LAST week Sun Sport ranked all 50 WWE Champions – but what about the legendary superstars who never held the top title?
We take a look at the 10 greatest wrestler to never win the WWE Championship.
Sting
It’s no wonder Sting never held the WWE Championship.
He didn’t join the company until he was 55 and only had two matches in a WWE ring.
He was a 7-time champ in WCW, but many fans wish he’d jumped ship much earlier and had a real shot at the WWE’s top title.
British Bulldog
Britain’s greatest ever superstar contended for the title on several PPVs across 1995 and 1996 – challenging Diesel, Bret Hart, and Shawn Michaels – but never struck gold.
Davey Boy was a superb worker and played the role of heel challenger when WWE was short on top stars – but didn’t quite have the charisma to carry the belt.
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Ricky Steamboat
A highly influential talent who created the blueprint for the modern style in his seminal match against Randy Savage at WrestleMania III.
He was NWA heavyweight champ but never made it past the Intercontinental title level during his 1980s WWE run (though the IC belt meant much more in those days).
Owen Hart
Like his brother in-law British Bulldog, Owen challenged Bret for the title extensively during their classic brother-v-brother feud in 1994.
But if Bret was considered a small champ, Owen was even smaller (though perhaps the better wrestler) and his high-flyer credentials ruled him out as serious contender for the heavyweight belt.
Interestingly. at least one match took place in which Owen cheated to win the title before the match was restarted and title returned to Bret. Wee see it on Owen’s Hart of Gold DVD.
Mr Perfect
On of the greatest bumpers of all time, Perfect was a brilliant heel who made almost of his opponents look good.
He had topline feuds with both Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior when they were champ but didn’t draw well enough to get a run with the belt himself.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts
The popular story is that Jake was so over he didn’t need a title. He deserved though – he was a pioneering master of ring psychology.
Rumour has it that a planned feud with WWE Champion Hulk Hogan in 1987 was nixed because fans were cheering Jake more than Hulk.
Jerry Lawler
Though he’s mostly known in WWE for playing the fool on commentary or as a comedy heel, Lawler is among the best performers in the history of American pro wrestling.
WWE fans only saw a fraction of his talent in the ring. He was red hot in his Memphis territory and held a huge number of titles – but never held a single one in WWE.
Razor Ramon
Razor AKA Scott Hall famously jumped ship to WCW in 1996 – where he formed the New World Order and changed wrestling forever – over frustrations with his spot on the card.
Or more specifically, the payoffs that came with his spot on the card.
Hall was an exceptional worker in his prime and has a great mind for ring psychology. Wrestling history could have been very different if he’d been elevated to the WWE title in 96.
Roddy Piper
With Hulkamania running wild throughout the 1980s, it’s easy to forget that Roddy Piper played a huge role in turning the WWE into a worldwide success.
A dastardly heat-magnet blessed with wrestling’s all-time great motor mouth, Piper was a megastar – but only managed a short Intercontinental title run in 1992.
Ted DiBiase
“The Million Dollar Man” was a hugely talented wrestler – a natural heel who could do it in the ring and on the mic.
The closest he came to the WWE Championship was when he bought the belt from Andre the Giant in 1988 – but was stripped of the title.
After his debut and initial run he never reached that level again, but played his role perfectly making the likes of Hogan, Warrior, and Randy Savage look, well, a million bucks.
He was so rich he just made his own title belt in the end – the Million Dollar Championship.
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