run with the belt, but Triple H got in Vince's ear and politicked his way to a title reign.

[@stevegallo8483]

@@Rocket1377 Perks of marrying the boss's daughter.

[@stevengrvp]

Great video

[@TravisLA89]

mick foley the man who made fans change the channel quicker then anyone else plus his fueds with hhh and rock didnt need the belt but made it enticing none the less

[@kevinuchiha6830]

Although he wasn't transitional, Jack Swagger winning the title still gets me infuriated. Unfortunately, Iron Sheik is one of them

[@Hawkins.06]

I’m assuming Joe is on this list

[@Deryan-tv2tt]

I’ve started watching WWF from the first show of 1999 (first episode Mankind wins titles) and he won it 2 more times in 1999 and it bugs me soooo much how they did him! Haha

[@ddjsoyenby]

some of these were great.

[@Derek87829]

Calling The Rock's win before he feuded with John Cena transitional really doesn't lineup. A transitional champ is used to take the title from 1 person and give it to another, without those 2 having to exchange pinfalls. The Rock winning the title before fighting Cena was done to strengthen the WrestleMania feud, not to hot potato the title.

[@Darlington-zu4pc]

Please do a video on Big WWE matches that didn't need a championship

[@adamdam]

Somoa Joe at AEW

[@Gargoyle_75]

Slaughter defended against Duggan on TV. He lost by DW after using a chair on him.

[@guillermosierracuellar9812]

Stan stasiak came to mind

[@076Tay]

Since when WWE/WWF heavyweight title history have to do with George Hackenschmidt aI thought he was connected to the NWA heavyweight title history

[@aftab705]

Undertaker No1 transitional champion

[@jizzlemcskizzle3076]

Hear me out, JBL is the best Transitional champ of all time. Can’t think of a cleaner break between the Rock/Austin era to the Cena/Batista/Orton era.

[@dumisatonyjohnson8145]

Lesnar was champion at SummerSlam Cena was champion at Mania ten years later Rock put them both over and dropped the strap in both PPVs

[@indianastones6032]

No yoko at wm9?? He held it for like two mins!

[@Rocket1377]

That was a last minute change. Hogan was never planned to have a long reign, he basically talked Vince into letting him beat Yoko during the ppv, so that the fans would go home happy. If anything, it was Hogan who was the transitional champ, since he dropped it back to Yoko at the next ppv.

[@Axlii214]

I hope Becky is transitional, Rhea coming back for her title against the women who injured her just makes too much sense.

[@paulcowlishaw]

Who injured rhea

[@cindywildschut5193]

​@@paulcowlishawliv Morgan

[@paulcowlishaw]

@@cindywildschut5193 how

[@cindywildschut5193]

@@paulcowlishaw she just banged and kicked her arm against a wall

[@johnnymason2460]

​@@paulcowlishaw She broke Rhea's arm.

[@kumlikeitspromnight2342]

Hogan vs Slaughter was Mania 7, not 8, ffs

[@robertclark2253]

That's right at Wrestlemania 8 Slaughter teamed with Jim Duggan , Big Boss Man and Virgil they beat Repo Man , The Mountie and The Nasty Boys .

[@philthatcher6111]

Why only go as far back as 83 with sheik, you lost me there

[@scriptednetwork836]

“Why, *insert wrestlers name* of course”

[@desertchrome4538]

Get ready to add Swerve Strickland and Damian Priest to this list

[@tyreepowell8367]

Number #1 Video 📸

[@Punk_is_idol]

I thought mick had one more transitional run when he beat stone cold and triple h summer slam 1999

[@nimbus3218]

It’s not really a transitional champion if they lost it back to the person they won it from. The point of transitional champions is to get the belt from one face to another without a heel turn or face vs face matche.

[@StevenR84]

70 days isn't that short and he was 6x WWE/WCW champion shorter and 35 days was even before losing it to Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania 17 and he was even 2 days. Bray Wyatt is been 49 days day WWE champion not 48

[@thedailyview2908]

What about Rey Mysterio?

[@shawnburger2153]

What about rey mysterios 1 night defense for the wwe championship?

[@dylanthomas9907]

Slaughter vs Hogan was at Mania 7 not 8.

[@The_Horror_Collector1]

Let’s not mention Cody in the same sentence as Mick Foley & Eddie Guerrero.

[@petergardner4976]

Isn't a transitional champion someone inbetween 2 different champs not losing it straight back like Edge and Cena?

[@dismothafuka405]

I thought a transitional champion was because wrestler A(champion) didn't want to lose to wrestler B so they got a match against wrestler E to win the championship. Then wrestler E(champion) loses to wrestler B.

[@Rocket1377]

No, it's usually because the promoter wants to protect Wrestler A and Wrestler B, so they have Wrestler C take the title from A and drop it to B. That way they can save the potential rivalry between A and B for a later date.

[@Jamessmith-xk3fh]

1984 Sheik loses to Hogan

[@Time2bakitup]

Don’t Ever Put Cody In The Same Level Of Beloved As Mick Foley & Eddie Guerrero Again!Not Even Half💯🤨😐

[@KelseyDonaldson919]

Roman Reign.s had a successful title run unfortunately he retired can Cody top it