The new Grand Slam winners: The seven Superstars who have won every active championship
Winning one title is impressive. Winning two, even more so. Three? Now you’re just showing off. But
winning the four major, active titles in WWE is a feat so rarified that
only a handful of Superstars have managed to pull it off. There’s even a
name for it: A Grand Slam Champion.
What exactly qualifies a Grand Slam Champion in WWE has changed
several times as the roster of championships has, and only six
Superstars had managed to meet the current set of criteria:
Intercontinental Champion, United States Champion, any permutation of
the Tag Team Championship and either active heavyweight title — as in,
WWE Championship or, now, the WWE Universal Championship. That is, until
this past Monday, when the ranks of Grand Slam Champions grew by one.
See who just made the list, as it were, and which Superstars he joined
in the process. Spoiler: None of them are named John Cena.
Edge
Understatement was never really Edge’s bag. The Rated-R Superstar relished excess like a vampiric grappler relishes blood. That penchant for pushing himself beyond limits goes a long way in explaining the WWE Hall of Famer’s inclusion as one of only seven Grand Slam winners. Edge’s first glimmer of aggrandizement arrived at a WWE Live Event on July 24, 1999, when he captured the Intercontinental Title, his first of five. Two years on, he bested Kurt Angle for his one and only U.S. Championship. The Rated-R Superstar would then lay claim to a WWE Tag Team Title in 2002 when he teamed with Rey Mysterio, and again at 2009’s The Bash alongside Chris Jericho. As for the WWE Title, Edge has held sports-entertainment’s most coveted prize an astonishing 11 times for a combined 548 days. With numbers like that, the old axiom that nothing succeeds like excess has never rang truer. — GREG ADKINS
Big Show
Big Show is one of the rare cases in Grand Slam winner history to win the WWE Championship first in his pursuit to acquire all of WWE’s prizes. The World’s Largest Athlete defeated Triple H and The Rock in a Triple Threat Match at Survivor Series 1999 to capture sports-entertainment’s holy grail and never looked back. Four years later, he defeated Eddie Guerrero for the United States Championship, and had a dominant run with the red, white and blue title. Then, in 2009, Show teamed up with Chris Jericho for a memorable run with the WWE Tag Team Championships.
Finally, at WrestleMania 28 in 2012, Big Show was able to knock out
two major accomplishments in one night when he defeated Cody Rhodes for
the Intercontinental Title. That monumental win gave the behemoth his
first tried-and-true WrestleMania moment, along with access to the Grand
Slam club. — RYAN PAPPOLLA
The Miz
This is the true story of how a kid from Parma, Ohio, defied every obstacle placed in front of him time and again to become a member of the most exclusive club in all of WWE.
Most pundits probably presumed that when The Miz won the WWE Tag Team
Championships along with John Morrison in 2007, he had reached the
pinnacle of his WWE career. The brash reality star was not beloved by
the WWE Universe or the WWE locker room and his individual upside was
routinely questioned. However, in the face of heavy doubt, The A-List
Star proved to have every imaginable answer.
After a 2009 reign with the United States Title, Miz turned around in
2010 to “cash in” on a prone Randy Orton to capture the WWE
Championship. By the time he defeated Christian in 2012 on the 1,000th
episode of Raw to secure the Intercontinental Title (and the final piece
of the Grand Slam puzzle), it simply felt academic. There was no doubt
left, just reality. — RYAN PAPPOLLA
Eddie Guerrero
Everyone remembers Eddie Guerrero for the kind of human being and friend he was, but Latino Heat’s work in the ring is equally demonstrative of the unique talent he brought to a WWE ring. The former WWE World Heavyweight Champion was also a Grand Slam title winner, beginning with his Intercontinental Championship victory in 2000, followed by a WWE Tag Team Title win with Chavo Guerrero in ’02 and a U.S. Title victory in ’03. The WWE Championship came in ’04, when Guerrero pulled off the impossible by beating Brock Lesnar in one of the most emotional performances you’ll ever see. It’s like the universe wanted Eddie to have it. We can’t blame it. — ANTHONY BENIGNO
Daniel Bryan
For a guy who some people thought would never make a ripple in WWE, Daniel Bryan sure racked up a lot of hardware. It took The Beard five years to amass the four pieces of the Grand Slam, beginning with the U.S. Title in 2010, followed by the WWE Tag Team Titles with Kane in 2012. His crowning achievements were the three WWE Championships between 2013 and 2014, but it was his Intercontinental Title win in 2015 that put the capper on Bryan's trophy case. Here's another fun fact: Bryan either defended or challenged for a title at every WrestleMania he competed in. Best for business? Yes. — ANTHONY BENIGNO
Kurt Angle
Some first-overall draft picks flame out, becoming an embarrassing footnote in their respective sport’s history. Kurt Angle had the sports-entertainment equivalent of blue-chip prospect hype when he joined WWE in 1999.
The pressure never got to Angle, though, as he captured the
Intercontinental and WWE Championships in his rookie year, in addition
to winning the King of the Ring and besting some of WWE’s top stars. He
continued to roll in his second and third years, adding the United
States Championship and the WWE Tag Team Titles to his collection to
become the first Superstar to hold the modern-day Grand Slam.
Hopes were high for The Olympic Hero from Pittsburgh, but no one
could have anticipated how much he would surpass them. — JEFF LABOON
Chris Jericho
Believe it or not, until Jan. 9, 2017, Chris Jericho had never once been United States Champion in the entirety of his extraordinary, 20-year career. But The Ayatollah of Rock ‘n’ Rolla didn’t just capture a title that had eluded him by pinning Roman Reigns; he captured the last title that had eluded him. Jericho has been racking up championships his whole career — most notably his 2001 triumph as the first Undisputed WWE Champion. He’s also held a record nine Intercontinental Championships and a handful of Tag Team Titles alongside the likes of Edge and Big Show. By adding the U.S. Title, Jericho completed the set and earned himself a well-deserved spot in the ranks of Grand Slam Champions. You might even say he finally made the list. — ANTHONY BENIGNO
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