The Greatest Never-Was WWF/WWE Champion?

[IT Factor]

I dunno if this topic has been done before or not, but, I'm just interested in seeing everyone's stance on this; Who is your best, never-was WWF/WWE Champion? This can be from any era or time, basically just anyone who was more than worthy of becoming the main-eventer they never got to be[or at least solidify it with being WWF/WWE Champion].

For me, it has to be Mr. Perfect, Curt Hennig. If you look at all the WWF Champions from that time, they were all people who at one time or another feuded with Mr Perfect. Bret Hart, Diesel, Taker, HBK etc. I'm sure there are ALOT of people I'm leaving out, but, you get the picture. I believe that Mr. Perfect had 5 star matches with alot of different size and style guys and should've been WWF Champion before his final run. Sadly, it never happened. Discuss.....

 

[Workrate]

Yeah, Mr. Perfect is a good choice. Razor Ramon is another one that immediately came to mind. And I think Owen Hart and Brian Pillman both warrant mentioning, though their circumstances obviously were a little different.

 

[#heel420]

Mr. Perfect of course. I still can't believe he was never a WWF Champ. Owen Hart is another one. Managed to accomplish literally every thing but the WWF Title. It's sad to think about what could of been if his life wasn't tragically cut short. Scott Hall is magic on the mic. Every time he would cut a promo it would make me smile. I love the bad guy, would of liked to see what he could of done with the strap.

 

[SydTinDad]

Hands down............Rowdy Roddy Piper.

You can throw Andre in there as #2 because you cannot count his 30 second reign before he handed the belt to Dibiase.

 

[Widowmaker75]

This is an interesting thread because there are many that could've carried the banner for WWWF/WWF/WWE. People have earlier mentioned Rowdy Roddy Piper, "Mr Perfect" Curt Henning and Andre, I will not argue the point that all three of them could've been the man. However someone mention Scott " Razor Ramon" Hall, he was used in the best role that he could've ever fit, mid'card champion. There are four names that no one has mentioned so I will.....

Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, He was a talented wrestler that could have a match with a broom and make it look awesome while not the biggest man in the era of the muscle bound men that couldn't tell a wristlock from a wrist watch....I don't think I need to name the man...BROTHER

Tito Santana, once again a talented wrestler that was never considered above mid card use.....before the Matador gimmick...

Willaim Regal..just saying his name is enough because it speaks for itself.

Last and certainly not least....

"The Living Legend" Larry Zbysco, this man had ability to wrestle, get under people's skin and was good on the mic. He drew enough heat to melt glaciers. If you don't agree with him being on my list, then you deserve a one way trip to LARRYLAND!!!!

 

[ECW Sandman]

four people come to mind to me Rowdy Roddy Piper, Mr. Perfect Curt Henning Ravishing Rick Rude and last but not least Owen Hart. all four men were good in the ring why Vince did not put the WWF Belt on them no one will ever know but Curt was the AWA Champion and Rude was the WCW Champion and your telling me there caliber in the ring was not good enough to be WWF Champion at least in WCW Rude had a shot at the title and won it they made him Job to Warrior at Summer Slam when Rude was a better performer then warrior will ever be.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

The guys who jump out to me are Perfect, DiBiasi, Piper, Owen and Razor.

But if I could just pick one it would have to be Perfect. I believe most of this is due to the WWF at that time not really putting the belt around heels. From the time Hogan won his first championship to the time he lost to Yoko at KOTR, the only heel champs were Macho, Slaughter, Flair and Yoko. And of these 4, Macho was the only guy who was something more then a transitional champion (Yoko didn't become more then that till after he beat Hogan at KOTR).

The deck was stacked against Perfect from the jump.

 

[Owen 3:16 says I just stole your Slammy!!]

"Rowdy" Roddy Piper comes to my mind. Rowdy can draw a crowd, people love to see Piper. He had the skills, he can talk on the mic, he can wrestle. Rowdy can draw heat from the fans, or he can be a great baby face. Vince said, Piper did not need a title to prove himself like other guys. The reason why he became an IC champion because the fans demanded he become a champion. Piper should atleast got a WWF title run.

Owen Hart should of been a WWF champion. In my opinion, Owen deserved the title more then Nash in '95.

 

[DX Mols]

I would have to agree with Piper, Mr. Perfect, Razor, and Steamboat. If we're talking the PG Era, I'd say Morrison or Ziggler (as his "reign" doesn't count).

If the questions would be who's undeserving of the title, the top 2 names that come to mind are Great Khali and Jack Swagger.

 

[deadtaker]

I don't count Owen Hart because I do believe he would have been a champion if not for the accident. He was suppose to take the King of Kings Character that Triple H ended up getting so I believe within a year he would have been Champion.

So my pick would probably be Piper. He was a guy who was at the top but didn't need a title to make him relevant. The rest were upper mid carders while Piper was a main eventer.

 

[rokuma]

It's unbelievable Ted Dibiase never got even a short run with the title. He was the hottest heel in the late 80s. I still can't believe he didn't win the WM 4 tournament. He could've dropped the belt to Savage at Summerslam. He was always my favorite wrestler...at least until HBK came along.

Perfect is another example. How could he have not had even a small run with the gold? Especially in 1993 when Hogan, Savage, and the like were gone. Bret Hart was chosen over Perfect? Really?

What about Lex Luger? They hyped him up and had him beat Yokozuna by countout...how did he not eventually get a run with the title? He was moderately over (maybe more over than some in the WWF at that time).

Also, Razor Ramon is unbelievable. He was hands down one of the most popular faces on the roster in 1995/1996. I don't know if Hall's drinking and legal troubles were prevalent back then, but I can't understand why he never had a run with the world championship. What didn't he have? He was charismatic, talented, big, and extremely over. In 1995, you could argue he was as over as Shawn Michaels or Diesel.

The last one on my list is Goldust. In 1996, he was controversial and DESPISED by the crowd. His homosexual behavior towards Razor and some of his other opponents like Piper were heat drawing magnets. He was over as a heel, but he never even got into consideration for the title, while newcomers like Mankind did (who wasn't over at the time) and eventually he was turned face in 1997. What a waste.

 

[Kizzani]

The thing to remember is that the era was different back then, it was about body type, skill set and politics. Henning, Piper, DiBiase, and many others. It seems to me many wrestlers were content to sit on the mid card and become the best at the Intercontinental title division. But that was then when title held a sort of prestige.

Now it is all based around the 2 ( makes no sense) world titles, No other company as far as I can remember has had 2 world title setting one guy above the rest. Now those two titles only one holds power. CM punk as a champ gets over shadowed by Cena/ X ( X equals any old superstar wee wants to add) , However Sheamus on smackdown still stands as the most important story line.

If you could have DiBiase, Henning, Piper, Rude, and others left out of the title picture then back in the WWE now ( at thier prime) they would all have held the championship most likely within 3 months of each other.

One person I really wish would have gotten a world title run, No for any other reason then liking the character was Papa Shango ( aka: Godfather). But even with his very under developed ring skills and mediocre mic skills he would have made a horrible champion. ( I think) but at second glance Cena lacks Ring skills and John Morrison lacked mic skills.

Overall I think the era has changed from Wrestiling being important to mic skills being way more important. But hey times change and so does the business with it. So you either change with the times or you end up like WCW, ECW and soon TNA.

 

[Cookie14]

How has no-one said Jake 'the snake' Roberts yet? Him, Piper, DiBiase, Hennig and Steamboat could have all been champions. So could Big Boss Man and Goldust. All of these were able to draw massive fan reaction and had huge fueds with main-eventers.

 

[rokuma]

How has no-one said Jake 'the snake' Roberts yet? Him, Piper, DiBiase, Hennig and Steamboat could have all been champions. So could Big Boss Man and Goldust. All of these were able to draw massive fan reaction and had huge fueds with main-eventers.

That's a great call. Watch this clip from the 1990 Royal Rumble, when Jake enters and listen to this ovation. Below Hogan and possibly Dusty Rhodes at the time, Jake was the MOST OVER face in the company. I can only assume his drinking problems led to him not receiving the belt. Or any belt for that matter.

 

[Cookie14]

I know I've already posted quite a big list, but I've just remembered another one....... Umaga! He fueded with everyone who was anyone, was over with the fans, got great heat thanks to his manager, but never got the strap. He deserved it. I was also surprised Test never got a title run during his fued with HHH over the marriage to Steph, or when he won the Battle Royal for immunity to be fired during the Invasion angle. Both of these storylines show that he was important to WWE, but still never got a title run.
Final name from me, maybe a slighty contoversial one, Billy Gunn. Can't argue that he was over, just needed that final push......
Wait, one more......... Davey Boy Smith, aka The British Bulldog. He would have been a perfect foil for Bret Hart if it had not been for the steroid scandal.

 

[Fansince1992]

How has no-one said Jake 'the snake' Roberts yet?

As i read through peoples responses i was just waiting for his name to crop up somewhere. If i recall Jake never held a single Title in his whole WWF Carrear. I might be wrong.

To me he was the Ultimate Heel of the Golden Era. It is also rumoured that the move "DDT" comes from him, standing for "Damien's Dinner Time"

His Gimmick was truly unique especially as heel, every opponent he faced would always be wary of the Python in the sack, this alone seemed to give Jake an advantage even before a match started.

His Fued with Randy Savage was one of the best of all time. He did some Vial things to Randy and his wife Liz. Slapping her across the face, Having Damien bite Randy when he was trapped in the ropes, and gatecrashing thier wedding party with a gift of "A Snake in a box"

I think when heels like Undertaker, Flair, and Sid Justice came along Jake couldn't keep up with them.

 

[HBKperfect23]

I think the obvious that were mentioned above would be Roddy Piper, Mr Perfect, The Million Dollar Man, Rick Rude would all be finalist in this category. Davey Boy and Jake Roberts definitly deserve to be mentioned and Owen Hart would have probably become champion.

Since we have to pick just one I am going to have to go with Piper. Its really hard for me to pass up Dibiase here but Piper was IMO Hogans greatest oppenent and would have been the guy to take the title if he were to drop it to a heel in the mid 80s. Perfect could have carried the ball but I think he was a better fit for the IC title. Rude could have beat Warrior at SS90 and had a short run.

 

[duckbutter]

I would agree with most of these. My picks are (in no particular order) Roddy Piper, Paul Orndorff, Jake Roberts and Ted DiBiase. Adrian Adonis in his prime might have been a good choice, too, before he went "soft".

There's really no one else I look back at and say "why wasn't he ever the champ"?

 

[THTRobtaylor]

This thread has been done so many times... but I always come back to the same thing...

In that era, most of the wrestlers who didn't have titles had gimmicks that wouldn't have worked with them. Jake Roberts had Damien... if he'd had a belt to parade and work with then he would have had to lose Damien and thus the appeal... both together wouldn't work.

Same for guys like Brutus, Bossman (a cop with a title?) and Piper.

Rude was always ahead of Perfect, in that the only reason in 1990 he didn't get the title was cos Hogan and Warrior held him down by claiming he was too small. Had the Saddam stuff not happened, Rude would have been the guy to beat Warrior, not Slaughter. DiBiase had his own belt, which kind of worked better for him as it added to his aura. Piper was never really going to get it once he decided to retire to hollywood (for a year lol).

Perfect could have gone there if his back had held out, but by the time he lost to Bret Hart the writing was on the wall for him that he was about done, any earlier for him would not have worked. Could he have had it on one of his returns, possibly, but then again it has been said by many that just before his death Rick Rude was in shape for his title winning return.

Another guy who hasn't been mentioned yet and to me about the same with Rude... Davey Boy Smith!

Many people thought that it was Davey who came out of Summerslam 92 with the most chance of the big title, with the WWF being so huge in England. He was a casualty of Warrior's drug bust and canned, but Vince ALWAYS booked Davey strong and looked after him out of the ring afterwards it was reminiscent of Triple H after the MSG incident. Had that not happened then it is a good chance that Davey would have gone over Flair and dropped the belt to Bret at Mania in their rematch.

In 96, Davey was on fire against Shawn in that feud and really should have been the guy to dethrone him rather than Sid. Even when he returned the last time he was still in the title mix right up until the end. In reality Davey's out of ring problems and later injuries probably stopped him getting the belt. but it's clear that out of most of the guys on this list he was pushed more consistently. Vince knew he'd promised him a title run and hadn't delivered so created the European title for him... the only blemish on how Vince treated him was over the Shawn loss in England... Sadly that finished Davey as his dying sister saw him lose... but even then Vince was the guy putting him through rehab...

 

[HenryOGodwin]

I dunno if this topic has been done before or not

Not only has this topic been done, but it seems that a new thread exactly like this pops up every other fucking week! We get it, Roddy Piper, Mr. Perfect, Razor Ramon, it's the same EVERY time. Enough already.

My answer, BTW, is Henry Godwin because he was my favorite pig farmer of all time. Phineaus was a close second.

 

[kidmetal24]

Jake Roberts is my pick. He was possibly one of the best heel characters of his time. Second would be Curt Hennig and third is Rick Rude for sure.

 

[JAK]

From when I started watching wrestling around Wrestlemania 6:

Ted DiBiase - Mr. Perfect - Jake the Snake - Dusty Rhodes (I didn't like Dusty but he I believe he was desrving of a run).

Going backwards a little: Rick Steamboat - King Kong Bundy - Rowdy Roddy Piper

Going forwards a lot:

Matt Hardy (Edge vs Hardy was a made money feud and should have ended at Wrestlemania with Hardy winning the title after winning the Royal Rumble so he could challenge Edge) - John Morrison - Kofi Kingston.

Ken Shamrock, Goldust and Owen Hart (short reign from Rumble to No Way Out after the Montreal double cross).

 

[chrisyboi1875]

My pick might suprise you here but i honestly think...

Montel Vontavious Porter - MVP

I sure as hell liked this guy and he was getting a slight push on raw each week not too long before he left.

Great character good wrestler, sweet entrance

MVP for Champ!

Yeah ul probably think random huh? if anyone agrees with me perfect!

 

[EastCoastFan]

Back before the Monday Night Wars and monthly pay-per-views, titles didn't change hands as often and in was not uncommon for the WWF Champion to hold the title for years.

In the pre-Vince WWWF, there were many guys like Chief Jay Strongbow who were crowd favorites, but since no one could hold a candle to Bruno Sammartino's drawing power, he kept the title.

When Vince took over, Hulk Hogan became "the guy" and had a 4-year reign as WWF Champion, where he defended the title against a Rogues Gallery of heels. Of all those guys, I'd probably say Roddy Piper was his biggest nemesis and one who could have been WWF Champion.

Also, Ted DiBiase was originally slated to win the WWF title tournament at WrestleMania 4, but plans changed. He's another one who would have made a great WWF Champion.

When Hogan became less involved (and ultimately left), they tried a few different proven guys like Ric Flair, Randy Savage and Bret Hart as champ. For this time period, Curt Hennig is frequently brought up as someone who should have gotten a reign as WWF Champ. I know he had neck problems during that time (that's why he was Ric Flair's manager for a while), but he probably would have made a good WWF Champ. I don't think the AWA did that much with him when he was AWA Champion and the highlight of his reign seemed to be when he lost the title to Jerry Lawler in Memphis.

With 2-hour prime-time TV shows and monthly PPV's, titles became hot potatoes and it seemed like everyone who deserved it got it, along with a few who didn't (David Arquette, Vince Russo, Vince McMahon, ...). I remember reading somewhere that the Rock had nine reigns as a world champion, but his reigns put together don't add up to ONE year.

 

[WRESTLING_GENIUS]

I Cant believe no one has said British Bulldog, he was an excellent big muscular athlete can wrestle his ass off, and he never won the WWE championship, He also couldve won it because he was in an era where there was not that one guy, other than Bret who he had excellent matches with, he won every title except the big one just like Owen Hart, hell he even won the damn Hardcore championship a few times lol.....