Who was the greatest wrestler never to hold the WWF/WWE Title?

[DugoutDan17]

Okay this is something I’ve been thinking about for a while now and I would love you all of you too share your thoughts...who in your opinion is the best wrestler the WWF/ WWE have had never to be the WWF/WWE Champion. I’m kinda stuck between two wrestlers.

Number one being Mr. Perfect IMO probably the best Intercontinental champion ever he was a fantastic heel but he just never made it past that step to become the WWF champion he cut great promos and had a fantastic gimmick. Even as a kid I wanted him to beat the likes of Hulk Hogan when he had a title shot because I thought he was a fantastic performer.

Number two being The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase again I thought everything was right about him, great gimmick loved the promos he use to do, great in the ring. Now I no he paid off Andre to take the belt but to me that didn’t count really and I no he had the Million Dollar Belt which was great but I was hoping he would have won the world title aswell.

IMO I thought both were fantastic heels and both maybe deserved that little more gold then what they got back in the day. Your thoughts please on my first thread.

Thanks Dan

 

[Genius_Deadman]

both are great choices, but to go out of the box i'd say Scott Hall. the dude had charisma in his characters and the guy could flat out work. he could work with small guys, big guys, inbetween dudes. he was entertaining on the mic and in the ring. it was a shame he never got a run before he left to WCW, he certainly had the momentum around his WWF run.

 

[goodlay]

Definitely The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase. He could cut an awesome promo, and he could generate a lot of heat. His gimmick was great, and he really pulled it off and made it believable. The man could wrestle, I really don't see why he didn't have a WWF title reign. He could have drawn pretty well, and he was a really recognizable face in wrestling in his days. Unfortunately he was overshadowed by guys like Hogan, Savage, and Warrior.

 

[SickJames]

I've thought about this before and usually I hear this a lot, just like ppl say Sting is the greatest wrestler to never wrestle in the WWE I have to saw Razor Ramon is the greatest to never get the WWE title

I'd definately agree with some of you above. I cant believe they never put the strap on Piper. I found that out a few years back for the first time.
Owen Hart was a great in-ring technician

but I'm still going with The Bad Guy, Razor Ramon!

I feel he shouldve gotten the belt

 

[InterestingDrug]

I'll go with Roddy Piper. He was a legit main eventer for several years and deserved to have at least one run. Unfortunately for him, Hogan was the man at the time and there was no way he would carry the title. If he had not retired after WM3, he might have had a chance to carry the title post WM4.

Unfortunately, this list is very short because once the RAW era began, the title started changing very frequently. Therefore since the early/mid 90s, those legit main eventers got their run.

Others: Curt Hennig, Paul Orndorff, Rick Rude, David Arquette hah!

 

[Theo Mays]

1. Roddy Piper
-The only thing that kept Piper from holding the World title was Hogan. He was the best heel in the business at the time and he really deserved it.

2. Ted DiBiase
-Same that went for Piper. Hogan was the top draw and DiBiase was clearly the top heel. DiBiase generated heat the minute his music hit, that is how good he was.

3. Mr. Perfect
-He was the top mid card heel. The guy was given the IC title, which back then went to the best in ring superstar. Perfect was a great IC champ and I know that he could have had at least one good world title.

4. Jake "The Snake" Roberts
-Again another heel. All these great heels WWF had that never captured the World title. Roberts had a quick, effective finisher in the DDT and could nail out of nowhere. Plus he was a pretty good face in his day as well.

5. Rick Rude
-5 spots, 5 stars who thrived as heels. Rude was over and had a great feud with Warrior. He also had a great feud with Roberts. Again, it is a shame he never got a chance to run with the title.

All 5 of those guys I think would have made solid world champs if they were given a chance to get it.

 

[Grizzly0u812]

A few names come to mind that never held the WWF/WWE title, how about Ricky Steamboat, Mr. Perfect could of been a good champion, Harley Race, Rick Rude.

What I never understood, usually the guy who Held the Intercontinental title was in line for the World Title or at Least a shot, that title was like a trial run to see how you did as a champion before moving up to Heavy Weight Champion in my opinion, Rude, Perfect and SteamBoat would of be shoe ins, Savage made it what held these guys back.

 

[Sasori]

I've thought about this before and usually I hear this a lot, just like ppl say Sting is the greatest wrestler to never wrestle in the WWE

Sting possibly may not be the "greatest". But he is probably the most famous.

Anyways, back on topic, I say Owen Hart was the greatest, as far as I've seen. Because I wasn't alive in the Million Dollar man Hogan era.

I think Owen was the best because he cut amazing promos, and was a great all around wrestler. He had one of my favourite feuds of all time with older bro Bret "The Hit Man" Hart. And if you havn't seen there match from Summer Slam '94 I believe, you my bud, are missing out big time. And he was really decorated as a champion.

 

[Jetspete]

Grizzly, you are correct in saying that back in the day the IC belt was a precursor to the heavyweight belt. However, during that era it was common for heels to hold the IC belt while faces held the main title. So as great as Mr. Perfect, or Ted Dibiase or Rude were as heels, they were never realistically going to get a heavyweight title push unless they were going to get a face turn (and would we ever want to see any of those guys as that)?

My vote would have to go to someone who held multiple other titles, but was also popular with the fans as a face. It would also help if he had the size and strength to have believable matches with other heavyweights of that era. I am speaking of The British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith. He was treated pretty rotten at the Royal Rumble in 1995 and couldve had a great program with Diesel. Davey had his own demons, but couldve made a great champion.

 

[WWF Wrestling Fan]

Five names come to mind to me that who never held the WWF/ WWE Belt
1. The British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith he was a great worker a great baby face and a great heel.
2. Owen Hart God rest his soul but I think Owen was a better wrestler/ worker then Bret Hart he just never got a good push for the title
3. '' Rowdy '' Roddy Piper only 2 titles he won was the IC Title and the tag titles with Ric Flair a few years ago I think Piper would have been a great Champion if it was not for The ''Luster'' Hulk Hogan.
4. Curt '' Mr. Perfect'' Henning Perfect was a 2 time IC Champion but WWF At the time felt that Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage were the 2 guys who should have been WWF Champion I disagree I think It should have been Mr. Perfect.
and finally last but not lest
5. The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase WWF Had to make a belt just for him I think WWF Thought he was not that good for there heavyweight title but yet Dibiase '' Bought '' the belt from Andre when he beat Hulk Hogan.

 

[wrestler36]

I like everybody's choices so far. When I read the title of this forum, the first person I thought of was Piper. Legendary wrestler, Legendary interview show, and competent announcer. Was there anything he couldn't do? Oh yeah, win the World championship. I'd go as far as to say Hulkamania wouldn't have been as big if there wasn't such a polar force as Piper.

 

[The King]

There are so many people who deserved to get the strap. But for me the greatest wrestler to not hold the belt was the Hot Rod. Piper was the complete package, he had the look, charisma, and amazing mic skills. Kinda shocked that he never got his chance on top.

 

[wrestleman]

i can narrow it down to 5

1.hot rod he did it all and he had it

2.the late great mr. perfect a.k.a. curt henning that guy was prodley the greatest pure wrestler ever

3.ron simmons he wcw world champ but never wwe

4. tazz the dude was and is a beast

5.scott hall he had it all he won one of the greastest matches ever with shawn micheals

 

[jayteeERA]

I can only say 3 ppl who should of held the wwe/f title.

Scott hall my favorite wrestler of all time. He had it all like everybody else had said. I think if he would stood in the wwf for one more year b4 going to wcw he would of had it.

Piper - When I first saw him wrestle he was wcw. And though he was a former wwf champ. Piper have this edge that I love, which as why i felt he should of won it.

Ted Dibiase-He was a great heel . I just think if he had won the wwf title. He could of been much more powerful to defeat with his money involved. I just think if Ric Flair never came to the wwf. It would of been Dibiase in that position Flair was in.

 

[CrAzY mIkE]

here is 2 wrestlers i believe that should've been world champ (yeah i know they've been mentioned)

1. ricky steamboat - imo the greatest in ring performer around, a hard worker, he was over with the crowd, he's well respected by fans & wrestlers. the wwe/f couldn't have gone wrong.

2. jake roberts - jake i believe had the potential of being a great champ. he had the charisma & the stage presence. when he gave interviews / cut promos / whatever you wanna call'em you were glued to the tv because you wanted to hear what this guy had to say. unfortunatley i believe his personal demons may have prevented him from winning the title, i think in ''beyond the mat'' ( if i remember correctly ) vince mcmahon said jake was unreliable & unpredictable to be around.

3. jimmy snuka

 

[leighk51]

i agree with all your choices especially ted dibiase (lets hope ted dibiase jr gets the opportunity his father didnt),razor ramon (what more can i say)and "the hot rod" roddy piper(this guy was the ultimate heel) but the most deserving person of the WWE/WWF was and still is Christian(#1 Peep)

 

[Big Ol' Buckta AIDS]

All of these people mentioned here are deserving. But to me, the man who deserved the title more than anyone else on this list has to be the million dollar man, he was so great on the mic and in the ring that it was truly mystifying why he never won.

Also I must say that seeing all these tremendoius wrestlers being named here really makes me wonder how they could not get the strap yet a rookie like Sheamus who had never won any title before gets it.

 

[boozinjedi]

I would have to agree on most stated here,BUT my first pick would have to be Curt Hennig "Mr. Perfect"!!
Anyone who saw SummerSlam '91 remembers that he and Bret STOLE THE SHOW THAT NIGHT!!
The fact that they didn't have those 2 carry that rivalry into Bret's title reigns is mindboggling!
Alot of people talk about Hall.....he had nowhere near the ability that Curt had!!

 

[scoobyjrg1974]

Ok, Some of you have really named some great people that should have at least worn it for a little while.
But the one peron that should have held the belt and done so in a legitimate way is the late, great Andre The Giant.
Come on guys, this man went undefeated for how many years, and was one of the most beloved wrestlers in history.
For none of you to even put his name on your list above Rick Rude or Jake Roberts, that is just embarassing!!!

 

[Hdawg74]

In my opinion, there are a few deserving champions that never wore the gold:

1. Rick Rude-- A main event wrestler in every promotion he wrestled for
2. Big John Studd -- A TRUE giant in the world of wrestling
3. King Kong Bundy -- I have never seen such athleticism from a guy his size before
4. Paul Orndorff -- He gave Hogan some of the toughest matches ever
5. Kerry Von Erich -- He had the look, charisma, talent, and mindset to take wrestling into a whole new direction

 

[arashikage20]

I have to go with 4 that should've and never did.

1) Rowdy Roddy Piper-How well would Hulkamania have done without Roddy Piper to be the heel to try and take him down? He is regarded as one of the all time best promo guys out there. I agree with a statement made earlier...Had he not retired at WM3, I think he would've finally had a chance to be the man with the gold.

2) "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase-I have heard before that he was actually supposed to win the tournament at WM4. In connection with that, I heard Savage was given the title because Honky Tonk Man outright refused to drop the IC title to him and he was given the WWF title to make up for it. If this is actually true, then DiBiase got screwed by politics. Now for MDM, his promos were always gold, he could get whatever reaction from the crowd he wanted and he could go in the ring. I would agree with those who said he would have been a draw as champ, even as a heel at a time when faces were revered.

3) "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig-I honestly think that had he not gotten hurt when he did, then he too could have had a chance at the big one. That was one of the two reasons he dropped the IC title to Bret Hart. People, including Bret, talked about how Curt was in horrible pain through the whole match but still wanted to give the best showing that he could. He did just that. By the time he had recovered from his back injury, the WWF had already moved in another direction and Curt ended up in the role of putting younger guys over. What it boils down to for Curt is this, bad timing.

4) Owen Hart-This is something I have stood behind for a long time: Had he not passed away when he did, he would have had the gold, more than once. At the time of his passing, from what I heard, he was about to get a run with the IC title, possibly beginning that night. I believe that run was to be the lead in for him to get into the main event scene and an eventual title run.

 

[DugoutDan17]

Ok, Some of you have really named some great people that should have at least worn it for a little while.
But the one peron that should have held the belt and done so in a legitimate way is the late, great Andre The Giant.
Come on guys, this man went undefeated for how many years, and was one of the most beloved wrestlers in history.

I like your point about Andre the Giant and he was undefeated for years but if you look at the WWE title history its down that he has won the world heavyweight title. Allbeit he sold the belt to the Million Dollar Man and was then stripped of the belt which he didnt have a real run in that case but he will go down as a former WWF Champion as its in the title history.

 

[arashikage20]

scoobyjrg1974, you are 100% right. Andre's unbeated streak was 15 years long. He was known all over the world, even outside of the wrestling world. Guess I better change my list from 4 that should've to 5 that should've.

 

[Vintage]

1) Rick Rude - Good enough for the WCW international title but not the WWE title?

2) William Regal - Soooo wasted, he has much more to give. I think he'd make a strong heel champ.

3) Honky Tonk Man - yet another entertaining heel that could have carried the division.

Face it, when it came to the heels, the WWE always drops the ball.

 

[bigbadwolf8169]

for my money, its without a doubt Curt "Mr Perfect" Henning. I think the guy was waaaaaaay ahead of his time, and was the Kurt Angle of his time. This guy along with Bret Hart were two standouts among the cartoony era of the WWE in the 80's. Great athlete, amazingly entertaining promo's and a good look about it. I loved when he would spit his gum and swat it to the crowd. It would have been great to him taking the World title from Bret Hart.

Honorable mention.....

Dusty Rhodes- a shame what they did with him
Chyna- she was a intercontinental champ, prolly was over enuff to be WWE champ
Ahmed Johnson- his injuries derailed his push
Vader- coulda ended Michaels reign
British Bulldog- great wrestler, coulda been great champ
Matt Hardy- man this need to get this guy goin again, he has a HUGE following