5 WWE stars who weren’t ready for their first World Title

While only a handful of superstars will ever know what it feels like to hold the WWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship, that doesn't mean that all of them were ready for the honour at the time of their first reign.

There are plenty of guys out there who never get to hold the gold in WWE, and others are more than good enough to do so, but the call comes at the wrong time.

Let it be known that we honestly do believe that all five of these men are phenomenal in-ring performers, and they all deserve to go into the Hall of Fame someday.

However, when they first took possession of the world title, they just weren't ready for the weight of the situation. Some may call that harsh, but that's the wonderful thing about opinions.

With that being said, here are five WWE stars who weren't ready for their first world title.

#5 Sheamus

When Sheamus first came through the doors of WWE, it was clear to see that he was going to become a household name pretty quickly.

The Irishman had the look, the in-ring talent and the ability to hold himself on the mic - what wasn't to love? He was a big favourite behind the scenes, and that was proven when he was thrust into the WWE Championship picture towards the back end of 2009.

Very few people could've anticipated that he'd actually win the strap from John Cena, but that's exactly what happened.

The Celtic Warrior's fluke victory in their tables match felt a little bit cheap, and while it was nice to see a new face at the top of WWE, it didn't feel like Sheamus was able to carry himself as well as he did during his later reigns.

#4 Jinder Mahal

Ah, Jinder. We've spoken about Jinder Mahal so much over the last year or so, that anything we say will just seem stereotypical at this stage.

The Modern Day Maharaja's rise to the top was as quick as it was unexpected, and while he certainly had the look, his development up to that point didn't warrant him even being put in a world title match, let alone winning one.

Alas, he did win it, and while many people hated his run, you can't deny that he looked good with the belt. Sure, it may not have made that much sense, but from a visual standpoint, he looked like a Champion.

It's just a shame that he didn't have all too many of the other attributes required to thrive in the position.

#3 Randy Orton

Randy Orton is a multi-time World Champion, he's a veteran, and he's probably one of the greatest of all-time. Obviously, you're going to find plenty of critics who disagree with that assessment, but that doesn't mean it isn't true.

Way back when Orton was first crowned as champion at SummerSlam 2004, though, it felt a little bit rushed.

The World Heavyweight Championship was being used as a prop in Orton's eventual face turn, but more importantly, The Legend Killer was just being used so that Triple H could get the title back as quickly as possible without actually having to defeat Chris Benoit.

Orton's babyface run could've been something special, but the whole thing felt a little botched.

#2 Dean Ambrose

There have been certain points throughout the career of Dean Ambrose where he felt like a bonafide main eventer, but for whatever reason, WWE never seemed to capitalise at the right time.

When he eventually won the WWE Championship at Money in the Bank 2016, it was a fun moment and a great cash-in, but it didn't feel right.

The proof of that came in the months that followed, with Ambrose's run as champion failing to catch fire.

For some reason the guy just seems like someone who should spend most of his time chasing the strap and to be honest, there's nothing wrong with that.

Maybe if he holds it as a heel we'll change our mind, but for now, we'll have to wait and see what he does after returning from injury.

#1 Roman Reigns

We're firm believers in the idea that Roman Reigns can be a consistent main eventer one day, and that he just needs some tweaking.

Alas, we've all been saying this for years now, and it almost feels like the current incarnation of this experiment is never going to end.

The Big Dog's first title win actually came back in November 2015, more than half a year after his main event loss at WrestleMania 31.

His win was used as a plot device for Sheamus to cash-in and capture the strap, and while we thoroughly enjoyed Reigns' title win on Raw a few weeks later, that should've been the first time he held the championship