Welcome to the first edition of COURTESY TITLE—a two-part general breakdown of what may become an ongoing series revolving around the idea of calling attention to wrestlers who were unable to win certain championships.
The phrase “courtesy title” is used when awarding someone an honorary moniker of sorts. As a play on that, the purpose of this series is going to be awarding someone an honorary championship in the sense that they should have won a particular title, but didn’t, yet since they proved their worth, let’s tip our hats to them.
Why do this now? Well, with Clash of Champions on the horizon, it got me thinking about the lineage of certain titles and how each champion, for as short or long of a reign as they have the belts, can always call themselves a former champion and have that clout.
For this first part, I had a particular target in mind: superstars who never won a world title during their WWE careers, but in retrospect, probably should have.
As this is a “general breakdown”, I don’t want to get bogged down in too many details. Those can be expanded in further editions diving deeper into fantasy booking scenarios, how their title reigns could have went down, who they might have dropped the belts to and won them from and so on.
Without further ado, let’s start tossing out some names, in no particular order:
Rowdy Roddy Piper
MAN was Piper a staple. Had Hogan not had a multi-year title reign, Piper definitely would have been one of the champions during that era.
Something that I’ll echo several times on this list is that some of the older wrestlers could be considered guarantees to have won the world title had there been a brand split.
Having the Raw and SmackDown distinctions has allowed WWE to double the amount of world champions it would normally have because there are simply two titles to compete for. Some people who likely never would have become champion were able to have at least one run with the belt because there are twice as many opportunities to reach that goal.
Christian, Mark Henry, Jinder Mahal and plenty others might not have been champion (and several people wouldn’t have won the title as many times), so we can assume Piper would have been a guaranteed champion at least one time had there been two titles in his era. There’s no way there would have consistently been people that WWE prioritized over Piper when there’s twice as many shoes to fill, and you can tell because of how the Intercontinental Championship was, in many ways, the alternative to another world title.
Keep that in mind going forward while scrolling down this list.
“The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase
Technically speaking, you can argue that Ted DiBiase did win the WWF Championship. He bought it from Andre the Giant, who had won it from Hulk Hogan. DiBiase even defended the title on some live events, but his reign isn’t recognized.
With the amount of heat DiBiase got, the importance of his heel character at the top of the division and the popularity of the gimmick, there’s no reason why this shouldn’t be retroactively considered a true title reign. What’s the harm, right?
At least his lack of a world title led to the creation of the Million Dollar Championship, which is one of the most unique and cool looking belts out there.
Vader
Legend has it Vader was supposed to be the one to dethrone Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series 1996 instead of Sid, but SummerSlam ruined that. Supposedly, HBK was so frustrated (visibly, mind you) at the match that it derailed plans to keep the feud going.
For all we know, Vader would have won the world title at In Your House: It’s Time in December that year, anyway. However, injuries prevented him from being featured on the card, so the subtitle makes no sense.
Given his size and strength along with his track record in WCW, you’d think Vader would have been a guaranteed WWE champion. He was a credible threat to everyone and could believably take the title from anyone, including even The Undertaker. He just didn’t seem to fully fit in the WWE mold and within no time, was already out of the company.
With the brand split, I think his odds shoot up drastically, and he would have been SmackDown’s champion.
Razor Ramon
Even without a brand split, Razor Ramon arguably should have had a run with the world title. It just happened to be that the exact time he would have been champion coincides with WWE’s push of Diesel.
Back in 1995, Big Daddy Cool was the pet project who won the belt in November 1994 and held it until November 1995, just shy of one year by a week. He destroyed Bob Backlund to win it, who had beaten Bret Hart, and ultimately lost it to Bret, creating a circle before moving on to Shawn Michaels.
Had Diesel been injured in a more drastic way that prevented him from keeping the title during that year-long period, I think Ramon would have been one of the four primary options (along with Hart, Michaels and Undertaker) that WWE would have experimented with. After all, he was super popular, a great performer, tenured and part of the Kliq and had influence. He even left the company partially because he felt he wasn’t ever going to be “the guy” and opted to take the WCW money. That might not have happened if Scott Hall was a former world champion by beating Diesel or winning the belt from a vacated position in 1995.
With a brand split? Forget about it. He would have been a multi-time world champion. Look at how often the guy won the Intercontinental Championship and was relied upon to be the secondary champion in the company. There’s no doubt he would have held the secondary world title several times between 1993 and 1996, at the very least.
Goldust
Goldust is a tricky one. He was one of the more featured characters in 1995 and 1996, but he quickly derailed into some terrible gimmicks, like The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust.
Going with the brand split IC title direction, though, you’d have to assume he would be in the running to have won a world title. He did hold that intercontinental belt 3 times over the course of 3 years.
The first of those spawned from a feud with Razor Ramon. In this fantasy world of a brand split with Ramon as champion of belt #2, who’s to say Goldust wouldn’t have won the world title from him instead of the midcard belt? Then again, that might have been premature and WWE could have had him as intercontinental champion by feuding with someone else, as you have to assume other guys would have been bumped up the card to compensate for that second midcard title, too. Maybe we’d be talking about the great feud between Goldust and 1-2-3 Kid over the Intercontinental Championship, instead (a belt Sean Waltman should have won, but that’s a story for another article).
I don’t think Goldust would have been worthy of a world championship in any other era, though. His later years, he already had a brand split to work with, but he was enhancement talent that just happened to work better than ever before. Back in 1999 or so, he was a mess. If it would/could have happened, the target year would have to be 1996.
Jeff Jarrett
Compared to Goldust, the Razor Ramon feud I feel even more confident saying would be for the world title would have been Jeff Jarrett, and I think he would have 100% been a world champion out of that.
Jarrett and Ramon feuded for a long time and traded the Intercontinental Championship back and forth on several occasions. There’s no doubt in my mind this would have been a world championship feud and Jarrett would have made a convincing top guy on SmackDown or whatever that brand would have been called prior to The Rock creating that name.
He has his detractors, but I think Double J would have done a great job in this role and if he had been a proper world champion in WWE, his relationship with the company wouldn’t have soured. It’s likely TNA never would have been created.
Mr. Perfect
Do I even need to explain this one? I don’t think so. Curt Hennig was one of the best performers WWE has ever had and would have made a convincing world champion at any point in his career. He could have beaten Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, etc.
Brand split? It’s a given. Without the brand split, it still should have happened. I think the target time would have been a little prior to 1990 with his intercontinental title runs. Maybe he should have been the one to beat Hogan at WrestleMania 6 instead of Ultimate Warrior. It’s something worth thinking about.
Lex Luger
The Total Package was about as close to becoming a world champion as one can get without actually getting the job done. If you believe the rumors, he was supposed to win the title from Yokozuna at WrestleMania 10, but after spilling the beans, WWE decided to go in the opposite direction by putting it back on Bret Hart.
I don’t buy into it, but it’s a possibility. Hell, he could have won the title from Yokozuna before that point. Instead of having everyone celebrate a count-out victory a few months prior, maybe he would have won the title back at SummerSlam 1993?
Considering how history went down, the only way I could imagine Luger would have won the title would have been in that brand split fantasy booking scenario. Then, he definitely would have been the B-champion at least once, even if it was for a short reign. He likely would have had feuds over the world title with people like Crush, Rick Martel, Mr. Perfect, Bam Bam Bigelow and DiBiase’s Money Inc members in a similar fashion to what happened, but just with a belt up for grabs.
Owen Hart
Owen Hart actually did win the WWF Championship on a house show, which isn’t recognized as a legitimate reign. He’s in the same boat as DiBiase and Antonio Inoki in that you can count him as a former champion with an asterisk, but if you’re making an official list, he has to be kept off the lineup.
This is unfortunate, as Owen was amazing. I think they missed the boat by not having him be the one to take the title from Bret back in 1994.
I’m a huge enough Owen Hart fan that I can honestly say if he would have won the belt literally at any point in his career other than the very beginning while he was wearing those parachute pants, I would have been down for it.
British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith
I can’t make as strong of a case for Davey Boy Smith being world champion compared to Owen Hart, but I do think he’s within the realm of discussion. There’s more of a chance he would have been a babyface world champion on the B-show due to his musculature and WWE’s tendency to go in that direction, but when would it have happened?
Based on how he bounced around between different companies and had more than enough substance abuse problems, I think he still might have run into an issue where we’d be talking about him missing the boat even if there were twice as many opportunities. Then again, who knows if being a world champion and having that responsibility and honor would have set him on a better path and he wouldn’t have had those same problems.
Bam Bam Bigelow
Spoiling the next edition of this article, but how was this dude not only not world champion, but not ANY champion in WWE? He never won a single title in this company, despite how he could have made an amazing tag team, intercontinental or world champion.
Bam Bam Bigelow main-evented WrestleMania 11 and was still not a world champion. That’s crazy.
If I were booking things in hindsight and we had this brand split idea, he would have been one of the best possible options to take the title from Lex Luger circa 1994. Then again, maybe he could have won the title in 92, as his partnership with Luna Vachon was pretty interesting. Hell, maybe even earlier in the late 80s.
Bam Bam was awesome and is one of the most underutilized talents I can think of from WWE’s past. I wish we had a second go-around to fix that and to book him better.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts
Jake Roberts is another person who will be featured on the next edition of Courtesy Title revolving around superstars who never won a single title, as baffling as it is. You’d think he would have at least won the intercontinental, right?
Roberts is one of those guys who was never the most marketable as far as pomp and circumstance, his physique or anything that would draw you in from just a cursory glance. However, goddamn was he a captivating character who could cut some of the best promos in the company and had some very interesting feuds, whether he was a babyface or a heel.
The idea of Roberts taking the title from Randy Savage is very interesting to me. I don’t think he would have necessarily beaten Hogan for the belt, but that is an option, too.
Not to beat the same old drum, but with a brand split, I think he would have been one of the go-to heels that would have had a run with the secondary title. I can imagine he would have feuded with Ricky Steamboat, Tito Santana, Jimmy Snuka and guys on that spectrum as feeder challengers to make Roberts look like a truly evil heel.
Ravishing Rick Rude
Even Conrad Thompson makes the argument on a recent episode of Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard that given their history together as opponents, Ravishing Rick Rude could have been a better option to beat Ultimate Warrior, rather than Sgt. Slaughter.
That opens a different sort of discussion. How would WrestleMania 7 play out? Does Hogan fight Slaughter in a non-title match about American pride? Does Hogan beat Rude to win the title while Warrior fights Slaughter and Randy Savage fights…who? Maybe we get Savage turning face earlier than planned and he fights Slaughter while Warrior fights Undertaker?
That rabbit hole is interesting, but the bigger point is that Rick Rude was so good at being one of the best heels in and out of the ring, character and technical ability, that he definitely deserved a world title. He just happened to be in an era where there wasn’t room for more than one guy at the top of the mountain.
Jerry “The King” Lawler
While Bob Backlund winning the title from Bret Hart only to get his ass whooped by Diesel is a moment for the history books, I think I’d rather be able to say Jerry Lawler was a world champion.
If you think about it, Backlund went from being one of the longest-reigning champions in WWE history—a record that isn’t likely to be beaten—to a joke who lost his title just days after winning it, in just a few seconds.
Who is a better laughing stock than Jerry Lawler? He would have been able to play that part so much better and more convincingly. Plus, he had a super interesting feud with The Hitman all on his own. Backlund, meanwhile, owes much of his feud to Owen.
The King never won a single championship in WWE, but he had tons of titles to his name prior to joining the company and becoming more of a comedic character. I think WWE could have kept some of the jokey stuff in there while also tapping into his better track record. Then, you could have written off his title reign as something he’d always talk about in the future where he’s a former champion, but people could crack jokes about how quickly he lost it.
Ryback
Despite the problems he’s shown to have had with WWE ever since his departure, which are likely the reasons why he never won the big prize, I think in a perfect world, a few things are different.
At the time and even still in hindsight, I fully believe Ryback should have won the Royal Rumble that John Cena last eliminated him in. Then, Big Hungry should have gone on to WrestleMania 29 to beat Big Show for the World Heavyweight Championship. Instead, we got Ryback losing to Mark Henry and hitting his move on him after taking the pin, while Big SHow had dropped the belt to Alberto Del Rio, who fought Jack Swagger and then dropped it the next night to Dolph Ziggler, who was injured shortly after.
Sure, it robs us of the Ziggler moment, but I was there at WrestleMania. It sucked. Swagger didn’t even get a decent enough entrance to justify his match with Del Rio, who I’ve never been particularly fond of. Big Show’s spot on the card was forgettable. Ryback’s loss to Henry (who I like) was a mistake. None of it made any sense.
William Regal
How good is William Regal? For that matter, how likely would he have been world champion if his 2008 run as King of the Ring and Raw General Manager wouldn’t have been derailed with his suspension?
I feel like that is one of those missteps in history where he had everything going in his direction, but made the right mistake to stop that from happening. Then, he was never able to recapture that magic and missed his opportunity.
Sometimes, you have to strike while the iron is hot. Instead, he fumbled and burned himself.
Wade Barrett
One of the opinions I still hold strong to this day that hasn’t changed from back when it happened is that Wade Barrett should have not only been one of The Undertaker’s opponents for WrestleMania instead of one of the Triple H matches, but he should have also won a world title while he was the leader of Nexus.
Barrett vs. John Cena with the world title on the line would have been one of the better feuds that defined a year during a different era. Instead, we got Cena putting a table over Barrett and then pulling chairs down on top of that table in one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen WWE try to act was cool.
The Bullhammer was great. Nexus was hot as a group and a threatening force unlike any we had seen in years. Barrett was charismatic and was more than capable of having at least a transitional reign.
Night of Champions on September 19, 2010. That’s when it should have happened. He was even in the title match and was using his NXT win title shot to fight for the belt. WWE should have gone all-in and kept his momentum going, rather than putting the belt on Randy Orton.
That disrupts The Miz Money in the Bank cash-in and such, which I would hate to get rid of, so I’d have to figure out some other alternative ways for The Miz to become champion, but maybe he should have won it post-Mania by cashing in on Orton, who would have fought Barrett at WrestleMania that year or something along those lines.
Honorable Mentions
Cody Rhodes, Billy Gunn, Rikishi, Ken Shamrock, John Morrison, Shelton Benjamin, Ron Simmons and others were on my list, but I didn’t think I had as much of an argument for them. Plus, with Morrison and Benjamin, even though I don’t think it will happen, there’s still time, as they’re still actively competing on the roster. With Cody, I think if he ever leaves AEW for whatever reason (which I don’t think will happen), I think WWE will be much more tempted to give him a world title reign on SmackDown.
Who do you think should have been a world champion, but failed to achieve that goal? Keep the discussion going in the comments below!
