10 Biggest Championship Wins of 2021

10 Biggest Championship Wins of 2021

Last year, we saw some amazing championship wins! Randy Orton and Riddle turned their buddy cop magic into the RAW Tag Team Championships.

Damien Priest turned his forward momentum after teaming with Bad Bunny into the United States Championship.

Then there was the title exchange, but the less said about that the better.

We saw some incredible championship wins across the wrestling landscape and here are the 10 biggest victories.


10. Trevor Murdoch – NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion: NWA73

The National Wrestling Alliance faced an uphill battle last year as the pandemic almost decimated their roster.

The NWA has found and created some of the best talents that we see on television every week from Thunder Rosa, Ricky Starks, and Eddie Kingston.

They have a roster of stars of former WWE and TNA veterans looking to reset their careers, up-and-coming independent talent, and an owner that’s a die heart wrestling fan in Billy Corgan.

Since the NWA 70th Anniversary show, Nick Aldis kept the NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship under lock and key, defending against all comers and retaining his championship.

Soon or later he was bound to drop the title and the NWA found a perfect foil to his reign.

If you’re not a frequent Powerrr viewer you’d be surprised to see that it was former WWE Tag Team Champion, Trevor Murdoch.

Murdoch returned to wrestling in 2019 for the National Wrestling as a red hot babyface who’s there to win championships and have a great time.

Given his history with former 8-time NWA Champion Harley Race who unfortunately passed away in August 2019, this only gave Murdoch the incentive to capture the same championship his beloved trainer held on multiple occasions.

After failing to win the championship against Nick Aldis at When Our Shadows Fall, Trevor would put his career on the line for one more shot at the championship at the 73rd Anniversary show.

It was that night at the historical Chase Ballroom, Trevor Murdoch ended Nick Aldis’ 1000 plus day reign as Worlds Champion with his hand being raised by Ric Flair after the emotional victory.


9. Kenny Omega – IMPACT World Champion: Rebellion

The Forbidden Door was forced open after Kenny Omega won the AEW World Championship from Jon Moxley at Winter Is Coming 2020.

The title win wasn’t necessarily the reason for this though but the man that assisted in Omega’s victory, Don Callis.

The former IMPACT executive who has known Kenny Omega since he was a child, announced as they rushed out the arena that Kenny would be appearing on IMPACT Wrestling to talk about his victory and what’s next on the cleaner’s agenda.

It was then on the December 8, 2020, episode of IMPACT where Omega would make his intentions known that he would be challenging for the IMPACT World Championship shortly.

The champion at that time Rich Swann was in the midst of his first World Championship reign as he would eventually unify the IMPACT and TNA Championships against Moose at Sacrifice.

The winner of this bout would defend the championship against Kenny Omega at Rebellion. Swann would give it his all but after a V-Trigger party by Omega, he would hit Swann with the One-Winged Angel and add two more championships to his collection of the AEW and AAA Mega Championships.


8. Ilja Draganov – NXT UK Championship: NXT TakeOver 36

WALTER kept such a stronghold on the NXT United Kingdom Championship I don’t think any fan realistically thought he would ever be separated from that title.

After a thrilling back and forward match at Pete Dunne at NXT TakeOver New York, WALTER snapped… I mean chopped Dunne’s title reign at 685 days.

WALTER ran roughshod over the United Kingdom roster defeating the likes of Joe Coffey, Travis Banks, Tyler Bate, A-Kid, Rampage Brown, Tommaso Ciampa, and Ilja Draganov.

The October 29th episode would host the highly acclaimed match of WALTER vs Dragunov.

The reaction to this match was so positive by fans and superstars that they were destined to collide again.

This would happen at NXT TakeOver 36 when Ilja was finally able to accomplish the impossible.

After 870 days of pure dominance made the championship one of the most prestigious titles in the company’s history.

Ilja tapped out the behemoth of a man to capture his first championship in the WWE after nine years of wrestling on the independent scene.


7. Lucha Bros – AEW World Tag Team Championship: AEW All Out

Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero M might just be the best, most entertaining wrestlers a fan could ever watch.

The two brothers made their names known as singles and as a tag team in AAA, Lucha Underground, MLW, IMPACT Wrestling, and all across the North American wrestling scene.

The champions at the time, Matt and Nick Jackson, The Young Bucks were super kicking opponents in $1,200 Dior sneakers and changing their Twitter bios to match their storylines almost daily. This all came to a close at AEW All Out.

The Young Bucks defended their AEW World Tag Team Championships against the Lucha Bros inside a steel cage and it was insane!

A strong contender for the AEW match of the year, wrestling fans haven’t seen such a brutalizing cage page on a national stage since Triple H battled Steve Austin inside the structure at No Way Out 2001.

The Young Bucks spent a major portion of this match isolating Rey and Penta during different portions of the match and going low with their kicks making use of the no disqualification stipulation that comes with this match.

Matt Jackson even wore a $5,000 Fragment Design x Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1 with thumbtacks attached to the bottom to superkick the Lucha Brothers.

This would eventually be The Young Bucks’ downfall as the Lucha Bros fought back, clocking both of the Bucks over the head with the same shoe.

They hit Nick with the package piledriver before capturing gold for the first time in AEW as they still reign as champions.


6. Jonathan Gresham – ROH World Championship: ROH Final Battle

As Ring of Honor has entered its reimagining period the future is uncertain about what the new ROH will look like in 2022.

Fortunately, we know what their World Champion looks like, the world’s greatest pure wrestler Jonathon Gresham.

Gresham grabbed the ROH brass ring, securing his legacy as the ROH World Champion at Final Battle.

A show that many touted as ROH’s farewell before entering an unknown timeline, Gresham would face his biggest test… his past.

The ROH World Champion at the time Bandido tested positive for COVID-19 and was unable to make the event.

Since Gresham was still the number one contender he needed someone to face for the vacant title in the night’s main event.

A friend from his past reemerged as Jay lethal was announced to be Gresham’s opponent.

The two men were a part of ‘The Foundation’ a group of wrestlers looking to bring honor and pure wrestling back.

Before leaving ROH for AEW, Lethal was a 2x ROH World Champion, a true test for Gresham to overcome.

The men were out on a technical masterpiece that night in Baltimore and it was Gresham that stood tall in the end with his hand raised.

Closing out a period in time for ROH before they return in April of 2022, Gresham has mounted a tight grip on the championship with upcoming defenses of the title at IMPACT Hard To Kill, GCW’s The Wrld on GCW, and his Terminus show.


5. Matt Cardona – GCW World Championship: GCW Homecoming

Zack Ryder was the most over wrestler in 2011. In the middle of Madison Square Garden, the New York crowd began chanting for the Long Islander while The Rock was in the middle of the ring cutting a promo after his first match back in the company in the main event of Survivor Series.

Ryder was released in the first round of releases on April 15, 2020, which fans have coined as “Black Wednesday”.

Now wrestling under his real-name Matt Cardona, he made sporadic appearances for AEW, then joining IMPACT Wrestling, before his biggest career move since the True Long Island story.

Cardona would attack deathmatch wrestler and GCW World Champion, Nick Gage dressed as a druid impersonating Jon Moxley’s signature arm flail and DDT.

This swerve would cause an internet buzz for Game Changer Wrestling that provided the proper attention for the July 24th night one of GCW Homecoming.

In the main event, Cardona challenged Nick Gage for the World Championship in a deathmatch. 

zCardona would go through the most extreme match of his career and with some assistance from Rickey Shane Page turning on Nick Gage, Cardona would win his first-ever World Championship.

Cardona’s victory caused a near-riot at the Showboat Hotel in New Jersey. The GCW faithful were so upset with the title change that the ring with Cardona standing in the middle was pelted with beer cans, soda bottles, water bottles, amongst trash while Ryder’s white tank top was soaked in utter red. 


4. Bobby Lashley – WWE Championship: RAW

‘Bobert Lash’ reached the pinnacle of his wrestling career at 44 years old.

The Almighty WWE Champion rose to prominence on March 1, 2021, beating The Miz in a lumberjack match.

The Miz had recently become the WWE Champion with assistance from Lashley in attacking Drew McIntrye after he retained his championship inside the structure.

Bobby initially debuted for WWE in 2005 before leaving the company in 2008 before joining TNA.

There Lashley became one of the company’s top stars winning every championship at the same time before returning to the WWE in 2018.

The Miz spent the RAW episode avoiding defending his championship against Lashley after promising him a title shot once he won the title.

Once he was in a position where he couldn’t escape, Lashley made easy work of the A-Lister, tapping out Miz in the Hurt Lock.


3. Big E – WWE Championship: RAW

Even though Brock Lesnar might’ve pinned the former WWE Champion to take the championship on Day 1, the New Day’s muscle did the unthinkable and achieved the biggest accomplishment in professional wrestling.

The former Iowa football player turned powerlifter turned hip hydrating wrestler won last year’s Money In The Bank.

Fans quickly started to daydream about the day Big E would cash in the briefcase to become either WWE or Universal Championship.

After watching Bobby Lashley decimate his New Day brothers, Big E announced on social media his intention to cash in the contract on the September 20th episode of RAW.

Big E waited until after that night’s main event as Lashley defended his championship against Randy Orton.

Once Lashley beat Orton, Big E would make his way to the ring with the crowd more than on his side.

The two ‘big meaty men’ would go back and forth before Big E picked up the win to the crowd’s delight, becoming only the 4th African-American to hold the championship.


2. Adam ‘Hangman’ Page – AEW World Championship: Full Gear

All Elite Wrestling is no slouch when it comes to telling long-term storytelling, just look at what Cody Rhodes is doing right now.

Since AEW’s inception, there’s been one man who’s been telling a nearly three-year story, the current World Champion Adam ‘Hangman’ Page.

Page declared at the inaugural AEW press conference that he vowed to be the first-ever AEW World Champion.

Unfortunately, he would come up short to Chris Jericho, but what truly lasted that evening was his confidence.

Realizing he couldn’t win the big one, Hangman slowly loses confidence in himself, making him question why he’s in a group called ‘The Elite’ when he lost.

After trying to separate from the group himself & Kenny Omega would win the AEW World Tag Team Championships.

Arguably the greatest tag team champions AEW has had so far, their reign, team, & friendship would come to an end shortly after losing the titles to FTR.

Omega would go on to win the AEW World Championship from Jon Moxley while Hangman’s drinking problem and identity crisis only seemed to grow.

Through the help of the Dark Order and the AEW fans, Hangman would gain the confidence to challenge Omega for the World Championship a year after Omega defeated Hangman at Full Gear.

In a high-action and highly emotional match, Hangman accomplished his biggest goal of becoming the AEW World Champion.

As the Dark Order flooded the ring to congratulate Adam with a beer he chose to only embrace his new friends in the biggest moment of his wrestling career.


1. Bianca Belair – SmackDown Women’s Championship: WrestleMania 37

Bianca Belair has arguably been the best NXT call-up in recent history, ESTablishing herself as the main roster superstar.

Belair outlasted 29 other women to win the 2021 Royal Rumble where she was challenged for the SmackDown Women’s Championship.

The champion at the time, Sasha Banks was on a great run holding onto the title since the previous year’s Hell In A Cell.

A dream match between these two was only a matter of time and with it being on the grandest stage of them all it had to go on last.

Both women have incredibly passionate fan bases that weren’t going to be happy unless their favorite superstars closed out WrestleMania.

For the first time in history, two African-American women main event the show being the second time women have ever done such a feat in a very competitive match.

There were strong reasons why either of these women should’ve walked away as champion, but that quickly changed with a hair who heard around the world.

Bianca Belair pinned Sasha after hitting the KOD, winning the championship in front of her friends, family, and the WWE Universe.

Her husband & WWE Superstar, Montez Ford sprinted to the ring to celebrate his wife’s greatest accomplishment.

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2 years ago by Muscle Man Malcolm

@MalcolmMuscle

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