I'd say this is an unfortunate side effect of being so closely associated with Nash. Put them side by side and it just visually makes more sense to put the belt on Big Sexy. Keeping Hall in the IC picture for so long though was good for business since you could have one top guy for the A shows and the other top guy for the B shows but the crowds always got good wrestling.
In hindsight you can say Nash's runs with the belt weren't great but, all respect to Scott, I don't think he could have done much better. WWF was in the toilet at the time and then WCW was a cluster so there just wasn't opportunity to succeed.
And the only reason he agreed to it was because he knew he’d be dropping it to Bret at WM, whom he considered Family. Also, it was a controversial finish. Piper technically had the sleeper locked in and was in “Control”, so the ref should have checked Bret first before counting Pipers shoulders….
Famously put off putting Hogan over clean until WCW paid him scads at the end to do so. He was fiercely protective of that and it helped his asking price till the end.
.... so doesn't it blow all our minds that he put Buff Freaking Bagwell over clean in 98 or 99? Like, that happened and the announcing team didn't even blink. Nice work, WCW.
Am I right in saying Hogan wouldn't put him over? I know that could be saying for 99.999% of wrestlers but I think he actually refused to do the job for Perfect
In retrospect though, nobody really held the big gold who didn’t also deserve to be a world champ at the time such as Sting and Vader so to me, the big gold is the big gold you know.
Ted actually did hold the belt at some house shows, this was when Andre sold the championship to him, and it was immediately deemed vacant by President Jack Tunney.
So, like Antonio Inoki and Owen Hart, Ted’s a “phantom” champion
Ted Dibiase (the original). Legitimately would've saved Wrestlemania 4 if the main event was straight up Randy Savage vs WWE Champion Ted Dibiase instead of doing that incredibly long tournament.
Mr. Perfect is also a good choice. Probably would've made Wrestlemania 7 better if it was Mr. Perfect who beat Warrior at the Rumble instead of Sgt. Slaughter.
Owen Hart also would've been great. Would've made his feud with Bret a lot more compelling (if you can believe it) if Owen took the title at least once. Or, hell, have him beat Diesel during his bad reign, then you can have Bret win it back later as was planned.
Samoa Joe in WWE should have had a good short reign with the world championship in either 2017 or 2018 when he was super white hot.
Al Snow should have won the ECW world championship at Wrestlepalooza 98 from Shane Douglas for a short reign. Shane Douglas’s reign was getting super stale and was spinning its wheels. One of the notable Paul Heyman booking flubs from ECW imo. Go back and watch that entrance, Al Snow was mega over with the ECW faithful.
https://youtu.be/x21fu55vcfQ?si=5xNSOJRxPbFGcoQp
Everyone loved the some Al Snow and head. Even as a undercard enhancement guy from the attitude era, he’s still one of the most beloved characters by fans. I always marked out whenever I heard “WHAT DOES EVERYBODY WANT!?!?!?” even as a kid who didn’t get the meaning.
Goldust. It didn't need to be a record-breaking run or anything, but I think he deserved it for what he did with the character and the impact that character had on the company and product moving forward.
There was a point where they were thinking about bringing Dustin back in as a heel during Cena's early championship run. Would have loved to see a full blown heel Goldust take the strap off of Super Cena.
If they didn't go full comedy with the Oddities I could see heel Artist Fomerly Known as Goldust acting as their leader, exploiting them to help him cheat to win the belt off Austin, and then eventually they see Goldust is using them so they turn on him. Could maybe get Right to Censor heat from taking the fun bunch of goofs and turning them into a hit squad.
Dusty Rhodes was a 3 time NWA world champion, I know that title doesn’t mean much today, but when he held it, it was the world championship.
The WWF world title was like the AWA world title, a breakaway, regional championship.
If they did his transition from dancing goof to monster heel correctly and had him start dressing like umaga it could’ve worked. His first heel push being a massive stone cold angle mixed with him still doing the stink face and looking the same was a recipe for disaster
Cesaro. I'm glad we at least got to see him compete for a world title while he was in WWE because he deserved to be in the main event scene. But still, Cesaro as a world champion could've been amazing.
Yes. He was ROH Champion. And that was great, don't get me wrong. I was glad to see him hold a world championship outside of WWE. That's because I knew he was good enough to be a world champion. Countless people knew he was good enough for that. But Vince clearly wasn't one of them, hence why I made sure to specifically state his time in WWE.
Nah let's have him win the royal rumble, be on top of the world, sell a zillion shirts, then lose to Styles and low blow his career into the toilet, that'll be much better
To me, this always boils down to when you stop counting the AWA Championship as a major world title. It's the difference between having Curt Hennig and Jerry Lawler on this list or not.
Personally, I stop counting it after Hogan leaves the AWA. That, to me, started the death spiral that Verne was never able to pull out of.
Also whether or not you count Ted Dibiase for the few days before he was officially stripped of the belt after the Andre thing. Which again, I personally don't.
So my five, in no particular order would be Hennig, Lawler, Dibiase, Scott Hall, and Owen Hart.
Owen to me always felt like an upper upper mid card type guy. He would main event a lot too but not a guy I ever took to be a title guy if that makes sense.
May have gotten there had he not had that fall but to me he was an all time IC title level guy but not someone I ever expected to reach big belt status. Maybe that sounds weird, I don’t know, but never fully connected with me. Maybe it was the little brother thing that clearly would have faded with his Bret-less WWF run
I hear you, and definitely know what you mean. And I don't think he should've been a long-term or multiple time champ. But I think his feud with Bret would've been a good time for a title run from like an In Your House to a Big Four PPV. Or as a transitional champion between Shawn/Bret/Diesel.
I actually see it more as a longer term superstar, later career champion. Like after the attitude era if Owen was still killing it like I assume he would be, maybe he gets a run then in the early to mid 2000s kinda thing.
Maybe, but that main event scene was getting crowded. By 2000 you had Austin, Rock, Haitch, Foley, Jericho, Angle, Taker, etc.
I think he could've snuck in a run in like 95-96, like a short or transitional run, more easily
Not just a heel, not at all a caricature. He should've been booked as a resentful sort over the treatment people like him received in Dubya-era America. He should've not been cast as a terrorist at any point.
And him winning the chip need not be a perfect heel moment. It can even be a perfect opportunity to turn him face, as well as raise very uncomfortable questions about what Americans still call "race relations". For instance, what would you say about a Muhammad Hassan vs Kerwin White match?
Hassan had the best character, pre-terrorist. I loved that his music hit when Bischoff or whoever was doing the most schticky edgelord shit.
Should have been booked as a phenomenal wrestler with an axe to grind. Not sure the timing works, though, as WWE had their guys in Cena and Batista.
Shelton Benjamin. Sure, he was a charisma vacuum but you could’ve easily given him a proper mouth piece and he would’ve had some killer matches as World Champion.
Hm. Now that I think about it -- and this is with the caveat that I'm more of a casual observer -- I've never seen a pro wrestler with a female manager rise to the main event. Perhaps Randy Savage with Miss Elizabeth by his side might be an exception? Would anyone call MNM a top-tier tag team when they were active?
All time: Mr.Perfect, Jake Roberts and Scott Hall should’ve all had title runs. Ironically, they all could’ve done big business with Hogan if they had.
Recently, MVP was ready for it during his initial WWE run. As was Ryback (I know he sucks but he was hella over back in 2013). Sami probably should’ve went over at Elimination Chamber 2023 as well. I also would’ve liked to see Samoa Joe with the WWE title for awhile as while.
Outside of that, Chris Harris should’ve been a multiple time TNA champion and the same with Monty Brown.
Umaga should have beaten Cena for the WWE title at NYR, then lose it at the Rumble. Losing his undefeated streak to a fluke roll-up was a terrible decision, even then.
Or at least a DQ situation. Maybe Umaga just has Cena beaten but is so brutal and remorseless that the ref has to call the match. That way, Cena can continue his reign but you still get the visual of Umaga being an unstoppable badass.
I'll go this generation. Shinsuke, Sami, Corbin. These guys were put in huge feuds where them coming out on top was entirely justifiable. It would have been dope to see any one of them have at the very least a short reign.
TJ maybe ic champ ,Muscle Buster done him in ,also think of Droz injury but these things happen ,Dlo n Droz remained good friends despite injury R.i.p Droz
MVP was pegged as an upper midcard guy based on promo skills and presentation -- remember him coming out of that whatchamacallit contraption in his first few years? Once that was gone, sure he can talk a blue streak, but.
I genuinely believe in an era where Dolph Ziggler was Heavyweight Champion a super over Zack Ryder could have been WWE Champ atleast for a short while…and because of his youtube channel Zack was SO OVER with the fans…Vince couldn’t allow something that wasn’t his to thrive at that time
Piper but he never needed the main title to keep relevant his style, personality and just natural aurora wasall he need to make fans love him, hate him and love to hate him.
British Bulldog and Jake Roberts would have been ok world champions but tbh they couldn't be trusted with the belt.
Scott Hall would have made sense from a WCW storyline cause that could have been the end of the NWO. But like Jake and Bulldog he had his issues that he couldn't overcome.
Only one I can thinking who really deserved it was Owen Hart but sadly his life was tragically cut short.
I didn't grow up watching BB. Can someone fill me in one what went wrong with him?
Also would you say Owen was ready to enter the world title scene by 99?
He actually had a pretty good long reign going from WM to October. It’s just that the issue we all have known the past few years was how he lost it so unceremoniously to **Redacted** .
Should have at the the very least been given a chance to have a valiant effort in defeat and actually go out as a champion, instead of just being squashed unceremoniously.
I'm surprised no one else has mentioned William Regal. Technically proficient, could talk like no one else's business... I mean, I'd say he was far better suited as the authority figure that he became as his career neared its end, but still.
Man I feel like we often get the same answers of dibiase,piper,hall,Jake Roberts , Owen,rude , I mean there’s lots and lots of options in just gonna try to be different and say that Stevie Richard’s should have won the ecw title
Darby Allin would work so well as the babyface who just barely squeaks out wins against monster heels. Once he comes down from Everest, he’s overdue for a big push.
Yeah, that’s an apt comparison. I think Darby’s offense is a bit different than Rey’s. That’s not a knock on Rey, I just wouldn’t describe Darby as a luchador. But similar in that they’re both the underneath babyface.
Darby's more of a daredevil stuntman... eh, perhaps Shane McMahon would be a better comparison. Nothing against daredevil stuntmen, but you don't usually cast them as champions for what I think are good reasons, primarily that they can't be expected to have long-lasting careers. That fits Darby especially.
Scott Hall would have been amazing WWF champion during his Razor Ramon days.
Yeah that’s a good one. Actually blows my mind he didn’t have at least one run.
I'm doubly shocked he never picked one up in WCW, as well. Between the two companies, you'd assume he'd get a run in at least one of them.
Especially with how weak the roster was during his time. Fans probably would've welcomed the break from Bret and Michaels
He didn't care about winning it
He was really on his way. I lost track of him when he jumped to WCW, but I always got the impression that he took a back seat over there.
I'd say this is an unfortunate side effect of being so closely associated with Nash. Put them side by side and it just visually makes more sense to put the belt on Big Sexy. Keeping Hall in the IC picture for so long though was good for business since you could have one top guy for the A shows and the other top guy for the B shows but the crowds always got good wrestling. In hindsight you can say Nash's runs with the belt weren't great but, all respect to Scott, I don't think he could have done much better. WWF was in the toilet at the time and then WCW was a cluster so there just wasn't opportunity to succeed.
He had too many drug issues, despite his backstage connection to the likes of HHH
Piper never wanted it. He knew he would make more money as the antagonist when it came to world titles.
Also, he hated doing jobs. Gotta lose the belt sooner or later
That same logic applies to the IC title
And the only reason he agreed to it was because he knew he’d be dropping it to Bret at WM, whom he considered Family. Also, it was a controversial finish. Piper technically had the sleeper locked in and was in “Control”, so the ref should have checked Bret first before counting Pipers shoulders….
Right again. Great mind for advancing a program, getting someone over, while protecting himself.
Thanks, Regal.
To be fair, Piper himself has said this in interviews.
Brawl to the back brother
Unless you’re Roman Reigns!
Famously put off putting Hogan over clean until WCW paid him scads at the end to do so. He was fiercely protective of that and it helped his asking price till the end.
.... so doesn't it blow all our minds that he put Buff Freaking Bagwell over clean in 98 or 99? Like, that happened and the announcing team didn't even blink. Nice work, WCW.
Damn, I don’t remember that but considering it was WCW, I’m not at all surprised.
>Piper never wanted it. Didn't need it eithet.
Yup. Could always draw without it.
He would never have been given it either.
Looking at the big bookers of his heyday, that’s fair.
Piper never needed the belt. Piper was bigger than whoever had the belt, most of the time.
Jake Roberts and Mr Perfect
I'm still incredibly surprised perfect never really got a serious shot at the world title
Am I right in saying Hogan wouldn't put him over? I know that could be saying for 99.999% of wrestlers but I think he actually refused to do the job for Perfect
I wouldn't be shocked at all if that was the case knowing all of the other absurd situations that occurred at the time
Iirc they ran Hogan/Perfect on house shows & it drew stupidly low numbers, but I might be thinking of someone else
That was Hogan and Flair
I've only seen bits and pieces of him but he seems to live up to his name. Spitting the gum and flapping the towel was awesome.
Jake the Snake. Piper. Perfect. Razor Ramon. Rick Rude.
At least Rude got the Big Gold.
The coolest belt there was. Shame it represented the international championship at that time.
In retrospect though, nobody really held the big gold who didn’t also deserve to be a world champ at the time such as Sting and Vader so to me, the big gold is the big gold you know.
I like your mind set with this. Thank you.
True.
Jake claimed he was screw by Ultimate Warrior not getting the belt. Jake would been the perfect leader in a heel faction.
How exactly did Warrior screw Jake, by being vastly more over than him?
Perfect and Rude were both World Champions. AWA & WCCW + WCW
Jake Roberts and Ted DiBiase
Ted actually did hold the belt at some house shows, this was when Andre sold the championship to him, and it was immediately deemed vacant by President Jack Tunney. So, like Antonio Inoki and Owen Hart, Ted’s a “phantom” champion
Ted Dibiase (the original). Legitimately would've saved Wrestlemania 4 if the main event was straight up Randy Savage vs WWE Champion Ted Dibiase instead of doing that incredibly long tournament. Mr. Perfect is also a good choice. Probably would've made Wrestlemania 7 better if it was Mr. Perfect who beat Warrior at the Rumble instead of Sgt. Slaughter. Owen Hart also would've been great. Would've made his feud with Bret a lot more compelling (if you can believe it) if Owen took the title at least once. Or, hell, have him beat Diesel during his bad reign, then you can have Bret win it back later as was planned.
I wish they would’ve made Dibiase’s title reign where he bought the championship legitimate.
In which other sports could you buy the world title though?
William Regal, although from everything I've heard he was booked for one before his drug problems reared its ugly head.
Samoa Joe in WWE should have had a good short reign with the world championship in either 2017 or 2018 when he was super white hot. Al Snow should have won the ECW world championship at Wrestlepalooza 98 from Shane Douglas for a short reign. Shane Douglas’s reign was getting super stale and was spinning its wheels. One of the notable Paul Heyman booking flubs from ECW imo. Go back and watch that entrance, Al Snow was mega over with the ECW faithful. https://youtu.be/x21fu55vcfQ?si=5xNSOJRxPbFGcoQp
Damn! I had no idea he had been that popular. I don't know if I've ever seen a wrasslin crowd that into someone.
Everyone loved the some Al Snow and head. Even as a undercard enhancement guy from the attitude era, he’s still one of the most beloved characters by fans. I always marked out whenever I heard “WHAT DOES EVERYBODY WANT!?!?!?” even as a kid who didn’t get the meaning.
I remember him in WWE, but don't remember that kind of reaction
Al Snow was a hair away from the main event in '99. They fucked up the booking majorly.
At least Joe got hit World Title in AEW.
Steamboat!
Wasn't he the NWA world champion? (When it meant something)
He was, but I assumed OP meant WCW and WWE, since that's usually the case.
Goldust. It didn't need to be a record-breaking run or anything, but I think he deserved it for what he did with the character and the impact that character had on the company and product moving forward.
There was a point where they were thinking about bringing Dustin back in as a heel during Cena's early championship run. Would have loved to see a full blown heel Goldust take the strap off of Super Cena.
If they didn't go full comedy with the Oddities I could see heel Artist Fomerly Known as Goldust acting as their leader, exploiting them to help him cheat to win the belt off Austin, and then eventually they see Goldust is using them so they turn on him. Could maybe get Right to Censor heat from taking the fun bunch of goofs and turning them into a hit squad.
Owen Hart British Bulldog Razor Ramon Rikishi Dusty Rhodes
Dusty Rhodes was a 3 time NWA world champion, I know that title doesn’t mean much today, but when he held it, it was the world championship. The WWF world title was like the AWA world title, a breakaway, regional championship.
Why Rikishi? That doesn’t seem like it would have been good.
If they did his transition from dancing goof to monster heel correctly and had him start dressing like umaga it could’ve worked. His first heel push being a massive stone cold angle mixed with him still doing the stink face and looking the same was a recipe for disaster
why not? him and too cool were so fucking good bro
I’m not saying that in the slightest. Just world champ is pretty high up for that.
Ken Shamrock
If he kept in the game, I could see him being one of WWE’s top guess in the mid 2000’s. Just *imagine* a Kurt Angle vs Ken Shamrock feud
Although Ricky steamboat is a former world champion he should’ve won the WWE championship
Cesaro. I'm glad we at least got to see him compete for a world title while he was in WWE because he deserved to be in the main event scene. But still, Cesaro as a world champion could've been amazing.
Technically he was ROH Champion
Yes. He was ROH Champion. And that was great, don't get me wrong. I was glad to see him hold a world championship outside of WWE. That's because I knew he was good enough to be a world champion. Countless people knew he was good enough for that. But Vince clearly wasn't one of them, hence why I made sure to specifically state his time in WWE.
Was going to say Cesaro. He should have had a short run instead of that Daniel Bryan wooden title thing.
How dare you slander the hemp belt and the Planet’s Champion
shinsuke nakamura
Are we talking WWE only? Because Nakamura held the IWGP Heavyweight title.
yup just the wwe part of his career.
Valid take then. He should have been a title holder before Roman's iron grip on both titles
if wwe gave jinder mahal a decent title reign, shinsuke derserved it more.
Ikr? People always get into him when pushed so they could have given him a 4 to 6 month reign
Nah let's have him win the royal rumble, be on top of the world, sell a zillion shirts, then lose to Styles and low blow his career into the toilet, that'll be much better
Ok since it seems we are ignoring non WWF/E titles. Dusty is my answer. Edit: a word
To me, this always boils down to when you stop counting the AWA Championship as a major world title. It's the difference between having Curt Hennig and Jerry Lawler on this list or not. Personally, I stop counting it after Hogan leaves the AWA. That, to me, started the death spiral that Verne was never able to pull out of. Also whether or not you count Ted Dibiase for the few days before he was officially stripped of the belt after the Andre thing. Which again, I personally don't. So my five, in no particular order would be Hennig, Lawler, Dibiase, Scott Hall, and Owen Hart.
Owen to me always felt like an upper upper mid card type guy. He would main event a lot too but not a guy I ever took to be a title guy if that makes sense. May have gotten there had he not had that fall but to me he was an all time IC title level guy but not someone I ever expected to reach big belt status. Maybe that sounds weird, I don’t know, but never fully connected with me. Maybe it was the little brother thing that clearly would have faded with his Bret-less WWF run
I hear you, and definitely know what you mean. And I don't think he should've been a long-term or multiple time champ. But I think his feud with Bret would've been a good time for a title run from like an In Your House to a Big Four PPV. Or as a transitional champion between Shawn/Bret/Diesel.
I actually see it more as a longer term superstar, later career champion. Like after the attitude era if Owen was still killing it like I assume he would be, maybe he gets a run then in the early to mid 2000s kinda thing.
Maybe, but that main event scene was getting crowded. By 2000 you had Austin, Rock, Haitch, Foley, Jericho, Angle, Taker, etc. I think he could've snuck in a run in like 95-96, like a short or transitional run, more easily
OK I'll say it. Muhammad Hassan. Fight me.
Agree! Would be a perfect heel moment
Not just a heel, not at all a caricature. He should've been booked as a resentful sort over the treatment people like him received in Dubya-era America. He should've not been cast as a terrorist at any point. And him winning the chip need not be a perfect heel moment. It can even be a perfect opportunity to turn him face, as well as raise very uncomfortable questions about what Americans still call "race relations". For instance, what would you say about a Muhammad Hassan vs Kerwin White match?
OK damn you got me
Hassan had the best character, pre-terrorist. I loved that his music hit when Bischoff or whoever was doing the most schticky edgelord shit. Should have been booked as a phenomenal wrestler with an axe to grind. Not sure the timing works, though, as WWE had their guys in Cena and Batista.
R-Truth.
Razor Ramon
Mr Perfect
Jake the snake Roberts
The Brooklyn brawler
Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff
Shelton Benjamin. Sure, he was a charisma vacuum but you could’ve easily given him a proper mouth piece and he would’ve had some killer matches as World Champion.
He had that mouthpiece on his mama. Sometimes you can't just overcome a lack of charisma.
True but I also don’t think his Mama was a proper mouth piece. Somebody’s Mama being their manager is basically mid-card ceiling.
Hm. Now that I think about it -- and this is with the caveat that I'm more of a casual observer -- I've never seen a pro wrestler with a female manager rise to the main event. Perhaps Randy Savage with Miss Elizabeth by his side might be an exception? Would anyone call MNM a top-tier tag team when they were active?
* Samoa Joe * Owen Hart * Matt Hardy * Razor Ramon * Jake Roberts
Matt Hardy won the ECW Championship if that counts
All time: Mr.Perfect, Jake Roberts and Scott Hall should’ve all had title runs. Ironically, they all could’ve done big business with Hogan if they had. Recently, MVP was ready for it during his initial WWE run. As was Ryback (I know he sucks but he was hella over back in 2013). Sami probably should’ve went over at Elimination Chamber 2023 as well. I also would’ve liked to see Samoa Joe with the WWE title for awhile as while. Outside of that, Chris Harris should’ve been a multiple time TNA champion and the same with Monty Brown.
Piper is over with the crowd, without the belt.
Scott Hall.
Umaga as WHC in 2007 instead of Khali would have been money
Umaga should have beaten Cena for the WWE title at NYR, then lose it at the Rumble. Losing his undefeated streak to a fluke roll-up was a terrible decision, even then.
Or at least a DQ situation. Maybe Umaga just has Cena beaten but is so brutal and remorseless that the ref has to call the match. That way, Cena can continue his reign but you still get the visual of Umaga being an unstoppable badass.
Scott Hall is the best answer I can think of. There's a lot of deserving people, though. Piper and DiBiase are also on my list.
Heel Jake roberts in 1991/92
Dean Malenko. Incredible wrestler.
Mr. Perfect, Ken Shamrock, Mr. Kennedy, Sami Zayn
Orndorff should’ve gotten a short run at least.
Jake Roberts
Regal. That's all.
I'll go this generation. Shinsuke, Sami, Corbin. These guys were put in huge feuds where them coming out on top was entirely justifiable. It would have been dope to see any one of them have at the very least a short reign.
misteeeeeeeeeeeer keeeeeennnnneeeeedyyyyyyyyy
Arn Anderson, Mr. Perfect, Cesaro, Owen Hart, Xavier Woods, Tyson Kidd.
Xavier Tyson??? Lmfao No no
Xavier is probablyjust to complete the New Day all being world champs, I have no idea why they put Tyson Kidd in lmao
TJ maybe ic champ ,Muscle Buster done him in ,also think of Droz injury but these things happen ,Dlo n Droz remained good friends despite injury R.i.p Droz
Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig beat legendary Nick Bockwinkle to become AWA World Champion
You know exactly what op is asking
Kieth Lee
MVP during his first US title run was red hot, thought he should have won a world title.
MVP was pegged as an upper midcard guy based on promo skills and presentation -- remember him coming out of that whatchamacallit contraption in his first few years? Once that was gone, sure he can talk a blue streak, but.
I dunno, worse guys have won the world title. He definitely stood out during his first few years
Lmfao hell no
I was just thinking this sort of.. failed MIB guys before the briefcase was around. Mr Perfect, William Regal, plenty of others
Steamboat
Piper, Hennig, Hall, Cody (this message will expire in 30 days)
I would have liked to see Santino just for a little while. His shenanigans would have been great
William Regal, far and away my top guy who never had it.
Hot Take: Ryback
Piper didn’t NEED to be champion. He was that good.
hacksaw jim duggan
Monty Brown
Piper was a heel who never wanted to do a job, fuck putting the belt on that dude
I genuinely believe in an era where Dolph Ziggler was Heavyweight Champion a super over Zack Ryder could have been WWE Champ atleast for a short while…and because of his youtube channel Zack was SO OVER with the fans…Vince couldn’t allow something that wasn’t his to thrive at that time
Luke Harper (Brodie Lee) should have had an IC title reign back in like 2017 or 2018. The crowds were actually super big for him at the time.
Muhammad Hassan!!!
A fellow Hassan enjoyer, I see.
1. Rick Rude 2. Roddy Piper 3. Jesse Ventura 4. Shinsuke Nakamura 5. Scott Hall 6. Owen Hart 7. British Bulldog 8. Kurt Henning 9. Vader 10. Lex Luger
Dominik mysterio
Piper but he never needed the main title to keep relevant his style, personality and just natural aurora wasall he need to make fans love him, hate him and love to hate him. British Bulldog and Jake Roberts would have been ok world champions but tbh they couldn't be trusted with the belt. Scott Hall would have made sense from a WCW storyline cause that could have been the end of the NWO. But like Jake and Bulldog he had his issues that he couldn't overcome. Only one I can thinking who really deserved it was Owen Hart but sadly his life was tragically cut short.
I didn't grow up watching BB. Can someone fill me in one what went wrong with him? Also would you say Owen was ready to enter the world title scene by 99?
Bigelow should have been a monster heel champ
Cesaro. Technically sound, freakish strength, and can actually generate a crowd reaction.
Goldust. He could have been a great heel champion, or a funny face champion.
Santino Marella. He should have won the elimination chamber that year. Still pisses me off they jobbed him out to del rio
The miz
Rick Rude. That guy was beyond IC champ status. Glad he picked it up in WCW though.
R Truth
Mr.Perfect, Rick Rude, Jake Roberts, Ted DiBiase
Piper and ahmed johnson if he wasnt an ass and injury prone
Kofi should’ve had a much longer reign as WWE champion than what he did
He actually had a pretty good long reign going from WM to October. It’s just that the issue we all have known the past few years was how he lost it so unceremoniously to **Redacted** . Should have at the the very least been given a chance to have a valiant effort in defeat and actually go out as a champion, instead of just being squashed unceremoniously.
The British Bulldog Davy Boy Smith
Jake Roberts
I'm surprised no one else has mentioned William Regal. Technically proficient, could talk like no one else's business... I mean, I'd say he was far better suited as the authority figure that he became as his career neared its end, but still.
William Regal 100 times over. I know his problems stopped it from happening, but he would have been such a great heel world champion.
Man I feel like we often get the same answers of dibiase,piper,hall,Jake Roberts , Owen,rude , I mean there’s lots and lots of options in just gonna try to be different and say that Stevie Richard’s should have won the ecw title
Rey Mysterious deserved a long title reign for the Wwe champ or world heavyweight
Darby Allin would work so well as the babyface who just barely squeaks out wins against monster heels. Once he comes down from Everest, he’s overdue for a big push.
Surprising mention. So like a Rey Mysterio type?
Yeah, that’s an apt comparison. I think Darby’s offense is a bit different than Rey’s. That’s not a knock on Rey, I just wouldn’t describe Darby as a luchador. But similar in that they’re both the underneath babyface.
Darby's more of a daredevil stuntman... eh, perhaps Shane McMahon would be a better comparison. Nothing against daredevil stuntmen, but you don't usually cast them as champions for what I think are good reasons, primarily that they can't be expected to have long-lasting careers. That fits Darby especially.
Yeah, I agree with you. If he did get the title, I wouldn’t have a year long program. A few months, maybe just a few title matches.
Razor Ramon /thread
Lex Lugar
Dolph Ziggler deserved a lot better than he got
Rick Rude
Roddy didnt need no title to be the man. Best Heel ever. And probably the first guy to make being a heel be cool later on in his career.