Transitional Champs

By Scott Keith on 2 January 2024

With Samoa Joe winning the AEW world title, and the MJF return will focus more on Cole & Co. (& hopefully the ROH tag-team championship, you know, what Cole was REALLY after all along!), I don't see Joe holding it long and more of a transitional champ. At this moment I'm not sure who would be the next title holder, but I doubt they'll find anyone as over as Swerve is right now and i can see them striking while the iron is hot.
With that being said, the placement of a transitional champ in terms of long term booking as infuriated me (not including when it has to be done out of injury). has mostly watered down the championship as opposed to elevating it, in terms of getting from point A to C, but we gotta sacrifice Point B. Who are some of the worst & best examples of using a transitional champ? (Mind you i've been in and out of the loop the past 10+ years so these just stood out)
Worst:
Rock ending CM Punks reign just to add “stakes” to the Cena rematch we all knew he was losing. A match that never needed a title to begin with.
Goldberg over Kevin Owens just to lose to Lesnar in a match we've already seen
Goldberg over The Fiend in I think was part of the Saudi deal?
Most of 2016 where went from Styles-Cena-Wyatt-Orton-Jinder-Back to Styles where each time just made me care 100x less of the belt.
Best
Rock over Angle on the road to Austin. Predictable, but we all wanted it as the WM Main Event.
Rock over Angle & Taker to really cement Lesnar at Summerslam.
Questionable
Slaughter over Warrior to face Hogan at WM7. As a Kid, i was a Warrior mark and wanted the WM6 rematch. Many decades later I appreciate the Slaughter-Hogan in ring chemistry, and also it got us the great Warrior-Savage blowoff.

You covered a lot of ground in this one my friend. Pace yourself! Anyway 100 percent agree that the Rock transitioning the title to Cena was the worst. Ruined Punk’s run for no reason.