5 WWE Superstars who should've won a World Championship but never did

It is the pursuit of every WWE Superstar to, one day, win gold in the Sports Entertainment Juggernaut, and there is no prize richer than the WWE Championship. Founded in 1963, the gold has only been matched by the World Heavyweight and Universal titles as the top prize in the company and has been held by a who's who of Superstars.

From Hulk Hogan to The Rock, John Cena to Jeff Hardy, the list of great Champions spans decades, though not everyone is so fortunate. Some Superstars seemed to have everything going their way, with a World title win practically guaranteed, only to have things come crashing down.

Here are five WWE Superstars who would have made great World Champions, but for one reason or another, never tasted the gold.

#5: The 'Million Dollar Man' Ted DiBiase

The Million Dollar Man tried various tactics to win the gold but never did.

In the Hulkamania era, there were few characters more recognisable than Ted DiBiase. Flanked by Virgil, the Million Dollar Man relished in belittling others with his wealth, though never won the WWE Championship.

That doesn't mean he didn't try, far from it in fact, but after failing to beat Hulk Hogan for the gold, DiBiase would use his wealth to screw the Hulkster out of the title at the 1988 Royal Rumble, before proceeding to buy the title from new champion Andre the Giant. However, this title purchase from the Million Dollar Man was quickly nullified and he failed to ever win the gold legitimately.

If there's a silver lining to DiBiase never winning the title, is that his shortcomings did lead the affluent Superstar to create his own belt, the Million Dollar Championship.

#4: Wade Barrett

A five-time Intercontinental Champion, Barrett would never win a World title

Winning the first season of the original reality show-era of NXT, things certainly seemed bright for Wade Barrett in the Summer of 2010. After his historic win, Barrett would form the Nexus, a group of NXT rookies who were ready to take over, and it seemed a World title win was guaranteed.

This momentum came crashing down at SummerSlam that year though, as in the main event, the Nexus were defeated by team WWE - a group of established stars led by John Cena. This was a match that the group of rookies were reportedly originally scheduled to win. Though Barrett would receive multiple WWE title opportunities after that, his lustre went at SummerSlam. Though he would win the Intercontinental title several times throughout his WWE career, the Preston brawler never held the title that at one point seemed destined for him.

#3: Owen Hart

The Rocket briefly held the title, but the match was restarted

Though many fans' first thought about Owen Hart is his terrible demise at Over the Edge 1999, it should be remembered that the Nugget was an incredible wrestler. In arguably his career's peak, Owen defeated his older brother Bret in the opening of WrestleMania 10 in 1994, and though the Hitman would finish the pay per view as WWF Champion, Owen's win was still huge.

Winning the King of the Ring that same year (just one year after Bret), it seemed that 1994 would be the year of the Rocket. At one Live event, it appeared Owen had done just that and beaten Bret for the belt, but the decision was reversed and the match was restarted, negating Owen's title win. Sadly never winning the gold, Owen is still remembered as one of the greatest wrestlers of his time.

#2: Cody Rhodes

Cody could have made for a great World Champion on SmackDown but left in 2016

WWE must be absolutely kicking themselves when it comes to Cody Rhodes. After being a fixture of WWE TV for nearly a decade, the son of the American Dream left in 2016 and is now doing pretty well for himself as the co-founder of AEW.

Of course, things may have been very different had WWE treated Rhodes better, and a potential World title reign could've done just that. It's hard to say when Cody should have won the gold, though any point during his 2010-2013 tenure on SmackDown seemed like an ideal time. Whether he was dashing, scarred or just a plain old cocky heel, Rhodes always delivered during these three years and having the Grandson of a plumber win either the WWE or World Heavyweight title during that period could've definitely changed the future.

#1: 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper

The Hot Rod was an iconic star of his era, but for some reason, never captured the WWF title

Years before Ronda Rousey was getting rowdy in the ring, there was Roddy Piper, a straight-talking, hard-hitting icon of the late 80s and early 90s. As part of the Hulkamania era, Piper would often play second fiddle to the Immortal One, even facing off in tag team action at the very first WrestleMania all the way back in 1985

In fact, Piper went nearly his entire career without gold but eventually won the Intercontinental title at Royal Rumble 1992, beating The Mountie of all people shortly before his retirement. And whilst he would become one half of the WWE World Tag Team Champions (with Ric Flair) in 2006, that doesn’t change the fact he would have looked good with the WWE Championship at least one time in his war with Hulk Hogan.