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WWE's creative team has managed to put together some of the greatest wrestling moments of all time over the years, which is why WWE has always remained the biggest wrestling promotion in the world, but even WWE's team gets it wrong sometimes.
It's hard for the company to gauge the reaction of the crowd until that exact moment and then it's too late, which means that more often than not the winner of the match is booed out of the arena. This is fine if it's a heel that wins, but if it's a face up against someone who is red hot then WWE makes the mistake of having the wrong person go over and that ultimately can change their entire career.
Over the years WWE has done this many times and the following list looks at just five incidences where the challenger should have walked away with the Championship.
#5. Braun Strowman - Crown Jewel 2018
Braun Strowman took on Brock Lesnar back in November at Crown Jewel in a match that was originally supposed to feature Roman Reigns. The Big Dog's leukemia diagnosis meant that he was forced to withdraw from the match and the title was then vacated until the show in The Middle East.
Brock Lesnar only lost his Championship to Roman Reigns at SummerSlam and had finally stepped away from WWE with his focus now on UFC for the foreseeable future but Reigns departure opened the door for a return for Lesnar and allowed him to recapture a title WWE had worked so hard to take from him.
Braun Strowman was red hot at the time but the company decided that the better option was to destroy their new monster and allow him to open up a feud with Baron Corbin instead, a feud that is still on-going.
The question remains though, will Braun Strowman ever lift the World Championship in WWE?
#4. Neville - Monday Night Raw 2015
Neville made headlines back in 2017 when he walked out of WWE and refused to return until the company released him last year. The former NXT Champion was in red hot form when he ran into World Champion Seth Rollins on Monday Night Raw and looked to acquire his first main roster title.
Neville looked as though he had the match won at one point when he hit the Red Arrow and the referee counted the three before looking up and seeing Rollins foot on the middle rope meaning that it wasn't a legal count.
The WWE Universe was backing Neville throughout and sadly this was seen as the high point of his career, he later went on to win the Cruiserweight Champion and King of the Cruiserweights but was never able to recreate the hype that surrounded him at this moment.
#3. Mark Henry - Money in the Bank 2013
Perhaps the greatest swerve of the modern era, Mark Henry came out on Monday Night Raw to seemingly retire from the company and John Cena brought every word. The WWE Champion then went to hug The World's Strongest Man following his emotional speech before he was given a World's Strongest Slam for his efforts.
Henry was never able to capture the WWE Championship despite having a Hall of Fame worthy career and this was his best chance when he was given a shot at Money in the Bank a few weeks later.
It is unknown why WWE didn't allow Henry to take the title and have a short run with it, since he had delivered one of the best promos of his career and then gone on to become a monster heel heading into Money in the Bank, but it wasn't to be.
Henry has now retired from the ring and works for WWE in a backstage role, he was never able to lift the WWE Championship, it's a title that still alludes him.
#2. Dean Ambrose - Roadblock 2016
Dean Ambrose was defeated in a triple threat match at Fastlane the month before which meant that he didn't actually have a claim to the WWE Championship at this time. Ambrose challenged Brock Lesnar to a Street Fight at WrestleMania 32 and in the time between Fastlane and WrestleMania, Ambrose decided to pick a fight with Triple H.
At this point, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins had already won the World Championship and Ambrose was the only Shield member left to pick up WWE's biggest title. Triple H was hated as an authority figure and many believed that Ambrose had a real shot at the title, there was even a point in the match where the pin was counted despite his foot being under the bottom rope.
Sadly, this wasn't something that was ever mentioned again, Ambrose went on to win the title later in the year before he was drafted to SmackDown alone without Rollins and Reigns, but it wasn't the World Championship reign that many believed Ambrose would have had.
How different would Ambrose's career have been if he lifted the title back in March 2016 instead?
#1. Kofi Kingston - Elimination Chamber 2019
Elimination Chamber was merely a week ago and Kofi Kingston was only added to the match the week before the event but he captured the hearts of the WWE Universe, so much so that Daniel Bryan was actually booed throughout the match which makes sense since he was the heel. (This is still a shock since Daniel Bryan was once on the other end of the spectrum where many superstars were booed out of The Royal Rumble because Bryan wasn't part of it.)
Of course, Kingston has since gone on to be given a rematch in a one-on-one setting at Fastlane next month, which means that he will be given a second chance to cash in on his current hype, something that WWE should really consider doing.
Kingston has been a loyal superstar to WWE for more than a decade and this is the hottest he has been in his career, a WWE Championship run is exactly what he needs right now.
