Top 10 Former WWE Superstars Who Never Won a World Championship

Credit: WWE.com
Terry Funk gives Dean Ambrose a present.

The WWE Championship is supposed to be a symbol of excellence, but some people who deserved to win the title never did.

It's hard to give every person worthy of being champion a run with the belt, but some who have been overlooked were better choices than many who have been lucky enough to hold it.

If John Cena is worthy of being a 15-time WWE champion, why weren't Cody Rhodes or Ricky Steamboat good enough to win it one time?

The list of people who deserved to win the title and never did is quite long. This slideshow will look at 10 of the top talents who were never fortunate enough to hold the WWE Championship.

This is not a ranked list, so pay no attention to the order of the names.

If you asked any WWE fan who the greatest technicians of all time are, it's a guarantee that the majority, if not all, of them would include Curt "Mr. Perfect" Hennig on their list.

Hennig was the epitome of hard work during his time with the company, and he had classic matches with loads of Superstars who went on to become world champions.

His Intercontinental Championship match with Bret Hart at SummerSlam '91 is a favorite among wrestling historians, and the fact that he never won a World Championship in WWE seems like an oversight.

Hennig does have a few world titles on his resume from promotions like AWA and a few smaller companies, but for some reason, the powers that be never saw fit to push him to the top of WWE.

When it comes to wrestling legends, few measure up to Terry Funk, both in accomplishments and overall legacy in the business.

Funk has wrestled for well over a dozen different promotions, and he was able to win world titles in Extreme Championship Wrestling and The National Wrestling Alliance, but he never captured singles gold in WWE.

In addition to holding dozens of titles across several companies, he has helped train countless wrestlers, many of whom went on to have incredible careers of their own.

Funk even had a series of matches against Hulk Hogan ^[5] for the WWE Championship in the mid-'80s, but he came up short every time.

The only time he ever held gold in WWE was a tag title reign with Mick Foley, but not winning the WWE Championship didn't stop him from becoming one of the most iconic heels of all time.

Like Funk, Paul Orndorff had the unfortunate timing of being in WWE during the period when Hulkamania was running wild.

While Mr. Wonderful had a few shots at the WWE Championship, he was never able to capture the gold and ascend to the top of the roster.

His time in WWE saw him serve as a main event heel, but once he left the company, it all went downhill from there. He spent some time in WCW, where he won the Television Championship, but the Ted Turner-run company never booked him the way Vince McMahon did.

He received a well-deserved induction into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005 where he joined a long list of legends who never got their hands on the top title.

The Million Dollar Man came close to winning the WWE Championship on more than one occasion, but repeated failures led to the creation of the Million Dollar Championship.

DiBiase was the perfect heel for the '80s. The decade was all about excess, and DiBiase embodied that frame of mind with his millionaire gimmick.

The closest he came to becoming WWE champion was the finals of a tournament to crown a new champion at WrestleMania 4, but he came up short against Randy Savage.

However, he does hold the distinction of being the first person to hold the WWE North-American Heavyweight Championship. Don't blame yourself if you have never heard of the title; it was retired after changing hands just three times in 1981.

As one of the few people to wrestle their entire career as a babyface, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat was somehow never booked to win a World Championship in WWE.

Steamboat was loved by fans all over the world because he had so many great qualities. He was technically proficient, regularly performed risky moves off the top rope and never let his ego get the best of him.

His match with Randy Savage at WrestleMania 3 is still considered by many to be one of the greatest matches in WWE history.

He came close to defeating Ric Flair for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Spring Stampede in 1994, but because both men had their shoulders down for the pin, the belt stayed around Flair's waist.

When it comes to the current generation of former WWE Superstars, few had their talents wasted as much as Wade Barrett.

He found a lot of success early in his run, gaining wins over the likes of John Cena and Randy Orton ^[14], but a few injuries stalled his rise to the top.

Barrett immediately stood out when he debuted during the first season of NXT. His physical presence was enough to get him noticed, but it was his personality and mic skills that separated him from the rest of the pack.

His Bad News Barrett gimmick was where he really started to shine, but another injury kept him from reaching his full potential. After a terrible storyline with The League of Nations, Barrett was released after informing the company he would not be signing a new contract.

Jake "The Snake" Roberts was one of the most interesting characters during the '80s and '90s, especially during his feuds with Randy Savage, The Ultimate Warrior and The Undertaker.

His grasp of the psychology of wrestling was miles ahead of everyone else at the time, and he used it to become one of the greatest heels in the business.

However, his gimmick limited how far he could go. Carrying a snake to the ring in a burlap sack put him in a certain category, and people who have animal mascots don't become WWE champion.

Scott Hall had a great career in both WWE and WCW, but for some unknown reason, nobody ever saw fit to give him a reign as world heavyweight champion.

As Razor Ramon, he was one of the biggest stars WWE had in the early to mid-'90s, but it was in WCW where he found himself in main event storylines.

As one of the founders of the NWO, Hall was responsible for kick-starting the Money Night Wars and giving WCW a leg up over its competition.

Despite never winning the WWE Championship, Hall had an incredible career, which led to a Hall of Fame induction in 2014.

Owen Hart was one of the most talented and beloved wrestlers WWE ever employed, which is amazing considering he was a heel for the majority of his career.

Hart was the total package when it came to wrestling. He was an amazing technician, believable in his promos and as entertaining as anyone in the company.

If you search YouTube, there is a video of him winning the WWE Championship from his brother, Bret, during a live event, but the reign was never acknowledged by WWE, and therefore does not count.

As one of the many wrestlers who died way before his time, Hart will always be remembered for giving everything he had to the business and being one of the funniest people to ever step foot in a ring.

Cody Rhodes is the man who inspired this slideshow. After nearly a decade of toiling away, getting bad gimmick after bad gimmick over, frustration led to him requesting his release.

Things might be different had WWE ever given him a shot at being a main event player, but for some reason, management thought making him into a variation of the Goldust character was a better idea. As Stardust, Rhodes did everything he could to make the character work, and for a long time, it did.

Rhodes proved time and time again how good he was in the ring and on the mic. The way he took terrible gimmicks and made them entertaining is something few could have done in his place.

Wherever he ends up going from here, he will be a major asset. Hopefully WWE comes to its senses and finds a way to get him back at some point down the line.

The 10 Superstars on this list would have made great world champions, but they're not the only ones. Who do you think deserved a reign with the title who didn't get it?

Thanks for reading, and follow me on Twitter: @BR_Doctor.^[23]