10 Best WWE World Champion Vs. World Champion Matches

Today marks the thirteen years since SmackDown debuted on MyNetwork TV.

On October 3, 2008 WWE presented their first episode of the blue brand on the station, having moved over from The CW.

As they typically do in these situations, WWE loaded up the card for the debut with matches featuring not just SmackDown wrestlers, but those from Raw and ECW too.

The main event was a triple threat match featuring the world champions of all three shows, long before BRAND SUPREMACY became one of WWE's primary character motivations.

It was done, obviously, to help draw a big rating for the first show of the MyNetwork TV era. WWE aren't in the business of having their world champions wrestle each other too often or on a whim, and typically if they're in the ring at the same time it's either to help with ratings or as a featured attraction on a pay-per-view.

There aren't too many to choose from, but these are probably the ten best meetings between WWE world champions, whether they be WWE Champion, World Heavyweight Champion, Universal Champion or ECW Champion.

Ready? Champion!

10. Triple H Vs. Chris Jericho Vs. Matt Hardy - SmackDown (October 3, 2008)

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And so we start with that aforementioned world champions triple threat match, as the MyNetwork TV era of SmackDown started with a bang.

Headlining the show was WWE Champion Triple H taking on World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho and ECW Champion Matt Hardy. It was non-title, naturally.

Three dependable veterans who had good chemistry with each other, it was never going to be anything less than good and was absolutely the best thing on the show.

Triple threats are often a hard dynamic to get right, especially when the babyfaces outnumber the heel, but they made it work here.

The action was fast and furious and the psychology tight, as they alternated between combinations and also did many spots involving all three competitors.

In the end, it turned into a finisher-and-counter-fest, ending with The Game hitting the Pedigree on Hardy for the win.

The post-match scene with a ladder, Jeff Hardy and Vladimir Kozlov getting involved was also very exciting and helped hype up No Mercy, which took place two days later.

9. King Booker Vs. John Cena Vs. Big Show - Cyber Sunday 2006

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Similar to the previous match, the main event of Cyber Sunday 2006 would also feature the WWE Champion, World Heavyweight Champion and ECW Champion colliding at the same time.

This time, however, fans would get to vote for which title would be on the line, giving us the possibility that one of the men involved would walk out as a double champ.

Fans voted overwhelming for Booker's strap to be put up for grabs, with a whopping 67 percent of fans preferring a World Heavyweight Title match. Naturally, this almost brought the King to tears.

Once again, all three athletes had plenty of experience wrestling the others, so the chemistry was there. The story of the match seemed to be Cena and Booker trying to get rid of Show, with the World's Largest Athlete coming back to make them suffer despite being at a numerical disadvantage.

The match was long (over twenty minutes) and built to a wacky finish, as Queen Sharmell ran in and took an FU before Kevin Federline arrived on the scene to distract Cena long enough for Booker to recover, smash him with the title and retain.

If you ignore how preposterous the whole Cena versus K-Fed saga was and watch it as just a match, it's very enjoyable indeed.

8. CM Punk Vs. Sheamus - Main Event (October 3, 2012)

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Main Event has become a bit of a wasteland for forgotten talent over the years, but when it debuted on our screens on October 3, 2012, WWE clearly had some plans for it.

Why else would they book CM Punk versus Sheamus in the main event of the first show?

Punk was the WWE Champion while Sheamus reigned as World Heavyweight Champion at the time. The Celtic Warrior was a fiery babyface, while the Straight-Edge Superstar was a cocky heel, having recently aligned himself with Paul Heyman.

Punk was also, it should be noted, well into his lengthy run with the title, having held the belt for 318 days at this point.

The pair of them had a darn good wrestling match, as you would expect. Sheamus used his power and brute force, while Punk relied on strikes and submissions.

It wasn't an epic, per se, and they didn't try to do too much, rather whetting the appetite for potential future showdowns (which sadly never ended up happening).

The finish was inventive, too, as Punk survived being locked in the Texas Cloverleaf and shook off the Irish Curse to drop toehold Sheamus into an exposed middle turnbuckle, the padding of which had been inconspicuously removed minutes earlier.

Not even the sound of The Miz on commentary could ruin this one.

7. Drew McIntyre Vs. Roman Reigns - Survivor Series 2020

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Survivor Series 2020 was not a great show, headlined by the underwhelming retirement ceremony of The Undertaker and featuring a bunch of matches that ranged from bad to so-so to alright.

The one highlight was the battle between WWE and Universal Champions Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns, which was originally scheduled to be Reigns against Randy Orton, before the Scotsman downed the Viper on Raw.

A hell of a hoss fight, the Big Dog and the Chosen One shook off the lack of an actual crowd and their organic reactions to produce a match that had genuine heat and had fans viewers as to the result right up until the finish.

Both men are usually good value for bringing it when it counts and clearly recognised that, crowd or no crowd, this was a major show and a major match.

They went a marathon 25 minutes and incorporated some great wrestling with brawling and power moves. The finish - with Jey Uso running interference and Roman resulting to hitting Drew right in the bagpipes (so to speak) - was weaker than such a strong match deserved, but the bulk of the work was great and demonstrated why WWE decided to go with both performers in difficult times and circumstances.

6. Chris Jericho Vs. Steve Austin - Vengeance 2001

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With the Invasion in the rearview, WWE decided to unify the WWE and WCW Heavyweight Titles and crown an Undisputed Champion at Vengeance.

A four-man tournament was devised, with Steve Austin defending the WWE Title against Kurt Angle before The Rock defended the World Heavyweight Title against Chris Jericho.

The winners of the two matches would then meet in the final with both belts up for grabs.

Stone Cold overcame the Olympic Hero and Y2J dethroned the People's Champion, setting up Austin and Jericho for all the gold.

What makes this one stick out so much was that, not only was it a pay-per-view main event, but that Jericho actually won! Yes, the former WCW castoff beat the two biggest stars in the industry, back-to-back, on the same night.

It took a little more than the 82nd Airborne to get it done, with untold shenanigans and interference, but it gave Jericho bragging rights for the rest of his career.

The action itself was just fine, if hardly a classic. This was all about the moment and cementing Jericho as the man to clean up the mess of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon's dog Lucy.

5. Randy Orton Vs. John Cena - TLC 2013

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By the time they met in the title unification main event of TLC 2013, we'd seen Randy Orton and John Cena clash countless times in varying scenarios over the years.

They were synonymous with one another and had held WWE's main prizes more than seemingly anyone else. But they were in that place because they were reliable and because the audience accepted them there.

Their match here was over who was the 'face' of WWE, with Cena's World Heavyweight and Orton's WWE Title on the line, suspended fifteen feet in the air in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match.

They made good use of the plunder on offer (including the steel stairs and announce desk), beating the hell out of each other before The Viper handcuffed Big Match John to the bottom rope.

Cena broke free and was able to unhook the bottom rope in a bid to prevent Orton from winning, but ultimately was knocked off the top of a ladder and landed headfirst onto a table.

4. John Cena Vs. Alberto Del Rio - Raw (July 1, 2013)

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Months before meeting Orton in their big unification match, Cena met fellow champion Alberto Del Rio in the main event of the July 1 episode of Raw.

Cena was WWE Champion at that point, while Del Rio was in possession of the World Heavyweight Title.

Say what you will about the output of both men, but they had enviable chemistry with one another and produced some of the more compelling matches of the era.

This was no exception, as they wrestled a strong match that featured their greatest hits and some new surprises too (how often do you see Cena hit a flying crossbody off the top rope?).

It was non-title, but it was still competitive and built to the point that the crowd were biting on every false finish. Cena ended up prevailing with an AA out of nowhere, following the appearance of both Mark Henry and Dolph Ziggler.

3. CM Punk Vs. John Cena - SummerSlam 2011

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The events heading into John Cena and CM Punk's SummerSlam 2011 main event sure were compelling.

First, Punk beat Cena in a thriller at Money in the Bank, only to make good on his promise to leave with the title and disappear from WWE. Then Rey Mysterio won a tournament to become the new WWE Champion in his absence, only for Cena to then challenge and beat him, leaving us right where we were a fortnight before.

But then Punk returned, claiming to be the rightful champ, and the two were booked to settle the dispute at SummerSlam - with Triple H on hand as special referee in order to ensure the deal went down in the right way.

It was a typically fantastic match between two men with unmatched chemistry. It was back and forth and creative and felt like it could end in anyone's favour at any moment.

It escalated nicely down the closing stretch, until Punk hit a second GTS and pinned Cena, who had one foot on the rope (I smell a rematch) to become the undisputed WWE Champion...

...for a few minutes, before Kevin Nash - fresh from texting himself backstage - jumped the Second City-Saint and left him easy prey for an Alberto Del Rio cash-in.

A confusing and dissatisfying finish, yes, but the match itself is good gravy.

2. Brock Lesnar Vs. AJ Styles - Survivor Series 2017

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Before the Phenomenal One thankfully won the WWE Title on SmackDown a week or so before Survivor Series 2017, the main event of the pay-per-view was going to be Brock Lesnar versus Jinder Mahal.

Which is, you know, fine, I suppose, but Styles' title triumph set up a genuine first time dream match between The Beast Incarnate and the Face That Runs the Place.

In a perfect world, the match would have went on last on the night, but it certainly didn't suffer from getting the semi-main spot.

Brock and AJ went out and rocked the house, working an excellent David versus Goliath type of match that played to the strengths of both. Lesnar's track record had been patchy for a couple of years, but he turned up motivated for this meeting and, crucially, sold well for his smaller opponent before the inevitable F5 finish.

It's a damn shame we didn't get a rematch.

1. Daniel Bryan Vs. Brock Lesnar - Survivor Series 2018

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A year later, it was AJ Styles' turn to drop the title just before a big champion versus champion match with Brock Lesnar, as the Phenomenal One fell to Daniel Bryan - who turned heel in the process - just days before Survivor Series 2018, after Styles had held it for over a year.

While a Styles/Lesnar sequel would have been excellent, a new first time dream match between Brock and Bryan was a mouth-watering prospect indeed.

It was another surly, full-on David versus Goliath encounter, with Brock once again brutally manhandling his smaller foe.

I mean, properly manhandling him, to the point that you really began to feel worried for the D-Bry's safety, considering his injury history.

He made his comeback, of course, picking his spot and chopping Lesnar down to his size before almost scoring the upset with a Yes Lock. This is WWE though, of course, and Goliath wins about 95% of the time, so it was hardly a surprise to see The Next Big Thing F5 his way to victory.

Not that anyone was complaining after, of course, because the match was so good that, really, the result was irrelevant.