Friday, March 29, 2024
Editorial5 World Champions Who Struggled To Find Success In WWE

5 World Champions Who Struggled To Find Success In WWE

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Hello! Today, we are looking at 5 World Heavyweight Champions who struggled to succeed while contracted to WWE. However, before we do that, let’s highlight some honorable mentions.

Honorable Mentions

Sting: After an exceptional career as a 14-time World Champion in the NWA, WCW, and TNA, he made his WWE debut in 2014 with a ton of hype, but many fans were left dissatisfied with his loss to Triple H at WrestleMania 31. He had a few more matches before a freak accident in a contest with Seth Rollins sidelined him with a serious neck injury. He was with WWE for six years, but was only active for one. During his inactivity, aside from a Hall of Fame induction, WWE used him sparingly. Sting pitched a match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania, but it fell on deaf ears. He said:

“I don’t know why the match never happened, but it should have happened. Because it wasn’t going to happen, and I knew it, and that wasn’t the only reason why I left WWE, but it’s one of the reasons why I left. I wanted that one last match.”

The Sandman: A product of his time, the 5-time ECW World Champion was one of the most recognizable stars of the promotion. He returned with glorious fanfare at WWE’s produced One Night Stand PPV in 2005, as he stormed through the crowd to the Metallica song of the same name. When WWE planned to revive ECW as a third brand, they chose The Sandman to be one of the originals to maintain its identity. However, it was obvious that his look and the way he works wouldn’t win over WWE management.

From 2006 to 2007, The Sandman was more of a part-time gimmick than a wrestler. As a shadow of his former self, being drafted to Raw did him no favors. Everything about his run was hard to watch, and almost saddening for those who enjoyed his work from back in the day. This former World Champion could barely work as a reliable mid-carder, but his reputation encouraged WWE to give him a chance on a brand that was nothing like the one he helped build.

Dusty Rhodes: The 3-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion began his WWE career as a joke. Management had Dusty portray the “Common Man”, who worked many jobs in vignettes, usually ending with somebody saying “Hey! Aren’t you…”. Now, many will remember the polka dots and his feuds with Randy Savage (ending at WrestleMania in a mixed tag with Sapphire) and Ted DiBiase. He won most of his matches. However, despite being a popular name across America, he didn’t win any championships in WWE.

Having wrestled since 1967, Dusty hung up his wrestling boots in 1991, after his mediocre two-year run with WWE. I’m sure he and the fans were expecting more, but we could say that he arrived too late in his career. Dusty was old news, and he recognized this. He got a job as a booker with WCW, which began a backstage career that influenced many of the stars we see today.

Austin Aries: The 3-time Impact and 2-time ROH World Heavyweight Champion proved his worth and was signed to WWE in 2016. He had a decent run in NXT, although he didn’t win any titles. After suffering an orbital socket injury, WWE placed him on commentary for some shows. When he was ready to return, he made his intentions clear by attacking Neville, the Cruiserweight Champion. In 2017, he lost twice to Neville and was released shortly after.

It was later revealed that he was unpopular backstage and the writing staff found him difficult to work with. Aries confirmed that creative had nothing for him. He later cemented his attitude by controversially leaving Impact Wrestling after losing its World Championship to Johnny Impact (Morrison) in the main event of their biggest PPV of the year, Bound For Glory.

Eric Young: The former leader of NXT stable, Sanity, is one of the most underrated performers of the past twenty years. He’s a two-time Impact World Champion, and along with winning every other title, Eric has nailed all the gimmicks he has ever tried. From super hero to sadistic villain, there is no character EY cannot portray. Sanity saw some success after picking up the NXT Tag Team Championship. However, after a year of sporadic appearances on the main roster, Sanity was broken up. Young was reduced to jobber status for over a year. WWE.com blamed Sanity’s failure on being: “In the same division as The New Day, The Usos, The Bar, and The Bludgeon Brothers.”

In reality, Vince McMahon didn’t get Sanity. He hated their entrance and did everything he could to avoid it. The only part of the stable that he enjoyed was Nikki Cross, but she quickly lost her crazy personality once the group disbanded. EY’s WWE career was doomed the moment Sanity was called up.

Ethan Carter III: WWE poorly used him as Derrick Bateman in the original format of NXT. Then, he made a name for himself as a two-time Impact World Champion by beating legends like Kurt Angle and Sting. Yet, after returning to WWE in 2018, he was so underutilized on the black & gold NXT, and the main roster, that it’s like he wasn’t there. Whatever it is about EC3 and WWE, it doesn’t click. He won the 24/7 Championship four times, but I’m sure that neither he, nor the fans, care about that one iota.

Low-Ki: The inaugural ROH World Champion and TNA star made a name for himself in the 2000s. He joined WWE in 2008 and participated as Kaval, in its second season of NXT in 2010. Despite winning the competition, he’d win only two of his following 14 matches (not including a battle royal) upon his main roster debut. He later stated the reason for leaving the job he worked so hard to get:

“Leaving WWE was the most healthy option. It was a toxic environment. I don’t know how it is now because I haven’t been there and I don’t watch, so I can’t offer an opinion on that. But, at least for me, it was a toxic environment that served no further purpose, and it was best for me to go. And because of that, I was able to thrive in other areas and with other opportunities but usually the opportunities that they had available to them and they chose not to use them.”

Big Van Vader: In 1996, after dominating Japan and winning the WCW World Championship three times, many fans were eager to see what he would do in WWE. It is said that HBK complained to management about the botches in their main event title match at SummerSlam ’96. Vader was scheduled to win the title from Michaels at Survivor Series, but plans changed.

Sycho Sid took his place to carry the title, so Michaels could get it back at the Royal Rumble. Despite working with some of the promotion’s biggest names, Vader struggled to gain traction. He negotiated his release in 1998 so he could return to Japan. He did not win any championships in WWE, and despite asking for it many times, WWE did not induct him into the Hall of Fame until after his passing in 2018.

– Alright, so this isn’t how I would usually do it, but here are the five World Champions I’ll be discussing. If you cannot see the images, they include: Raven (ECW), Diamond Dallas Page (WCW), Barry Windham (WCW), Taz (ECW), and Terry Funk (NWA/ECW).

WWE WWE WWE

#1. Raven

Earlier this year, Raven talked about his time in WWE. He’s a former 2-time ECW and 1-time NWA World Champion (in TNA):

“It would’ve been if I would have made it to the top of WWE [Raven responded when asked if he felt his character in WWE was everything he wanted it to be] but, that was — WWE, I had heat with [Vince] McMahon, long story and so I never really got what I felt was the push I deserved in that company and… so no, I didn’t get to do everything I wanted, but what I did do, I felt the work I did in ECW will stand up against anybody’s work any time, anywhere, ever. Whether it’s work rate, whether it’s matches, whether it’s storyline, storyline especially.”

Not only that, but Raven has talked about his first run in WWE as Johnny Polo. He would take Shane McMahon out with him to drink, and that may have got some heat with Vince because of things Shane would say to his Father on the phone in the early hours of the morning. Also, Michael Hayes told Raven that Vince wanted to know “who hired Johnny Polo?!”, like he didn’t know that he had built a career as Raven since leaving WWE in 1994. There’s also an incident that made WWE create a policy that talent couldn’t sleep with the office people anymore, which is something he’s proud of.

Through his own faults and other circumstances, the stars didn’t align when he returned to WWE in 2000. Most fans will remember him for winning the Hardcore title 27 times, and for destroying Perry Saturn’s love interest “Moppy” in a wood chipper. His biggest match was at WrestleMania X-Seven, when he lost the Hardcore title to Kane in a triple threat with Big Show. Regarded as one of the best talkers in the business, WWE missed out by not using Raven to his full potential.

Check out this link for a video of Raven’s debut at Unforgiven 2000. He helped Tazz to defeat Jerry Lawler in a strap match: Raven’s WWE Debut

#2. Diamond Dallas Page

As a 3-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, DDP’s time in WWE should probably have been very different. Instead of coming in as the lovable, admirable babyface, Vince McMahon decided he would be a stalker. Here’s what DDP thought about that:

“Vince McMahon taught me to never be afraid to walk away from the table. What I should’ve done was got up. When Vince said I want you to stalk The Undertaker’s wife and he’s looking across from one of the most beautiful women ever, my first ex-wife, I was there to be a part of the team. In WCW I fought for everything. If I were in the WCW mindset and Vince said we want you to stalk Undertaker’s wife, I would’ve looked at him, looked at her, looked back at him, and said Vince are you looking at my wife? I’m going to stalk some other cat’s wife when everybody knows she’s my wife? What I should’ve done was shook everyone’s hands and said, ‘I love the idea, but not for DDP. When you want to do people’s champion vs. people’s champion (DDP vs. The Rock) call me.”

Now, DDP became a European and Tag Team Champion (w/ Chris Kanyon), but as one of WCW’s biggest babyfaces of the Attitude Era… is that enough? Look at what Booker T and Goldberg did. DDP’s WWE legacy is one of being the creepy, smiley, creepy dude stalking The Undertaker’s wife. When this ended, he became the overly positive DDP, who told us when things were good. After sustaining a serious neck injury in a match with Hardcore Holly, DDP announced his retirement in June 2002. He left WWE shortly after.

These videos show two of DDP’s finest WWE moments. The first shows the ovation upon his debut. The second is a fun video of how he inspired “Jennifer” to stretch (DDP Yoga origin??). It’s a good thing.

#3. Barry Windham

As a former member of The Four Horsemen, Windham picked up many titles. However, he also found singles success in 1993. He defeated The Great Muta to become the NWA World Heavyweight Champion.

Following his last match in this stint of his career, Windham fell off the radar for two years before making his debut for the WWE as “The Stalker”. Yes, it’s that gimmick again. I’ll allow Barry Windham himself to talk about the gimmick. After that ended, he worked as one-half of The New Blackjacks with Bradshaw. He had minor success and was back with WCW by 1997.

#4. Taz

Taz knew his WWE career was doomed the moment he wrestled Kurt Angle in his debut match. The monster pop he got was one of his proudest and worst moments, because he knew it would lead to him being buried. Here’s what he said:

“So when I wrestled Kurt at The Garden, when I came out, like when I heard that pop, I knew I was f–ked. I knew I was doomed. I knew it because it was massive, and again, it was before the big craze of the Internet and all that s–t. People didn’t know I was going to be there. It was a legit surprise. A legit pop in the world’s most famous arena. The reason why I knew I was doomed is because that pop did not come from WWE.

I was a made guy before I got to WWE, and WWE, at that time, they’ll never admit it and they won’t admit it now, they didn’t want made guys. As I’m walking out with a towel over my head bad as a motherf–ker, I’m saying to myself, ‘oh my god. Shut up. Don’t cheer. Don’t pop just boo me. Do something just don’t saying nothing, even though it was an awesome feeling.

When I knew I was really f–ked was it was the first match of the Royal Rumble, massive PPV at The Garden, I walk through the gorilla [and] there’s nobody there when I’m done with the match. They stretchered Kurt Angle out. Everybody’s gone. As you guys know, that’s not [good]. Nobody wanted to be near me or talk to me. Nobody. I’m like, ‘oh boy,’ because even though it was my first night in the company, I knew how things worked. Then I was there for another nine years, so go figure.”

Taz remained with WWE for years after announcing his retirement. After leaving the company in 2018, he can be quoted as saying: “I didn’t want to be around anybody named McMahon at that time, They were annoying, and it was the pompous, the arrogance. But the arrogance, not politics, the arrogance. That’s what I keep saying. That’s the adjective that keeps jumping out at me. Just the disposition of that elitist attitude, it got to the point where I was like, ‘you know what? I’m out”.

In WWE, Tazz won the Hardcore Championship three times, and the Tag Team Championship once with Spike Dudley. In ECW, he was a two-time World Champion, two-time FTW Champion, two-time World Television Champion, and three-time Tag Team Champion.

#5. Terry Funk

Terry Funk’s biggest success came in the NWA when he followed in his brother Dory’s footsteps. He became the World Champion in 1975 and held it for over 400 days. Fast forward to 1985, and Terry was a well-known name in the business. Funk signed a contract with WWE, and he debuted as a nasty heel who carried around a branding iron. Terry teamed with his brother Dory, but his time is more remembered for his feud with Junkyard Dog. Before leaving the company in 1986, he had a series of title matches with Hulk Hogan.

In the mid-90s, Funk spent time in ECW and became the World Heavyweight Champion. He announced his retirement in 1997 and left ECW, but it didn’t last long and he returned to WWE. Not fooling anybody, he made his debut as “Chainsaw Charlie”. Yes, he and Cactus Jack went to WrestleMania. They got a high-profile victory over The New Age Outlaws to become the champions. But then, they lost the belts the next night on Raw. A few weeks later, he reverted to being Terry Funk and teamed up with 2 Cold Scorpio. But the writing was on the wall… and his last match happened in July when he & Bradshaw lost to Faarooq and Scorpio.

It’s safe to say that on both occasions, WWE failed to recognize Funk as a star and former World Champion. The fans knew him, but WWE did not want to give him any recognition. Funk returned for ECW One Night Stand 2006, in what was his last WWE match. He, Tommy Dreamer & Beulah McGillicutty lost to Mick Foley, Edge & Lita. In 2009, he & Dory were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame together. Although, it wasn’t in recognition of their WWE careers, but for what they achieved elsewhere. Thanks for reading!

Also Read: 15 Offensive Wrestling Gimmicks: What A Mistake!

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