Who would you have bought as World Champion?

[whoopin' ass]

i don't recall seeing this topic before and it is a little different than the usual question. we get a lot of "who should have been champ?" and obviously there are a lot of names that come to mind(Piper, Owen Hart, etc) but there are some guys who were never made World Champ and with good reason - something was just lacking. that doesn't mean however that the belt couldn't have been put on them short term and they would have been believable. who do you think they could have put the belt on, with the right storyline, and the audience would have believed it? also, what was that storyline(in general)? it is easy to say "given the right storyline" but not actually think of what it would be. I want some details.

for me, easily Scott Hall during the nWo days. i could have seen an angle when the nWo split in 2 where Hall sided with either Hogan or Nash, got a title match that he "didn't want" and then ended had the other guy interfere so he won and took the title to the other side(so for example, he sided with Nash, beat Nash for the title due to Hogan interfering and then jumped to Hogan's side with the title). no matter who he beat, it would have been fun to watch.

 

[LegendKiller716]

Wade Barrett could have easily won the WWE Championship from Randy Orton when Cena was the ref and people would have bought. Even if he was still a "rookie". That story was gold. Barrett controlling Cena could have lead to heel Cena vs face Orton which would have been good, also the potential triple threat matched could have been great, and could have given Barrett a huge rub.

Another guy is McIntyre. He was on the fast track to the belt with the chosen one gimmick. Although he wasn't good enough, people would have bought into the reign.

 

[HBKistheHOF]

These Five Men SHOULD have been WWF Champion:
- "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith
- "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig
- Rick Rude
- Owen Hart
- "Rowdy" Roddy Pipper

As for guys that were understandably not champion but could have been believable champions:
(Especially by today's "standards", I think even a 30 second Big Slow WHC title reign would have happened to ALOT of guys, especially these IMO.)

-Scott Hall: He was a great athlete in his "golden" days. IF addiction had never gotten to him, I could have seen some shorter titles reigns from around 94-97. Honestly after that is was obvious he was living a rough lifestyle & him as champion in nWo would have been pretty pointless.

-Lex Luger: I think everyone expected "The Lex Express" to end with the WWF championship in his hands, even for only a short period of time.

-Goldust: I always enjoyed his work and from the second he debuted he had people attention & focus. I can't believe from 96 to his last run against Dibiase, we never saw this guy hold a world title for even a minute.

-William Regal: More now than ever, with all the KotR in 2008, being GM, and being commentator, it's obvious he is entertaining and can do anything! Again shocked we never saw him hold a world title for even a minute.

-Brian Pillman: I only put Pillman is the list below because he never flourished in WWE enough to see if he could be a legit champion. I think he EASILY could have been a transitional one though.

-Billy Gunn: When Gunn went solo, I was sure he was destined for atleast a short title reign. He could have been alot more IMO.

-Hardcore Holly: His match against Bork Laser at the Rumble was good and I thought he a had a shot for a short title reign.

-John Morrison: How he didn't get a WWE title and the Miz did, I will never know. Okay so his promos weren't the best, besides that, this guy is the complete package. He could have ATLEAST had a solid 4-6 month WHC reign.

*Every since they split the belts in two it has somewhat been a different story. The WHC has been nothing but a building block since 2009.

I think guys like Shelton Benjamin/Kofi Kingston/etc. could have all had short WHC title reigns to test the waters and I think most fans would have been okay with it.

Also Barrett & Rhodes NEED to win world titles but I think they will.
Besides that I think Sandow & Ambrose winning world titles is BOUND TO HAPPEN.

 

[jacdnwarrior]

The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase. I thought for some one who was so solid as a heel, he really deserved better than being a tag team champion and nothing more. He was great in the ring, great on the mike and had the makings of a great heel champ if even for a month, week or day.

Piper is another, he was a great performer on the mike and he was a fabulous heel. He knew how to make people love him or hate him and I think he was a fantastic all around performer.

Steamboat, Perfect, Davey Boy, Rick Rude, Haku and Owen all had great in ring ability and showed themselves to be great at getting the characters over or hated by the audience. I always thought it was a shame that they weren't considered for the opportunity. Timing, politics who knows. It just goes to show you how outstanding the midcard performers really were back in the day.

 

[EastCoastFan]

Because of the way wrestling has changed over the years, there are a lot of old school guys who never got to be World Champion because back in the day, your champion was usually your top drawing card and held the title for years, not months.

During Hulk Hogan's dominance in the 1980's, there are a number of guys who never got to be champion, like Ted DiBiase (who was initially booked to win the tournament at WrestleMania 4) and Roddy Piper. Jake Roberts was a great performer back then, but his personal demons made him unreliable to hold the big belt.

Ricky Steamboat (NWA) and Curt Hennig (AWA) both got to be World Champion elsewhere, so I don't feel as bad about them. Steamboat was never going to get a reign as WWF Champ due to his lack of personality. Hennig could have been a great WWF Champ, but back injuries got in the way of it.

As far as some of the others mentioned:

Scott Hall - drug and alcohol issues

Lex Luger - couldn't get over with the WWF crowd. He was originally supposed to win the title at SummerSlam 93, but management felt he wasn't over enough to deserve getting the title, so they changed the finish to a countout.

Owen Hart - sorry, Owen was not going to get a reign as WWF Champion.

Davey Boy Smith - too hard to understand him on the mic, but I could imagine them giving him a brief title run during a European tour, as he was very popular overseas.

Goldust - too bizarre to be the top guy.

William Regal - health issues.

Brian Pillman - tough to call. He was only in the WWF for a year before his death, not really enough time.

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

I agree with some of the things being said in this forum on who should have been world champion

Here are some of my pics -

Mr Perfect - he was an excellent wrestler. I wish he could have been champion for a bit in 1993 then drop the belt to Bret Hart - would have been a classic.

Owen Hart- would have been a great heel champion in the late part of 1994!

Jake The Snake - one of the greatest minds in the business in terms of psychology and ability.

Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase - he would have made an excellent heel champion.

Roddy Piper - greatest wrestling villain of all time according to WWE.com. You cannot disagree.

Lex Luger - god knows why Vince McMahon pushed him so hard and spent so much - but never put the belt on him? Anyone know?

Ravishing Rick Rude - truly a tough guy and a great performer.

 

[HBsam31]

I would have bought Billy Gunn as World champ when he went on his singles run against The Rock. I thought for sure he was going to be a staple in the mainevent, but for some reason they thought his program with The Rock was a fail and he never really mainevented again. I would have for sure bought him as a World champ if they gave him a run during that time.

 

[yellowdog22]

I believe a lot of people didn't get to be world champion because they didn't have two titles at the time and there weren't as many ppv's.

Now I've heard people say that titles change hands far too often, but I don't think it's about the frequency of the title changing hands as much as if the story warrants it much like the flip-flopping of the belt from Rock to Foley from I Quit Matches/Half-Time Heat/Ladder Match, etc. It was an exciting time in wrestling and some people might call it "Hot-Shotting" but it's all about the entertainment value.

The old-timers say the belt is used for people who can't get over without it.

Owen Hart didn't need a world title, he was a great tag team wrestler that helped people get over. Could he have been it? Sure. When he and Bret feuded, he could of won at Summer Slam and dumped it back to him at Survivor Series, but Bret needed that belt to feel important.

Mr. Perfect was probably a victim of the times. He also suffered a knee injury. He did hold the AWA World Championship.

Scott Hall - It wouldn't of made sense for him to be world champion in WCW as he and Nash were crazy over without the championship. He turned down Vergne on account that he loved Florida weather over the cold of Minnesota.

Jake Roberts - He had interesting upper mid-card feuds; more of a gate-keeper.

Davey Boy Smith - I could of seen him in the WWE title scene and had him win at a UK event much like Wembley Stadium. Though didn't he leave WWE and go to WCW?

I think Vince rewarded the title out of loyalty or out of necessity back then. Though if you look at the WWE Title (There's only been 43 unique champions.)


The point of the show back then was to keep your champion over. Feed your champion from Hogan to Warrior or use the heels as transitional champions to get to the next face. Somewhere the business changed with the advent of two championships, more television time, etc. It's a problem with pacing and the fact that you see the world champion fight every week. I would think Punk would invoke that 30 day clause. I always thought Edge should take vacations without defending the belt for 30 days. On the flip-side let Sheamus defend it every week and make him look like a true fighting champion.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

A lot of these threads have cropped up lately and I find they are repeating the same people.


Brian Pillman could have been as big as Austin, had he gone straight to WWE from WCW. While his ECW work was stellar, it also led to the famous accident where his foot was basically torn off and fused back together, leading him to need painkillers 24/7 and him self medicating which led to his death. Had he not had that accident he was a golden heel with that unpredictable streak and when the inevitable face turn came, the back story that would make even the most die hard sceptic cheer him, beating cancer to make the NFL, then the WWF, then the title, never compromising etc. It's tragic that he rolled his hummer, and that he doesn't get his rightful credit as the inventor of Attitude.. disagree? Look at the Booker Man match with Kevin Sullivan and his KOTR 96 promo, which took place a full hour before Austin 3:16!

As I have said before, anyone with a "gimmick" was pretty much not gonna work with a belt. Jake fits that perfectly. His matches relied on the snake being part of them, having to parade a belt would have meant losing that from the match and nullifying him.

Steamboat could very well have had the World title in WWE but he made his bed by asking for time off, which was unheard of then. I am willing to bet that had he not done so he and Savage would have rematched title for title at WM4.

William Regal proved to be his own worst enemy, but as I said before if it came down to one English champ from that era, I go with Davey who deserved it much more. Best for Regal will be a title match when Booker realises that Eve is picking on him...hopefully against Barrett in a "Battle Of Britain" retirement match!

One guy no one has mentioned in any of these threads is Jerry Lawler!

I think he could easily have taken the title from Bret instead of Bob Backlund back in 95, and I think Diesel squashing him would have been far more effective to launch him as champ.