10 WWE Title Reigns That Only Lasted 1 Day

As the old saying goes - what a difference a day makes.

The old adage fits perfectly in WWE where a wrestler can go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows, all within a mere 24 hours due to Monday Night Raw’s close proximity to pay-per-views. Well, that was the case for much of WWE history until the company began prioritising Saturday night pay-per-views.

Before that, though, these wrestlers in particular had a turbulent 24 hours, becoming champion and then ending up belt-less in just one day.

These are 10 WWE Title Reigns That Only Lasted One Day.

10. Charlotte Flair - Raw Women's Championship - July 18-19, 2021

Charlotte Flair has been Raw Women’s Champion so many times. She’s also won the SmackDown Women’s Title a few times, the NXT Women’s Title twice, and the Women’s Tag Team Titles.

Despite her record number of reigns with the red belt, Charlotte’s average time with the gold is only around 50 days. This run from 2021 certainly doesn’t help things.

At Money in the Bank, Flair defeated Rhea Ripley to win the belt for the fifth time in her career.

This was only the second pay-per-view to feature an audience since the start of the pandemic, so WWE presumably wanted to remind everybody that they should get used to being disappointed in person again.

This disappointment wouldn’t last long, though, as the very next night on Raw saw newly-minted Ms Money in the Bank Nikki ASH cash in on Charlotte to end her reign.

Nikki ASH would have the belt for a whole month…before losing it back to Charlotte Flair at SummerSlam.

9. Finn Balor - Universal Championship - August 21-22, 2016

Wrestlers getting injured is a common cause of short title reigns.

Perhaps the most heartbreaking example of this took place at SummerSlam 2016 and involved the match to crown the very first Universal Champion.

On one side you had Seth Rollins, the heel anointed in management’s pocket. And on the other side, there was Finn Balor, the recently called-up former NXT Champion with a great look and a killer move-set.

Balor beat Rollins to become the first-ever holder of this brand-new world championship. Sadly, he wouldn’t be able to hold anything for a while, as he injured his shoulder during the match.

One night later on Raw, Balor appeared with his arm in a sling to relinquish the title he had just won. It was devastating for the former Bullet Club leader and all of the fans who were desperate for him to succeed.

Balor would eventually return from injury, but he would never truly be taken seriously as a constant main eventer ever again.

8. Hervina - WWE Women's Championship - January 31-February 1, 2000

On the January 31, 2000 edition of Raw, a strange new challenger was named for The Kat and her Women’s Championship.

“Her” name was Hervina and “she” would be facing off against the champion in a Jumberjill Snowbunny match. Why did we put inverted commas around those female pronouns? Because Hervina was none other than long-time manager Harvey Wippleman in a poor disguise.

Wippleman actually beat The Kat and became the first and only male competitor to win a women’s championship in WWE. Thankfully, even WWE weren’t insane enough to keep the belt on Hervina for long, as Jacqueline won the title just one night later in a 60-second squash.

Why did Harvey Wippleman want to win the Women’s Championship? Why didn’t anyone recognise that this was clearly a man in women’s clothing? Only God and Vince McMahon know.

7. Edge & Christian - WWE Tag Team Championships - October 22-23, 2000

Like Charlotte Flair, Edge and Christian’s impressive number of tag team titles reigns is bolstered by some very brief stints with the gold.

These seven-time World Tag Team Champions could only hold onto the belts for 91 days during their longest reign and were once champions for only a matter of minutes. That’s not what we’re here to discuss, though.

The Canadians had recently lost a match barring them from challenging for the titles for as long as The Hardy Boyz were champions. So they came up with a clever way around this - golden suits!

E&C disguised themselves as Los Conquistadores to get a title shot at No Mercy, which they won.

The Canadians wouldn’t be gloating for long, as the Hardys then also dressed up as the Conquistadores and won the titles back one night later after taking out Christian ahead of the match!

Not only does that mean that Los Conquistadores - a team that didn’t technically exist at that time - are two-time World Tag Team Champions, but they also won the belts… from themselves.

6. John Cena & David Otunga - WWE Tag Team Championships - October 24-25, 2010

Remember David Otunga? Former Nexus member, ex-husband of Jennifer Hudson, and the guy who stank up the pre-show from time to time?

All of John Cena’s tag team title reigns have been weird. He’s never won the belts with someone he wasn’t feuding with and this one came during that weird time where he was part of Nexus, but never actually did anything evil.

Cena and Otunga hooked up at Bragging Rights to beat the team of Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre. On the following Raw, Nexus leader Wade Barrett ordered Cena and Otunga to lay down for fellow members Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel. When Big Match John refused, the group took him out, and Otunga followed orders to transfer the belts.

Rubbish.

5. Braun Strowman & Nicholas - Raw Tag Team Championships - April 8-9, 2018

In the lead-up to WrestleMania 34, Braun Strowman won a tag team battle royal by himself to earn a shot at the Raw Tag Team Titles.

His opponents would be Sheamus and Cesaro of The Bar, but his partner was left a mystery until the show itself. Speculation ran wild over who the big man could pick.

Would it be Elias? Samoa Joe? Rey Mysterio? A returning Gangrel? Nobody? The real answer was something else entirely.

After chucking their Mardi Gras float off the stage, The Monster Among Men informed The Bar that his partner would be… someone in the audience. And not just any someone - a 10-year-old boy.

Nicholas, who was the son of WWE referee John Cone, actually got tagged into the match - without hitting any moves, obviously - before Strowman pinned Cesaro to win the belts for himself and his pint-sized partner.

Strowman and Nicholas vacated the belts a day later because the latter had to go back to school. However, he did promise to return for them once he was old enough.

4. Edge - Intercontinental Championship - July 24-25, 1999

Not much usually happens at WWE House Shows. Sometimes though, something big will go down when the cameras aren’t rolling to give the fans in attendance an extra special memory.

That’s exactly what happened on July 24, 1999 in Toronto, where fans got to see hometown boy Edge beat Jeff Jarrett for the Intercontinental Championship.

This was the young star’s first-ever singles title reign, but the good times wouldn’t last for the future Hall of Famer.

The next night just happened to be the date of the Fully Loaded pay-per-view and that show opened with Edge defending his newly won strap against the man he took it from. Thanks to some interference from Gangrel, Jarrett won the match and regained his beloved belt.

It would take the Rated-R Superstar another two years to win his second IC belt and that reign would last 35 times longer than his first one!

3. The Miz - Intercontinental Championship - April 7-8, 2013 & September 21-22, 2014

Chris Jericho may hold the record for the most Intercontinental Championship reigns at nine, but right behind him on eight is a certain A-Lister.

The Miz also has the second-longest total number of days as champion, which is surprising as he’s had not one, but two 24-hour reigns with it.

The first began at none other than WrestleMania 29. This was during that weird period when the man with the most punchable face in human history was a good guy. He beat Wade Barrett using the Figure Four Leglock to win the gold… and then promptly dropped it back to him the next night on Raw.

Fast forward 18 months and Miz was facing Dolph Ziggler for the gold at Night of Champions, thankfully as a heel this time. He used his cheating ways to pin Ziggler for the belt… and then promptly dropped it back to him the next night on Raw.

2. Mankind - WWE Championship - August 22-23, 1999

In the illustrious 60+ year history of the WWE Championship, several different people have had a championship reign end after just one day.

At SummerSlam 1999, everyone was surprised when Mick Foley defeated both Steve Austin and Triple H to win his third WWE title. Most people expected The Game to walk away with the belt, with Mankind acting as a fall guy so Austin wouldn’t have to get pinned.

Rumour has it that Jesse Ventura, who was the special guest referee and serving governor of Minnesota at the time, didn’t want to be seen raising the hand of the villainous Triple H.

So, Mankind was given the title instead, only to drop it to The King of Kings one night later on Raw.

That means that Triple H, one of the greatest and most decorated world champions in the history of professional wrestling, won his first world championship on some random episode of Monday Night Raw.

1. Kane - WWE Championship - June 28-29, 1998

King of the Ring 1998 will forever be known as that time a zombie chucked a bloke in a Hannibal Lecter mask off the top of a giant metal box.

But there was more to this night than just Mick Foley’s tooth going up his own nose.

In the show’s main event, Steve Austin was wrestling Kane in a WWE Championship First Blood Match. If The Big Red Machine was unsuccessful, then he would set himself on fire.

Glenn Jacobs avoided self-immolation by winning the match and the title. Then, on the next episode of Raw, he dropped the belt back to Austin like nothing had ever happened.

Maybe this would have been ok if Kane had ever become WWE Champion again, but this was his one and only run with the company’s biggest prize.

Sure, he was World Heavyweight Champion and ECW Champion, but he would never get his gloved hands on the WWE Championship ever again.

Well, at least he didn’t have to set himself on fire, eh?