sportbible logo

To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

We Ranked WWE Champions Since 2000 From ‘GOAT’ To ‘Not A Wrestler’

We Ranked WWE Champions Since 2000 From ‘GOAT’ To ‘Not A Wrestler’

Drew McIntyre, Stone Cold, Triple H, The Undertaker, John Cena and Chris Jericho are amongst the greats to have held the title.

Alex Reid

Alex Reid

Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and The Undertaker have unsurprisingly been listed as the greatest WWE champions this century, with Triple H left in the underrated category.

SPORTbible used TierMaker to rate every superstar to hold the lineal WWE championship from the year 2000 to today, ranking them from 'All-Time Great' to 'Not A Wrestler'.

Austin and The Rock were the charismatic faces of WWE's record-breaking Attitude era, while the Undertaker is famed for his longevity, having headlined WrestleMania in four different decades.

Just below that iconic trio, John Cena, Daniel Bryan, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, CM Punk and (when he can be bothered) Brock Lesnar are all awarded 'Legend' status.

Controversially, Roman Reigns, Triple H and Randy Orton are all labelled 'Overrated'. Possibly because they're all wrestling right now in an ongoing, 55-minute WrestleMania three-way while the audience goes to the toilet. Or because - while each are undoubtedly big stars - they simply aren't quite as huge as WWE likes to think they are.

Bizarrely, Hulk Hogan, who is due to co-host this year's WrestleMania, is stuck in the 'Trash' bin with no-hopers like JBL and Alberto Del Rio. But to explain: this clearly only applies to the post-2000 Hulkster.

The 1980s and 90s Hulk is on pro-wrestling's Mount Rushmore. But his modern-era returns always felt pretty sad - especially when coupled with his racism controversy and inability to really, successfully, articulate an apology.

'Underrated' by the wider world are fan favourites such as 'Latino Heat' Eddie Guerrero and Kofi Kingston, plus WrestleMania challenger Drew McIntyre. The big Scot was robbed of his crowning WrestleMania moment at last year's show by the ultimate heel: Covid-19.

In the 'Not A Wrestler' category we reluctantly dump Jinder Mahal. The first wrestler of Indian descent winning the WWE title should have been a genuine feel-good story.

But boring jobber Mahal was cynically hot-shotted the title purely to boost ticket sales in India (which failed as local fans saw through it) and he's widely viewed as the worst superstar to ever hold the belt.

The full SPORTbible rankings are below.

All-Time Great: Steve Austin, The Rock, The Undertaker

Legend: CM Punk, John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Daniel Bryan, AJ Styles, Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle

Underrated: Eddie Guerrero, Kofi Kingston, Drew McIntyre, Jeff Hardy, Bray Wyatt

Overrated: Roman Reigns, Triple H, Randy Orton, Big Show, Edge

Average: Batista, The Miz, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Rob Van Dam

Trash: Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Sheamus, John Bradshaw Layfield, Alberto Del Rio

Not A Wrestler: Jinder Mahal

Note: This list excludes WWE Universal or Heavyweight champions, sticking only to the lineal champs of the last 20 years. Which at least saves sweaty grandpa Bill Goldberg from the trash can.

Let us know what you think of our ranking of modern WWE champions in the comments.

Featured Image Credit: WWE

Topics: The Undertaker, Triple H, The Rock, Drew McIntyre, Wrestling, John Cena, WWE, Hulk Hogan