Which superstar should have been World Champion in the past 5 years?

[NegativeFeedback]

I think WWE takes too long to pull the trigger on some successful acts and that ends up damaging their prospects. Take for example Del Rio in 2011. His WWE title reign fell flat later in the year because he had was booked like a chump when it mattered most. But at least he was able to overcome that and get a solid main event run afterwards. But there are some guys who weren't so lucky.

Here are some instances where I think WWE should have pulled the trigger and given someone the WWE or World Heavyweight Championship:

• Santino Marella at the 2012 Elimination Chamber. I think he should have won, defended the title in a Triple Threat against Sheamus and Daniel Bryan, and then lost the title to Sheamus at Extreme Rules. He was really over, and the crowd would have ate up that World title win. He would have been booked like Mankind, comedic, but with a mean streak. I would have loved to see the matches he could have put on.

• Kofi Kingston during his late 2009 push against Randy Orton. He was very over and they could have turned that into a Royal Rumble win, but after the "Stupid" incident, he was back to being a midcarder/jobber and he's stayed in that role ever since.

• John Morrison after his 2010 push against Sheamus. He had a star-making performance at TLC where he won a WWE title shot. His Falls Count Anywhere match with The Miz was also excellent. I think they could have turned him into their new Jeff Hardy since he had some great high-flying spots at the Rumble and at EC. He should have been sent to SD for a World title push later that year.

• Cody Rhodes during his masked persona. He turned an accidental broken nose into a great gimmick. He went from a narcissistic Dashing persona to thinking he was ugly. Using his mask as a weapon was fantastic, and after beating Rey at Mania, I think he should have been set up for a World title win. Cody and Morrison could have been the Jeff/Punk of Smackdown if they had pushed them correctly after WrestleMania 27.

• Damien Sandow after winning the 2013 Money in the Bank. He was one of the best acts on the show with his intellectual savior persona, and he had a nice grudge feud with Cody Rhodes coming out of the ladder match. Cody/Damien would have been a great World title feud that elevated both of them to a main event level.

• R-Truth during his Conspiracy craze on Raw. He completely reinvented himself into an impressive new character. He was not only easy to hate, but he was funny and badass, and we haven't seen a combination like that since The Rock. They should have pulled the trigger and given him the title. The fact that he couldn't get the job done is what shoved him down to the midcard. If you're a crazy funny guy who doesn't win, then you're just a comedic jobber. But if you're a crazy funny guy who can win matches, you can get on the level of Mankind/Chris Jericho/The Rock/etc. They missed the boat on R-Truth.

• Mark Henry after his retirement promo last year. He's never won the WWE title, but I think it would have been a great time to pull the trigger on that. He didn't need a very long run, but as a former world champ, a small reign with the title wouldn't have hurt him. It's too bad he didn't do that promo earlier in the year. Instead, he was caught smack in the middle of WWE's Authority plans, so they weren't able to just pull an audible and give him the title.

• Jack Swagger at WrestleMania 29. Yeah, I know the arrest didn't help Jack at all, but it would have been great to see Jack Swagger beat Del Rio at WrestleMania and then have his former tag team partner Dolph Ziggler cash in on Raw. Swagger/Ziggler could have carried SD for a while while Del Rio & Ricardo took on Hell No in the tag division. That was how I wanted everything to go at the time, but sadly, Jack and Dolph both went back to the midcard and have stayed there ever since.

• Wade Barrett during the Nexus Invasion. By winning NXT, he was guaranteed a WWE title shot and he used it up in a 6-pack-challenge. And while he got 1-on-1 title shots afterwards, WWE never pulled the trigger which was a shame. I think Wade winning the title and defending it against Cena was the natural progression of that feud, and Cena winning it at the end would have been a nice ending for the Nexus instead of that weird chair-burial that we got.

• Drew McIntyre in 2010. The guy was really over and he was poised on becoming the next World Champion. He failed a bunch of qualifying matches for the WM26 Money in the Bank until he finally got in, so they were building towards him winning it and everybody knew it. But we know how WWE is obsessed with being unpredictable so they gave it to Jack Swagger who was a total goober before winning the briefcase and the title 2 days later. That should have been Drew so they could finally progress the Chosen One angle. I'll always consider his booking one of WWE's biggest disappointments.

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So who do you think should have won the World title? Is your pick any of the above or is it another circumstance? I think there are plenty more examples so I'd like to hear your thoughts.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

The only guy from the list you give that I can really make the argument for is Wade Barrett during the Nexus angle. Barrett (and the Nexus) needed some legitimacy that it never really got. Putting the belt on him, even for a short period of time, would've done that.

I'd argue that Sheamus needed another World Champion run as a heel to establish him. I've said time and again that Sheamus' happy go lucky, "Hey Fella" schtick has buried him in the midcard, and he is nearly forgotten today. He was dangerous at the beginning of his push, and that was lost slowly but surely. Sheamus is now in his late 30s, and probably not going to be pushed as much compared to the newcomers like Reigns, Rollins, Wyatt, etc. Sadly, I think Sheamus' time has come and gone.

 

[WBL]

Wade Barrett, no question. He has the charisma, he had the crowd behind him, he was a credible threat to John Cena... well, about a credible a threat as any consider how he's booked... and he was getting everyone behind him again with his Intercontinental Title run. It's an absolute frigging shame that Barrett never won the title. Hopefully that'll be rectified soon enough, as word is Barrett will be cleared in a couple of months.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I have to agree with the other two posters. The only guy that I can really see a good argument for is Wade Barrett. Barrett was the glue that held Nexus together and, frankly, he was the only one of the group that kept Nexus relevant. I believe that, had Triple H had the power then that he has now, Nexus members as a whole would've been booked more prominently and better, but that's neither here nor there.

Barrett is someone that's been consistently enjoyable, in my eyes at least, either on the mic or inside the ring. I think a couple of issues have arisen that ultimately have set Barrett's career back.

The most obvious one is that Barrett was another victim of Vince's paranoia that fans would lose faith in John Cena. As a result, Barrett lost against Cena during a time that such wins over Cena would've been huge for him while Cena himself would have lost absolutely nothing. Vince protects John Cena to such a degree that it's more of a detriment to those he happens to be in programs with. Barrett certainly wasn't the first to suffer from Vince's insistence of booking John Cena as "Super Cena" and, as we've seen over the past month, he's also not going to be the last.

Another problem for Barrett is that he's suffered significant injury when he's in the middle of a good, strong push. It happened a few years ago during WrestleMania season which, reportedly, as going to feature the return of the MITB ladder match to WrestleMania. According to reports, Barrett was penciled to win that match, though whether he would have challenged for the WWE or World Heavyweight Championship wasn't mentioned in anything I read. Earlier this year, Barrett gets injured again right in the middle of what FINALLY was looking to be the breakout run as Intercontinental Champion everyone was hoping for. His gimmick as "Bad News Barrett" was over with fans, he had a number of strong matches, then his shoulder gets separated so severely that it requires surgery to fix.

In TNA, in my opinion, I thought it was a mistake not giving Matt Morgan a run as TNA World Heavyweight Champion. When it comes to the number TNA was drawing, I highly doubt Morgan would've helped but I also don't think he would've hurt them either. Matt Morgan was an athletic big man with a great look who could talk pretty well on the mic. Unfortunately, he was very much the victim of various stop & go pushes. He'd be pushed steadily for a few months, wind up in the main event picture, challenge for the title once or twice, fail to capture the title, then essentially head back down towards the bottom of the card to some low level feud. Maybe 6 months or so later, they'd start the entire process over.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

I have to agree with the other two posters. The only guy that I can really see a good argument for is Wade Barrett. Barrett was the glue that held Nexus together and, frankly, he was the only one of the group that kept Nexus relevant. I believe that, had Triple H had the power then that he has now, Nexus members as a whole would've been booked more prominently and better, but that's neither here nor there.

There were reports that Triple H pitched turning heel and being revealed as the Anonymous GM and the Nexus' higher power, but that Vince nixed the idea. I think those reports are half-right. I think Triple H was the original plan all along, but Vince nixed it afterwards. The Nexus took out both Vince and Bret, two people Triple H had to fight for power. And then they buried The Undertaker alive... just so Triple H could fight him for absolutely no reason the year later. I'm guessing the whole plan was to reveal Triple H as the leader of the Nexus and have him face Undertaker in that role. But for whatever reason, they nixed it. I think this reveal would have added much more life to the Nexus angle, and Triple H would have done for Barrett what he had done for Batista and Orton years earlier. I know it's speculation on my part, but the pieces just add up perfectly, I'm almost positive it must have been the original plan.

Barrett is someone that's been consistently enjoyable, in my eyes at least, either on the mic or inside the ring. I think a couple of issues have arisen that ultimately have set Barrett's career back.

The most obvious one is that Barrett was another victim of Vince's paranoia that fans would lose faith in John Cena. As a result, Barrett lost against Cena during a time that such wins over Cena would've been huge for him while Cena himself would have lost absolutely nothing. Vince protects John Cena to such a degree that it's more of a detriment to those he happens to be in programs with. Barrett certainly wasn't the first to suffer from Vince's insistence of booking John Cena as "Super Cena" and, as we've seen over the past month, he's also not going to be the last.

Edge and Jericho said on their podcast that the SummerSlam finish was his idea. They said they tried very hard to convince Cena to change the finish, but that he didn't budge because he had "a vision" about how things should play out, which was springing back up from the DDT on the concrete and beating Wade and Justin 2-on-1. They also said that Cena went to Jericho afterwards and admitted that he should have listened to him.

Another problem for Barrett is that he's suffered significant injury when he's in the middle of a good, strong push. It happened a few years ago during WrestleMania season which, reportedly, as going to feature the return of the MITB ladder match to WrestleMania. According to reports, Barrett was penciled to win that match, though whether he would have challenged for the WWE or World Heavyweight Championship wasn't mentioned in anything I read. Earlier this year, Barrett gets injured again right in the middle of what FINALLY was looking to be the breakout run as Intercontinental Champion everyone was hoping for. His gimmick as "Bad News Barrett" was over with fans, he had a number of strong matches, then his shoulder gets separated so severely that it requires surgery to fix.

What's worse about getting injures as BNB is that Barrett was completely healthy for MONTHS and they did nothing with him. They would have him come out and do his Bad News promos, but he wouldn't interact with anybody. He was working all the live events, but they kept him off TV and even out of the Andre battle royal. What they were doing with him was so bizarre. It's very sad that once he started wrestling again he almost immediately got injured.

 

[Mudlup50]

I'll never understand why the WWE never pushed Morrison to be champ. He had a great run as ECW champ, a good run as Tag Champ with Miz and even feuded with Miz during his awful title reign(I say that as a Mizfit) and it was gold. He really should have been champion, maybe not WWE champion but World Heavyweight for sure.

Barrett most definitely should have been champ. As someone who's not either way on Cena really, the feud got me caring about both Cena and the Nexus but then they dropped the ball.

Didn't Truth get suspended during the Awesome Truth thing? WWE seems hesitant to give the belt to anyone who gets suspended.

Might I also say Miz, I know he had a title run and it was decent in length but his title reign was putrid. I think the WWE wants him to get over but then he doesn't get over. He should have won the world heavyweight championship at some point just to solidify him as an upper mid card guy.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Drew McIntyre
His push as "The Chosen One" should not have ended. He had an awesome entrance theme, the look of a champion, skills in the ring as well as on the mic, and the perfect story to bring him up the card. Had it not been for the drama caused by his ex who at the time was a WWE diva, he could have made it to the World Heavyweight Championship. I'd even argue that in today's WWE with one World Championship he could have made it had it not been for that incident. Drew had everything you could want in a heel star and WWE made a mistake in not giving him a run with one of the world titles.


John Morrison
When Miz and Morrison split, there is no reason why they both should not have made it. I to this day still cannot fathom why WWE pushed Miz over Morrison. Sure, Miz was a bit better on the mic.... but Morrison was far superior to Miz in every single other category. Back in the days of two World Championships in WWE, John Morrison should absolutely have gotten to the World Heavyweight Championship for at least one reign. It is a shame that he never made it, he should have gotten the initial push over Miz after their split to begin with, and at the time they could both have become stars. Had he stuck around and kept improving, then maybe it could have finally happened during the later days of the World Heavyweight Championship before the unification. As much as I like Morrison, I don't think he would make it to the top in today's WWE where only one World Championship exists though.


Damien Sandow
Damien Sandow would very likely have, had it not been for the World Championship unification in late 2013. He had the Money In the Bank push and failed his cash-in attempt, then got stuck with the impressions gimmick. That gimmick will never get him anywhere, but back when he was the intellectual, Sandow could have and should have won the World Heavyweight Championship. Now that there is only one World Championship and he's stuck with frequent humiliation in the impressions gimmick, I doubt he will ever get another title push of any kind.


Kofi Kingston
He showed signs of a potential World Championship contender back in his feud with Randy Orton in 2009. When Kofi destroyed Orton's car he showed us a side of him that we have very rarely seen, an angry Kofi. The Kofi from this feud could have won either World Championship and possibly even today's World Heavyweight Championship. Kofi has the in-ring ability and mic skills to compete at the top of the card, but the one thing that needs to change is how happy he always is. We don't need a heel turn necessarily, he just needs to show more aggression. Look at how intense many of Cena's promos get. Kofi is capable of this, and if WWE let him I'm sure he would be much more believable in a role further up than winning endless midcard titles.


Wade Barrett
Barrett has had a case of extremely bad luck. Starting with the Nexus invasion he immediately was made into a threat to top stars like John Cena and Randy Orton during his first summer and fall on the main roster. Then when Punk took over Nexus and Barrett formed The Corre his momentum slowed down a bit. It was further damaged by the injury he received during his Barrett Barrage push when he was rumored to win Money In the Bank, and the failure of his Fight Club gimmick. He came back better than ever as Bad News Barrett before injury again derailed his chances at moving up the card. Barrett is capable of getting there, but only if he can overcome his bad luck with injuries coming at the worst possible time.

 

[Aquaman6686]

• Santino Marella

• Kofi Kingston

• John Morrison

• Cody Rhodes

• Damien Sandow

• R-Truth

• Mark Henry

• Jack Swagger

• Wade Barrett

• Drew McIntyre

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So who do you think should have won the World title? Is your pick any of the above or is it another circumstance? I think there are plenty more examples so I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Santino Marella - This guy is a joke. The fact that he made it to the final two in the 2011 Royal Rumble and the 2012 Elimination Chamber diluted the importance of the victories that Alberto Del Rio and Daniel Bryan, respectively, earned in those matches. Santino should have NEVER, EVER been anywhere near the top of the card. The fact that he has had three reigns with singles championships is FAR more than he deserved.

Kofi Kingston - Kingston has never shown the ability to be a top draw. He's a great midcard guy, but that's all he will ever be.

John Morrison - John Morrison was ECW Champion. That's a World Championship, whether you liked WWE's version of ECW or not. Do I think he should have had another reign as World Champion? Yes...but after he turned face, he lost everything that made him interesting. Morrison as a face champion doesn't work.

Cody Rhodes - Cody Rhodes has all the potential to be a World Champion, but the masked phase was the worst run of his career and the one time he should NOT have been near the championship. After losing the mask, Cody recaptured the fire that made him so interesting before the mask shackled him into mediocrity. 2012 was the best time for Cody to win a World Championship. I think his time will come, once this terrible Stardust gimmick is over.

Damien Sandow - Damien Sandow hasn't proven himself to even be midcard worthy, let alone main event. Sandow is exactly where he should be - in the midcard, working his way up. I think his current storyline is great for him, he's regularly being paired with The Miz, who he can learn a lot from, and I think this storyline will lead to them becoming WWE Tag Team Champions at or by WrestleMania.

R-Truth - ...no. Just no. R-Truth being in a main event spot at all was laughable.

Mark Henry - This one I'll agree with. Henry has already had two reigns as a World Champion. His fake retirement speech was a great moment, and I would have had no issues with him beating John Cena for the title, and then being the one to lose to Daniel Bryan.

Jack Swagger - As anybody who knows me knows, I'm a HUGE fan of Jack Swagger, and have been since he debuted in 2008. But I disagree here. Swagger deserved to be punished for what he did, and losing the opportunity to show his stuff as a World Champion again was a fitting punishment for him. He broke the rules, and paid for it. I think the time will be coming for him again though. In his recent feud with Rusev, he was able to carry a vastly inferior opponent to some good matches (and Swagger should have been the one to win the feud). I think Jack Swagger will get another opportunity to be at the top of the card in a year or two.

Wade Barrett - Should Wade Barrett be World Champion during his career? Yes. Should it have been in 2010 during the Nexus invasion? F*** NO!!! Barrett is the single biggest example of how Vince's obsession with skyrocketing guys to the top DOES NOT WORK (cough, Roman Reigns, cough). Barrett was nowhere near good enough to be at the top of the card, and was headlining PPV after PPV. It was bland, it was boring, and it stunted Barrett's career growth. WWE 100% made the right decision by not pulling the trigger on him and having The Miz be the young guy to win the title that year instead.

Drew McIntyre - I'm a huge Drew McIntyre fan, and I think he had the potential to be World title caliber, but he never reached his full potential. After he lost the Intercontinental Championship, he seemed to just get lazy in the ring and phoned in his matches. By the end of 2010, his potential as a main event star was gone. But that's McIntyre's fault, not WWE's.

 

[Hem]

Wade Barrett is a name I'll agree with everyone on, his run during the Nexus could have cemented him and his future as a top guy in the company had he gotten the strap but theres still a decent chance with his BNB gimmick.

John Morrison is one of my favorite superstars who I felt the ball was dropped with. Morrison all the talent it took to solidify himself as a top guy and perhaps a run or 2 as the WWE champ could have done just that.

The Chosen One Drew Mcyntire (still cant get that surname right) was a gimmick which could have been quite good had it gone on longer, I never saw this guy as THE GUY or a WWE Champion but he was definitely a guy who should have held the WHC.

UMAGA - This guy was a beast who I think could have been a lot more than he ended up being. It's too late to change that fact but I think WWE missed a golden chance when they had Cena win the title match instead of Umaga.

 

[yourdamnluck]

y2j-during his last run went from an old school beloved veteran to the most hated heel in 5 minutes should have won the rumble and title at wm

 

[NegativeFeedback]

Edge and Jericho said on their podcast that the SummerSlam finish was his idea. They said they tried very hard to convince Cena to change the finish, but that he didn't budge because he had "a vision" about how things should play out, which was springing back up from the DDT on the concrete and beating Wade and Justin 2-on-1. They also said that Cena went to Jericho afterwards and admitted that he should have listened to him.

In a followup to this, I just found the exact quote in an article I was reading, so I'll post it here:

Jericho: “John wanted to do things a certain way and we told him ‘you’re wrong’. Remember that? And he did it anyways, and it sucked. And then afterwards he came over to us and said ‘I should have listened to you, but I wasn’t seeing it that way. And sometimes you just don’t see it that way, you know?”

Edge: “It’s one of those things…where he was adamant about what he wanted to do. And I remember, I was like, ‘fine, I’m out of the match by that point’.”

Jericho: [Laughs] “Exactly. He wanted to get DDT’d on the floor by Barrett, then kick out and beat them both. And you and I were like, ‘that’s the dumbest thing. That’s just throwing it away for no reason’.”

Edge: “They should have gone over because they were so hot.”

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

• John Morrison after his 2010 push against Sheamus. He had a star-making performance at TLC where he won a WWE title shot. His Falls Count Anywhere match with The Miz was also excellent. I think they could have turned him into their new Jeff Hardy since he had some great high-flying spots at the Rumble and at EC. He should have been sent to SD for a World title push later that year.


• Wade Barrett during the Nexus Invasion. By winning NXT, he was guaranteed a WWE title shot and he used it up in a 6-pack-challenge. And while he got 1-on-1 title shots afterwards, WWE never pulled the trigger which was a shame. I think Wade winning the title and defending it against Cena was the natural progression of that feud, and Cena winning it at the end would have been a nice ending for the Nexus instead of that weird chair-burial that we got.

so I'd like to hear your thoughts.

I think you are spot on with those 2, especially Barrett.

The Nexus caused a HUGE buzz when they debuted, attacking the company's number 1 star John Cena- it was the perfect way for WWE to book a new faction made up of almost total nobodies. It made them a legitimate threat and in Wade Barrett they had a really good leader- decent in the ring, with a good look who could talk. They had the potential to make Barrett a huge star and main eventer, but they just didn't do it. Why he didn't get the title in that period is a joke, the Nexus needed the title win for credibility and it ended up just fizzling out. I know most members of the faction have gone on to have good WWE careers, but Barrett should definitely got the belt when he was red hot.

As for John Morrison...I'm still surprised that he never won a World Title in WWE, other than the ECW belt. Apart from his sub-par mic skills, Morrison is awesome. So entertaining in the ring, an unbelievable athlete, good looking and with an urneal physique. He's a perfect poster boy for the WWE and I think he had proven himself worthy of a run with the World Heavyweight Title. If wrestlers such as Del Rio, Swagger, Henry etc are WHC material, then there's no reason JoMo shouldn't have been given that opportunity.

 

[Rusty]

I don't need to explain why Barrett should and probably will be World Champion some day as many others have already.

But John Morrison for me was so underrated as a performer. I loved his start with MNM, his ECW Title reign and feud with CM Punk, and his frequent consistent matches on Smackdown against fellow high flyers. He had everything that screamed world champion, and I can't believe the WWE would let such a talent go like that.

I always thought he outshine the Miz, which is why I was shellshocked when Miz became the bigger star of the two (and failed). Morrison had the look, the in ring skills, but perhaps could have been a bit better on the mic. His matches were always a highlight for me and I think the WWE could really use him right now, especially in a time where they are lacking main event talent and are struggling to build new stars.

 

[MCMG]

I'll agree with Barrett. He his good enough in the ring and can speak. In fact, he has one of the best promos in the company. Moreover, he had all the momentum in the world with Nexus. In a different scenario, he is the top heel in the company and is a legit main event talent. Indeed, this is not a case and that is a true shame because I'm a big Barrett fan. The fact Nexus was around when there were two World Titles makes it even worse.

There are a few others who I consider maybes but Barrett is the only name I'm certain of. I think Drew McIntyre had a lot of potential and could have held the World Title. He was someone with the right attributes and, like Barrett, would have been a great heel champion.

Cody Rhodes has proven himself as a heel and now as a babyface in a range of gimmicks. As a singles guy and as a tag-team wrestler he has delivered despite him being so young. He is also from a great wrestling family and all this together makes me think he should have been a World Champ. I love watching Cody wrestle and there are so many ways they can go with Cody.

Barrett is the stand-out but McIntyre and Cody could both have won the big one. Maybe John Morrison but I don't think he had as much use as the other three.

 

[The Boss]

HOLLYWOOD HULK HOGAN. On at least three occasions. The first (within the last five years although there were more before hand) should have taken place in November of 2009 during the "HULKAMANIA: Let the Battle Begin" tour of Australia. At the time it was rumored that Ric Flair was going to win the NWA World title from the Blue Demon prior to the tour and he and HOLLYWOOD HULK HOGAN would battle over it.

The second was in TNA in 2011. Sting was the champion who was constantly trying to lure HOLLYWOOD HULK HOGAN back into the ring with offers of a title shot. Meanwhile Bobby Roode was being primed for a main event spot through the Bound for Glory series. HOLLYWOOD HULK HOGAN should have won the title from Sting and dropped it to Roode.

The third was also in TNA in 2013. After a year build up to a match against World champion Bully Ray, TNA allowed HOLLYWOOD HULK HOGAN's contract to expire and we never got the payoff. What made it even worse is that the guy to did get the match and the title (AJ Styles) didn't have a contract either. They allowed him to win it and never defend it. They would have been better off having HOLLYWOOD HULK HOGAN win the title. At least there would have been a payoff to the Aces & Eights angle and TNA would have at least gotten a bigger buy rate fir the PPV. Either way they had to have another tournament to crown a new champion and everything would have played out exactly the same.