5 WWE Superstars You May Have Forgotten Were Champions

#2 Curtis Axel

Curtis Axel is a third-generation professional wrestler as his father was "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig while his father wrestled as Larry "The Axe" Hennig. Axel signed to WWE in 2007, wrestling in developmental league Florida Championship Wrestling for a few years. Axel made his NXT debut in June 2010 as Michael McGillicutty and was eventually part of The Nexus. This led to a WWE Tag Team Championship run alongside David Otunga in 2011.

Axel returned to NXT from late 2011 through mid-2013, occasionally appearing WWE's "B" shows like Main Event. He reappeared on the WWE's main roster in May 2013 as Curtis Axel, as introduced by new manager Paul Heyman.

Axel's next few matches included victories over Triple H, John Cena and Chris Jericho. Shortly after he won the International Championship. successfully defending it against Jericho, R-Truth and The Miz. After losing the title to Big E, Axel was placed into a tag team with Ryback, and he has not been part of a singles title-oriented storyline ever since.

But respect is due to Axel for his Intercontinental Title reign, since he and his father are the first-ever father-son combo to have held the well-respected WWE title.

About the author

Darren Paltrowitz is a New York resident with over 20 years of entertainment industry experience. He began working around the music business as a teenager, interning for the manager of his then-favorite band Superdrag. Since then, he has worked with a wide array of artists including OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Loudness, Rachael Yamagata, and Amanda Palmer.

Darren's writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including the New York Daily News, Inquisitr, The Daily Meal, The Hype Magazine, All Music Guide, Guitar World, TheStreet.com, Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, and the Jewish Journal.

Darren is also the host of the bi-weekly "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" podcast, as co-produced with V13 (formerly PureGrainAudio.com). He has also co-authored two published books, 2018's "Pocket Change: Your Happy Money" (Book Web Publishing) and 2019's "Good Advice From Professional Wrestling" (6623 Press), with a second podcast set for a June 2020 launch.

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Edited by Nishant Jayaram