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Winning a World Championship in WWE is the pinnacle of any professional wrestler's career. It's the ultimate goal of anybody who gets in the business. When you win that gold however it doesn't mean that the work is done.
More Superstars than ever are becoming World Champions in WWE as of late. Not only have there been two World Titles in the company on and off for 15 years, but wrestlers' reigns with the belts are far shorter on average than they were years ago.
What that has meant is some Superstars are winning World Titles when they perhaps shouldn't be. It has also seen wrestlers careers actually deteriorate after being a World Champion.
It seems inconceivable but it happens more often than you might think.
#5 Great Khali
When WWE signed Great Khali back in 2006, Vince McMahon likely thought he had made one of his greatest coups. A monster of a man that could help him and his company break into the Indian market. What's not to love?
Well turns out quite a lot. Khali may have had the height, and an extremely intimidating look, but he lacked the ability to wrestle or to cut a good promo. You really need at least one or the other and ideally both.
WWE pushed on with Khali though and eventually made him World Heavyweight Champion. It was something of a hollow title reign and after that, the Indian Superstar's WWE run began to descend into farce. From unbeatable monster to World Champion to Punjabi Playboy.
#4 Christian
There is no question as to what Christian is most famous for during his professional wrestling career. That would be his tag team partnership with his lifelong friend, Edge. The two of them came up in WWE together and won the Tag Team Championships together seven times.
After the team broke up, Christian had a pretty long singles career. When compared to Edge, it took a while for Christian's singles run to take off, spending some time in TNA and on WWE's failed ECW reboot.
Eventually, the veteran won a World Championship in WWE and engaged in a legendary rivalry with Randy Orton. It was undoubtedly the pinnacle of his career as a singles star and after that, a build up of injuries began to take their toll and eventually forced Christian into retirement.
#3 Dean Ambrose
Roman Reigns became a World Champion, Seth Rollins became a World Champion, and all that was left was for the final Shield member, Dean Ambrose to reach those lofty heights. The fans wanted it and eventually, they got it.
In a whirlwind of a main event at Money In The Bank 2016, we saw every single man mentioned above hold the WWE Championship. Reigns walked in with it, Rollins defeated him for it, then Ambrose cashed in his Money In The Bank contract and won it from Seth.
After that breathless evening, it sort of went downhill for Ambrose. The Shield triple threat that followed was great but from there he went to SmackDown Live and feuded with Dolph Ziggler. The rivalry was greatly overshadowed by Finn Balor and Seth's title squabble on Raw and led to fans losing interest in The Lunatic's title run.
#2 Rey Mysterio
Rey Mysterio has deservedly been a World Champion on more than one occasion in WWE. Despite his short stature, the luchador has actually been in the business for over 20 years and worked for a long time before he got his chance in WWE.
His first World Title win came at WrestleMania 22. Even though he would win the belt again Rey's decline began straight away.
He was constantly referred to as an underdog champion and it felt like giving Mysterio the belt was a token gesture following the passing of Eddie Guerrero.
By the time Mysterio won the belt again years later, having the World Championship had lost almost all meaning. After that second reign, his status in WWE only continued to decline. He later teamed with Sin Cara and eventually left the company altogether.
#1 Finn Balor
Finn Balor is one of the biggest coups WWE has made in recent years. The Irish Superstar, who wrestled around the world and when called upon in NXT, captured fans' hearts and became the brand's longest reigning NXT Champion ever.
Then Balor arrived on Raw with a bang. On his first night on the main roster he defeated Roman Reigns and by SummerSlam a month later, he was the first ever Universal Champion. Sadly though, 24 hours later, Balor was forced to relinquish the title so that he could recover from a shoulder injury.
Shortly after WrestleMania, he returned to action and even though "The Demon" has mentioned the Universal Title, he is yet to pursue it. Feuds with Wyatt and Elias Samson have left Finn floundering somewhat and firmly outside of any World Title picture.
