10 Greatest wrestlers who never became the World Champion

Unfortunately in the wrestling world, even if you have all the tools to be a Heavyweight Champion, it still doesn't mean that it's meant to be.

And while some of the best of all time have rightfully won the WWE Championship, World Championship, WCW Championship, ECW Championship, NWA Championship and even TNA Championship/Impact Global Championship, there have been more than a dozen all-time greats to never even come close.

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Whether it was the wrong place at the wrong time, someone else was being favored over them or even when the company did not see them that way. Sometimes being one of the best in the world, just doesn't mean being treated that way.

That brings me to looking at the top 10 greatest Superstars of all time, to have never held a prominent World Heavyweight Championship.

Honorable Mentions: William Regal, Dean Malenko, Arn Anderson, Jesse “The Body” Ventura, Magnum TA, Paul Orndorff, the Big Boss Man, Umaga, and Carlito.

#10 Brian Pillman

Right place, right time, horrible injury

Following the end of his 'Hollywood Blondes' tag team with Steve Austin, the talented Flyin' Brian Pillman went under a complete character change as he became 'The Loose Canon' Brian Pillman, and instantly the most talked about character in wrestling.

The gimmick, cultivating a reputation for edgy, out of control and unpredictable behavior, blurred fact, and fiction with his worked shoots so much that even his fellow wrestlers didn't know if they were a work or not. Mick Foley later commented on the character saying that he was almost offended by Brian's Loose Canon antics.

The character, which spread across WCW, ECW, and WWE, in a short but very much talked about space of time, seemed to be destined for the World Championship. Brian's main event potential was limited from the beginning due to entering WWE with a broken ankle, and then his now infamous feud with Steve Austin was heavily criticized by the USA Network.

There was still a lot of main event potential in Brian during his run with the Hart Foundation, but sadly, at 35 years old, Pillman was found dead on October 5, 1997, from a heart attack caused by a previously undetected heart condition, arteriosclerotic heart disease.

#9 Goldust

Dustin Runnels has been playing the Goldust character, on and off, for 23 years now. Goldust has been one of the most hardworking performers in the business and deserves far more credit than he gets.

The character debuted in 1995, and often used lewd and flirtatious mind games to anger, confuse, and distract his opponents. It may seem a bit extreme, but back in 1995, WWE was full of odd failure characters, but unlike those, Goldust stuck. "The bizarre one" feuded with top wrestlers such as Razor Ramon, Bam Bam Bigelow, The Ultimate Warrior, even briefly The Undertaker, and challenged for the WWE Championship on a few occasions, but was never kept in the main event scene.

This was the closest Goldust ever came to being a main event player. He has been mostly used as comic relief and in various tag teams during his several returns to WWE since 2002, and while he remains active with the main roster even today in 2018, Goldust time to be a WWE World Champion is unfortunately long passed.

#8 Jake 'The Snake' Roberts

Forget the WWE Championship, surprisingly never held any other title in WWE

Jake Roberts made his WWE debut back in 1986. Being accompanied to the ring by an 18 ft long snake named Damien, Jake made an immediate impact in the cartoon word of WWE.

Jake also quickly became known as someone to fear as he would throw Damien onto his opponents, following victories. Jake had gotten over quickly as a heel thanks to feuds with the likes of Ricky Steamboat. His skills in the ring and on the mic impressed Vince McMahon so much that he decided to put him in a feud with Hulk Hogan for the WWE Championship.

Jake would DDT Hogan during an episode of The Snake Pit, to which fans surprisingly responded positively to the attack by chanting "DDT" rather than for Hogan, and McMahon abandoned his plans for a feud between them. This would be the closest Jake ever came to becoming on that WWE Champion level, and potentially Champion, and it was canceled before it happened.

Jake would spend the remainder of his WWE career feuding with Randy Savage, The Undertaker, Steve Austin and more, but would never hold, not just the WWE Championship, but any Championship at all in WWE.

#7 'Ravishing' Rick Rude

Held a 'Big Gold Belt', but not the real one

'Ravishing' Rick Rude debuted for WWE in 1987 as a new client for the great Bobby Heenan.

During his time with WWE, Rick held the WWE Intercontinental Championship and feuded with the likes of Jake Roberts, The Big Boss Man, and The Ultimate Warrior, for both the Intercontinental Championship, and later the WWE Championship, but was unsuccessful in his only ever major WWE Championship match, at SummerSlam 1990.

Rude left WWE shortly thereafter and joined WCW. Shortly after, he challenged Ron Simmons for the World Championship on several occasions but was unsuccessful. Rick would become a 3-time WCW International World Heavyweight Champion, to which has often confused fans into thinking he held the actual World Championship due to it to being a 'Big gold belt', but the International World Heavyweight Championship was not a real World title, and only even had an active run from September 1993 until June 1994.

After years spent in the mid-card as well as a commentator in ECW and manager in D-Generation X, Rick sadly died on the morning of April 20, 1999, at the age of 40 from heart failure.

#6 The British Bulldog

'Davey Boy' Smith joined WWE in 1985 as apart of the British Bulldogs tag team with the Dynamite Kid.

After leaving WWE for WCW in 1988, the Bulldog return to WWE in 1990. In the finest match of his career and one of the best ever, Davey defeated his brother-in-law Bret Hart for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam 1992 in London. The match helped elevate Bret up the card to main event status but not Davey. Instead, he was released shortly after and returned to WCW for a feud with World Champion Vader, but was unsuccessful.

He returned to WWE in 1994 and wrestled in the Tag Team, Intercontinental and European Championship ranks for most of his time back. He briefly challenged for the WWE Championship in 1999.

Sadly, 'Davey Boy' Smith died on 18 May 2002 after suffering FROM a heart attack at the age of 39.

#5 Mr. Perfect

'Mr. Perfect' Curt Henning was given a strong push upon his arrival in WWE in 1988, which included an impressive undefeated streak for some time.

Perfect would eventually win the previously vacated WWE Intercontinental Championship. Although he did have solid feuds against Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart and Triple H, among more, he never strayed from the IC title ranks.

Henning would have a similar run in WCW, where he would mainly stay in the United States Championship ranks. He made several appearances in TNA in 2002 and early 2003, where he challenged Jeff Jarrett for the NWA World Championship, but was unsuccessful. Before he joined WWE, Henning did have a 53-week reign as AWA World Heavyweight Champion, however, the belt is considered by many to not be very prestigious.

Sadly, Henning died from an acute cocaine intoxication on February 10, 2003, at 44 years old.

#4 Ted DiBiase Sr.

Not even buying the WWE Championship made him Champion

After briefly wrestling for WWE in the late 70's, Ted DiBiase returned to WWE in 1987 as "The Million Dollar Man". He was now Ted DiBiase, a millionaire who wore a gold-studded, dollar-sign-covered suit and, in time, a custom-made, diamond-encrusted and self-awarded "Million Dollar Championship" belt. The Million Dollar Man character was based on the type of wrestler that Vince McMahon would be if he would have been a wrestler.

After Andre the Giant defeated Hulk Hogan for the WWE Championship at The Main Event in 1987, Ted would 'buy' the WWE Championship from Andre and declare himself to be WWE Champion. In the following days, DiBiase was in fact billed as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion in three house shows, even defending the title on one against Bam Bam Bigelow.

However, WWE later refused to acknowledge DiBiase as a Champion and declared the title vacant. A tournament was set up at WrestleMania IV, and Ted made it to the finals, only to lose in the main event to Randy Savage.

Ted spent the remainder of his in-ring career in the Tag Team ranks, as well as lower card feuds with Dusty Rhodes, Virgil, and others.

#3 Scott Hall

Not even with creative and booking control in WCW

After some forgettable runs with WCW, the NWA, and AWA, Scott Hall debuted for WWE in 1992 as Razor Ramon, a character inspired by the 1980 classic film, Scarface.

Scott was only with WWE for a few months before receiving a shot at Bret Hart for the WWE Championship at the 1993 Royal Rumble. Although he lost, he gave a commendable performance. Scott was actually a last-minute replacement for the recently departed Ultimate Warrior, and thus there were no main event level plans for 'The Bad Guy', at the time.

Scott would wrestle in the Intercontinental Championship ranks for the majority of his run, which included being the first four-time Champion in the title's history, as well as having two of the 90's best matches, two Ladder matches with Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania X and SummerSlam 1995.

Scott would then join WCW and form the NWO. During his four years with WCW, Scott had a lot of creative control over his booking, so it is pretty surprising that he never held the WCW Championship at any point during this run. He was always featured in the main event scene and did challenge for the WCW Championship on occasions, but only when it was held by someone outside of the NWO, which wasn't very often.

After a brief return to WWE in 2002, Scott joined TNA when they first debuted, and unsuccessfully pursued the NWA World Championship. Many believe Scott may have eventually won the NWA World title in 2002/2003, had he been able to agree on a deal with TNA.

#2 Owen Hart

Owen Hart is one of the finest professional wrestlers in history of the industry. The 1994 King of The Ring, a 2-time WWE Intercontinental Champion, 4-time Tag Team Champion, and a European Champion, Owen did everything a superstar could do on the mid-card in WWE.

It seemed like Owen finally reached his main event level status in 1994 when he had one of the all-time greatest feuds in wrestling history, with brother and WWE Champion Bret Hart. Owen would defeat Bret in a classic at WrestleMania X and finally challenge his brother for the WWE Championship later that year at SummerSlam in an even better Steel Cage match, but was unsuccessful.

Despite the feud being one of the best ever, and the Cage match being possibly the best Steel Cage match ever, Owen would fall down the card following the conclusion of their feud. He spent the remainder of his career in the Tag Team, European and Intercontinental Championship ranks.

#1 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper

'Rowdy' Roddy Piper may not be as great as a wrestler as his cousin Owen Hart was, but it's not always an in-ring skill that makes for the biggest and best in WWE.

Roddy Piper had it all. He was skilled in the ring and could have a solid match with just about anyone, but no other wrestler in the world could touch him on the mic and in promos. This called for a major push and feud with none other than the WWE's biggest star, WWE Champion Hulk Hogan.

When the 'Rock N Wrestling Connection' exploded in the mid 80's, it was all thanks to the feud between Roddy Piper and Hulk Hogan. Piper would challenge Hogan for the WWE Championship at 'The War To Settle The Score', but was unsuccessful, as well as on live events. Roddy wouldn't see the WWE Championship scene again and later held the WWE Intercontinental Championship, before becoming 'President of the WWE', being semi-retired and later joining WCW.

'Rowdy' Roddy Piper was such an amazing talent, so good at everything he did that it is truly mind-boggling how he never became WWE Champion. His feud with Hulk Hogan is one of the best in history, but the only thing that would have made it and the amazing career of Roddy Piper just that little bit better, would have been 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper as WWE Champion.

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