Top Ten WWE Legends Who Have Never Won A World Title

[The Future Rises]

WWE.com did a video on this, the top ten greatest WWE legends who have never won a WWE world's title, and honestly it was a pretty good list that they had, so I thought I'd make a thread on this. now I don't really wanna put all those legends in order, but if I had to pick one person who I would say was the greatest to have never won a world title, it would be Mr.Perfect Curt Hennig. But there are alot of other talented performers who never won the big one like Roddy Piper, Rick Rude, Ted DiBiase.Sr, Razor Ramon..etc, so here is my question :

- Who Do You Think Was The Greatest WWE Legend That Never Won A World Title During His Run And Why?

 

[Sinister Shadows]

I'm gonna say Razor Ramon, he was great on the mic, good in ring skills, unfortunately his own personal demons kept him from achieving the highest level of success that his abilities could have taken him to.

 

[D2J2009]

I would have to say the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase jus because of the fact that he was the absolute best heel of his time when he was wrestling, but I do think that the angle where he tried to buy the championship really hurt his credibility because it seemed to me more like a manager role, he didn't do much in the ring after that angle

 

[steveh0481]

Jake the Snake Roberts was the guy for me that I always hoped would win the title but, like the aforementioned Razor Ramon, suffered from well publicized personal demons.

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

WWE.com did a video on this, the top ten greatest WWE legends who have never won a WWE world's title, and honestly it was a pretty good list that they had, so I thought I'd make a thread on this. now I don't really wanna put all those legends in order, but if I had to pick one person who I would say was the greatest to have never won a world title, it would be Mr.Perfect Curt Hennig. But there are alot of other talented performers who never won the big one like Roddy Piper, Rick Rude, Ted DiBiase.Sr, Razor Ramon..etc, so here is my question :

- Who Do You Think Was The Greatest WWE Legend That Never Won A World Title During His Run And Why?

Sadly WWE has tricked most fans into what defines a World Champion these days, Mr. Perfect and Rick Rude for example while they never won the WWF World Heavyweight Championships, they were indeed World Champions.

Mr. Perfect won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship in 1987 from Nick Bockwinkel and granted the WWF was gaining massive ground on the AWA ever since Hulk Hogan left the AWA to go back to the WWF, but make no mistake the AWA for all intents and purposes was THE company before Vince's expansion plans in the eighties. The NWA was a pretty strong competitor too, but the American Wrestling Association was a MAJOR player in the wrestling business and Curt Hennig won their title when the company still had a few years left so while it wasn't at the company's peak time they were still a major wrestling outlet and were available nationwide on ESPN.

Therefore Curt Hennig was indeed a World Champion and just because it wasn't under WWF/E's banner does not diminish that he was a World Champion, I don't blame you for this because you may or may not have known this, but WWE's revisionist history is maddening and this example is the worst I have ever seen.

Then of course there's Rick Rude, WCW International may have been a "fictional" subsidiary of WCW but the Big Gold Belt was still a World Title and to account for NWA and WCW's split in the early 90s along with the Big Gold Belt being owned by WCW, they had to think of something and Rick Rude was VERY qualified to hold that title. People these days have no problem acknowledging both John Cena and Randy Orton as World Champions in this brand extension era that the WWE's had for the past decade, basically Rick Rude holding the WCW International World Championship along with Vader as the WCW World Champion was basically the pre-cursor to what you see in WWE today with the two different World Champions.

Therefore, Rick Rude also was a former World Champion despite what WWE's selective memory might lead you to believe.

Just wanted to point that out. However I have several picks for people I think should have gotten the strap in any promotion:

- Owen Hart - He had a great amount of talent and played a great heel, even if it was as a transitional champion, it'd rule. And it would have been a great booking move because Owen was an example of a traditional wrestler that fit very well into the modern era of the artform.

- Razor Ramon - Great performances, great persona, awesome charisma. The guy just had a look and told a great story in the ring, he had a couple close opportunities but they never reached fruition with a title win. It's unfortunate.

- Roddy Piper - The guy defined Hulk Hogan's first WWF Title run by being such a foil in my opinion, it was a great protagonist/antagonist story. I loved every moment of it and as wrestling fans we are all the better for Roddy Piper, it's just too bad that during the 90s he never got the World Championship. I remember hoping he was going to win the WWF World Title in the Royal Rumble, the one that Flair won. Then of course beating Hogan in WCW would have been great, but there were plans for Hogan and Sting the whole time which was cool but at the same time Piper as WCW World Champion would have rocked.

- Million Dollar Man - Technically, he is a former WWF World Champion in my mind...sure he bought the World Title but screw it, in Boston and Philly he showed up at their arenas wearing it and was being billed as the World Champion after the infamous twin referee scandal on the Main Event in February of 1988. But considering it's not on WWE's title history, I will just say that it would have been nice to see him a World Title in his career, but alas it did not happen.

- Jake Roberts - This guy had it all, I just loved his whole persona and his aura. A World Championship would have been an amazing happening, but Jake was so great as we know that he didn't need the title, but hell it would have been awesome to see him take it. I would have preferred this happening as a villain, a feud with the Undertaker over the strap would have been the way I'd like to have seen it happen.

Anyway, that's my two cents on the whole thing, but leave it to WWE to skew the minds of fans, a pretty sad thing I gotta say.

 

[blkshp]

I don't think WWE was "skewering"anything, because none of those guys were WWE champion even if they champs elsewhere. To me that sounds more like a personal beef you have with them over not mentioning title reigns from other promotions (the exceptions being WCW and ECW after Vince bought them), which in the end is their right to do on their programming. I personally could care less if a guy became a Worlds champ or not. Owen Hart was one of my favorites and so was Mr. Perfect and Piper, them not winning the WWE championship did nothing to lesson their greatness imo.

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

I don't think WWE was "skewering"anything, because none of those guys were WWE champion even if they champs elsewhere. To me that sounds more like a personal beef you have with them over not mentioning title reigns from other promotions (the exceptions being WCW and ECW after Vince bought them), which in the end is their right to do on their programming. I personally could care less if a guy became a Worlds champ or not. Owen Hart was one of my favorites and so was Mr. Perfect and Piper, them not winning the WWE championship did nothing to lesson their greatness imo.

If they own the history of those companies I just mentioned then in my opinion it is indeed skewering. Vince owns the AWA, ECW and WCW archives therefore I'm using that to support MY opinion, as much as I appreciate the history of the World Wrestling Federation, a World Champion anywhere else, to me is a World Heavyweight Champion...PERIOD. Especially if we are talking about organizations WWE has absorbed.

 

[reed214]

Owen Hart is a very good pick, but my pick is Arn Anderson. four horsemen/tag team specialist/ lowermidcard champion. didnt get the title because those who were on top never moved (including ric flair),but by around he was forced to retire he was probably happy with his career.if you look at all around ability & on the mic, he was way better than probably 100 world champions in both companies.

dibase and piper are up there as well, but the enforcer is #1 in my book.

 

[blkshp]

But your opinion is just that. Technically WWE exists in its own little Vince created universe. The whole article was about the greatest never to win a "WWE world championship", not the greatest who didn't win a world championship anywhere else. Hell if its that important to find out how many total world titles someone has one, try wikipedia, but that's not what the article or the thread was even about. Its not even a debate, because this apples and oranges.

 

[billm75]

If they own the history of those companies I just mentioned then in my opinion it is indeed skewering. Vince owns the AWA, ECW and WCW archives therefore I'm using that to support MY opinion, as much as I appreciate the history of the World Wrestling Federation, a World Champion anywhere else, to me is a World Heavyweight Champion...PERIOD. Especially if we are talking about organizations WWE has absorbed.

To disagree with this point, I will say you never hear the NFL say that the Chicago Bears were NFL champions prior to the Superbowl Era. Your point is valid that alot of these guys were champions, top champions, but they were never WWF/E Superbowl Champions, so to speak. They held world titles in other organizations, regardless if those organizations' histories and companies were purchased by Vince's company.

Again, I get what you're saying, but you're missing the point that they were never WWF/E World Heavyweight Champs.

To stay on topic of the OP, I say Roddy Piper was the greatest to never get the belt. He didn't need it of course, but to me, it would have been the right thing to do for all he brought to the table. Hogan was the face, but Piper was THE heel in his prime.

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

But your opinion is just that. Technically WWE exists in its own little Vince created universe. The whole article was about the greatest never to win a "WWE world championship", not the greatest who didn't win a world championship anywhere else. Hell if its that important to find out how many total world titles someone has one, try wikipedia, but that's not what the article or the thread was even about. Its not even a debate, because this apples and oranges.

WWE likes to pick and choose how they incorporate their history and make these lists. So if we want to get technical since Vince likes to acknowledge that he's bought these companies both in and out of kayfabe one could make an argument that you could include the defunct organizations World Titles in this list, because after all the Big Gold Belt wasn't a WWE title initially, but it's one now.

Look at it like this the Mr. Perfect DVD, Chris Jericho's statements make it sound like Curt Hennig never won a World Title period. I mean the way I look at it, WWE owns these title histories and the titles themselves. Granted, we're just talking pro wrestling so by comparison to other subjects this is pretty trivial but in my opinion WWE owns a vast amount of pro wrestling history and like I said they're a pick and choose company.

I never really hear any praise for Hennig and Rude's World Title successes outside of WWE and when the only title reigns that really get any respectable amount of discussion by WWE is their Intercontinental Championship runs. Now that would be understandable if WWE did not own the footage of other organizations. But since WWE's library is rather extensive it'd be nicer to see the lineage of these other organizations World Championships get some praise.

There was more to wrestling than just Hulk Hogan and even Ric Flair (despite how big a fan I am of the aforementioned), so I can see where your argument is coming from, but I know I'm not holding my breath for a World Champion retrospective anytime soon on WWE.com and the more Top Ten Lists that I see only highlighting the WWE's definition of a World Champion the more misinformed I can see wrestling fanbase's being.

I'm an all or nothing type of individual when it comes to wrestling history, when people watch videos like this that don't happen to have been fans of my age group or above, when they see these features they are only going to think Perfect and Rude had careers strictly within WWF's universe. My philosophy if you're going to be like WWE and buy all your competition, I'd like to see a more faithful representation of things and lists like this one and as you can tell with the way the OP interpreted WWE's video is that the only World Title that exists out there is a WWE branded one, when we all know that's far from the truth.

 

[kingjaekob]

As far as WWE/WWF champions, Razor Ramon, Rick Rude(WCW Intnl Champ), Curt Henning (AWA Champ), Ricky The Dragon Steamboat (NWA/WCW Cmp), British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith, Lex Lugar (wcw), Rick The Model Martel (awa), Tito Santana, Roddy Piper, Kerry Von Erich (WCCW/NWA) Again some of these guys won world titles at other promotions, but never at WWE/WWF. These guys are way better, than guys like Edge, Jeff Hardy, RVD, Christian, and a few others guys, that should have NEVER been Champions!

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

To disagree with this point, I will say you never hear the NFL say that the Chicago Bears were NFL champions prior to the Superbowl Era. Your point is valid that alot of these guys were champions, top champions, but they were never WWF/E Superbowl Champions, so to speak. They held world titles in other organizations, regardless if those organizations' histories and companies were purchased by Vince's company.

Again, I get what you're saying, but you're missing the point that they were never WWF/E World Heavyweight Champs.

To stay on topic of the OP, I say Roddy Piper was the greatest to never get the belt. He didn't need it of course, but to me, it would have been the right thing to do for all he brought to the table. Hogan was the face, but Piper was THE heel in his prime.

Well if I were the OP I would definitely title the post a lot differently next time, and granted he was discussing a WWE themed video and not his own then please read below to see WHY I wanted to add a little bit of insight to this topic. Plus he asked which legends he thought should have won a "World Title", the OP himself never specified "WWE World Title".

WWE.com did a video on this, the top ten greatest WWE legends who have never won a WWE world's title, and honestly it was a pretty good list that they had, so I thought I'd make a thread on this. now I don't really wanna put all those legends in order, but if I had to pick one person who I would say was the greatest to have never won a world title, it would be Mr.Perfect Curt Hennig. But there are alot of other talented performers who never won the big one like Roddy Piper, Rick Rude, Ted DiBiase.Sr, Razor Ramon..etc, so here is my question :

- Who Do You Think Was The Greatest WWE Legend That Never Won A World Title During His Run And Why?

I'm just saying that by reading what the OP wrote, and not saying that the OP wrote is invalid but World Title is a rather interpretative pair of words. He's taking what the WWE posted about and presenting it here on this forum and by his wording I thought I would expand upon it a bit more hence the nature of my initial post. Which I admit I should have worded a little bit better, but just the same, I don't think the OP presented his point all that accurately in my view.

Had the OP merely said "WWE World Title" in the subject line, I'd have probably approached the statement differently but with what I've read here, I thought I would contribute a few more points to this topic. In my view the OP might have been referencing the video itself but his post in my opinion does not reflect the video. The OP said "World Title" while WWE talks about the "WWE Title" which is interesting because I think in this instance the World Heavyweight Championship is being considered the same thing as the WWE Title. In other contexts it is typically presented as a separate title completely, I am only saying this because I would say Goldberg and Booker T would be a good argument to add to that list since they were never WWE Champions, but World Heavyweight Champions instead. But that's a WWE thing, what more can I say?

But for those who are jumping into this thread and not having a frame of reference, here is the video to it. All in all it's a very good presentation and despite my less than warm and fuzzy feelings towards today's WWE product, I can appreciate the presentation and the topic at hand.

WWE.com Countdown - Championship Chasers - Click the following to view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KrHcPj-25Y

 

[Azane]

Roddy Piper.

One of the best heels, and he still has it today. His talk sessions and charisma put him over, even if his ringwork was only slightly above average, his psychology was great.

If you're ignoring all titles ever, I have to say, I don't remember anyone to never win a single title in any organization that was worth mentioning.

 

[rge2010]

I remember when I was a kid I always thought The British Bulldog should have held the Gold. I am from the UK so maybe a tad biased but he had the look and he was WAY over. I look back now at his promos an I suppose the answer is there though.

Mr Perfect and Ted Dibiase tie for me. I dont need to repeat what has already been said about the two.

 

[mayankeagle]

I'm gonna say Razor Ramon, he was great on the mic, good in ring skills, unfortunately his own personal demons kept him from achieving the highest level of success that his abilities could have taken him to.

Agree, 200 per cent. He had the look and personality as well as the skill to make it to the top. Just look at his ladder match with Michaels at Mania. The guy could work classics and carry a good gimmick. Too bad it didn't work out for him. Hands down, he will be the # 1 in my list to never win the belt.

 

[crippler]

The greatest Legend to never be Champion would be between 2 guys Rowdy Roddy Piper The guy could get a crowd reaction like no other until the Rock. The 2nd is Big John Studd A big man that could carry himself very well in the ring and had the best manger unfortunatly was overshined by Andre The Giant. Both these guys were no doubt never Champion due to the fact they were big stars in the Hogan era and the WWF (at that time) had hogan champion for almost 4 years what a waste.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I would have to go with Rowdy Roddy Piper. The man was a huge draw and was one of Hogan's main rivals for years. I am so surprised they never gave him the belt, seeing Hogan chase Piper for the gold and probably beat him at a WM would have been HUGE.

Piper was incredibly over as a heel, one of the best talkers of all time and could have used devious tactics to hold on to the belt in matches against Hogan and others, cheating to win and making the fans hate him even more, before Hulk finally got him one on one at Mania and would beat him for the belt. He didnt need the belt to be a mega-heel, but I think he should have had it. If he was around today he would be a multi-time champion but it was at the time when Hogan held the title for years.


My second pick would be Davey Boy Smith, aka The British Bulldog. He was another who should have been given the chance. Bulldog was really good in the ring, always over and certainly had the look of a champion, even more so than Piper. Plus, as the first English Heavyweight Champion, he would have been a megastar on these shores, even more so than he already was. It would have been great for the WWF's business to have Bulldog as the champion. However, like so many others who should have been champion, like Jake Roberts and Razor Ramon, Davey had substance abuse issues which proved to be his downfall and so we never got a chance to see how he would have fared as Champion.

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

Well I did say "during his run" as in during his run with the company but I apologize if I confused you. But this thread was definitely supposed to be about good talents who never won a world title in the WWE/F.

It's all good man, lol like I had said in my replies I did get a little interpretative with it, and kinda let it go beyond the parameters of its original idea. However, you definitely motivated me to find the original video you were referencing, this is an awesome thread no doubt even if I was wondering why it wasn't title as well as I think it could have been, however in the actual text of your posting you did that, so no harm no foul.

Great topic just the same and I hope it gets more momentum, I thoroughly enjoyed the thread good sir!