The 25 Greatest wrestlers to never be WWE World Champion

After the success of the Best and Worst WWE World Champion polls, next up, by popular demand, we have Greatest to never be WWE World Champion!

To be apart of your list, the wrestler must have wrestled in WWE, WCW, ECW or TNA for more than just one match. They can be dead, alive, retired or still wrestling.

You send me in a PM your top ten Greatest wrestlers never to be WWE World Champion, and I will collate the points. 1st place on your list gets 10 points, 2nd 9, 3rd 8 all the way to 10th who gets 1 point.

Voting will close in two weeks today. The top 25 will be posted soon after.

Sent

Is there 25 guys out there who should have had a run instead of the Champion at that specific time?

the-gaffer wrote:Is there 25 guys out there who should have had a run instead of the Champion at that specific time?

It doesn't necessarily have to be as specific as that, just wrestler who you feel probably deserved a world title reign at some point. Even if it's difficult to see where that reign could have fit in.

Is there a cut off Crimey? Such as only wrestlers above a certain age, for example Regal would be okay to say whereas for example Zack Ryder would not be?

Gregers wrote:Is there a cut off Crimey? Such as only wrestlers above a certain age, for example Regal would be okay to say whereas for example Zack Ryder would not be?

No cut off at all. If you think Zack Ryder should have won a world title by now then that is your opinion and you can have him in your list.

I'll just clarify that by WWE World Champion I mean WWF and WWE Championships as well as the World Heavyweight Championship.

Tough to pick just 10 but it is done!!!

Just to clarify, you do only need to send me 10 wrestlers not the full 25. The full 25 is the list I will post in a few weeks time.

Thank you Crimey for organising another great poll. Will be interesting to see who comes out on top......my votes have been submitted

My votes have been submitted. I think when we see the 25 names, it'll be quite an eye opener.

When sending your votes in, can you please make sure you make it clear which order your list is in.

So number them:

1.
2.
3.
4.
....etc.

As it makes it much easier for me.

Sorry, didn't number my list, but my list is definately in order. Do you still want me to number the names?

No that's fine. As long as it goes:

1.
2.
3.

Rather than...

10.
9.
8.

?

Definately, the wrestler at the top is number one Crimey.

done, im at wokr just now so thats just off the top of my head

sent

Are you counting the WWE World Title and WCW World Title as the same belt? If not i may have to resubmit my list

They are still eligible if they won the WCW World Title without winning a WWE World Title if that's what you mean.

Crimey wrote:They are still eligible if they won the WCW World Title without winning a WWE World Title if that's what you mean.

Yep, is it sound to resubmit my list?

VDT wrote:

Crimey wrote:They are still eligible if they won the WCW World Title without winning a WWE World Title if that's what you mean.

Yep, is it sound to resubmit my list?

It's fine, just send me again, I'll delete your first PM so as to not use them both.

Crimey wrote:

VDT wrote:

Crimey wrote:They are still eligible if they won the WCW World Title without winning a WWE World Title if that's what you mean.

Yep, is it sound to resubmit my list?

It's fine, just send me again, I'll delete your first PM so as to not use them both.

Sound, Thanx Man! Its who to remove now, Ha!

Sent mine.

this is really really difficult to compile - I just kept coming up with names. Narrowing them down was a nightmare

yeah i could have done a top 25 of my own lol rather than 10

Think you could prob make a top 100 list Crimey

Can I just confirm is it the wrestler or the character? What I mean is, Mick Foley won the title as Mankind but not as Cactus Jack. Can I put Cactus in my list if I wanted to??

crazygangwomble wrote:Can I just confirm is it the wrestler or the character? What I mean is, Mick Foley won the title as Mankind but not as Cactus Jack. Can I put Cactus in my list if I wanted to??

It's wrestler. So Mick Foley is not eligible.

Crimey wrote:

crazygangwomble wrote:Can I just confirm is it the wrestler or the character? What I mean is, Mick Foley won the title as Mankind but not as Cactus Jack. Can I put Cactus in my list if I wanted to??

It's wrestler. So Mick Foley is not eligible.

Thought so, but just wanted to make sure. Thanks Crimey

Gillberg

bretmeharty wrote:Gillberg

Did i hear somewhere thats he has come out of retirement and is doing handicap matches at indy shows as Gillback and just gets destroyed by the 2 guys?

VDT wrote:

bretmeharty wrote:Gillberg

Did i hear somewhere thats he has come out of retirement and is doing handicap matches at indy shows as Gillback and just gets destroyed by the 2 guys?

Not sure on that, but I did hear he is going to take on ryback at the 1000th raw

VDT wrote:Think you could prob make a top 100 list Crimey

That would totally devalue it, might asd well make it 1000 or anyone who's ever laced up a pair of boots

When this list is done we should get people to publish their lists and explain why that guy should have won a World Title and when, that might spark a bit of debate

I wouldn't want that as I know you'd argue me down on the guy I picked top!

HUNICO

Hero wrote:I wouldn't want that as I know you'd argue me down on the guy I picked top!

are you yella' McFly?

Well here was my top ten...

1. Roddy Piper
2. Brian Pillman
3. William Regal
4. Vader
5. Jake the Snake Roberts
6. Rick Rude
7. Scott Hall
8. Ted Dibiase
9. Mr Perfect
10. Umaga

I went with;

1. Roddy Piper
2. Arn Anderson
3. Ricky Steamboat
4. Owen Hart
5. Mr Perfect
6. Ted DiBiase
7. Scott Hall
8. Honky Tonk Man
9. Jerry Lawler
10. Shelton Benjamin

Sting was my Number 1 pick.

Samo wrote:Sting was my Number 1 pick.

Technically correct, but I ruled him out as he was never a WWF/E competitor.

I've just saw the "Must have competed in WWE" part.

Flip. Im resubbing my list hahaha.

Marky's wrong.

To be apart of your list, the wrestler must have wrestled in WWE, WCW, ECW or TNA for more than just one match. They can be dead, alive, retired or still wrestling.

Your list is fine, as is all the people who submitted Sting.

Oh damn it. Right, put Sting back at Number 1 and move everyone down a point, haha. Sorry Crimey.

Crimey wrote:Marky's wrong.

To be apart of your list, the wrestler must have wrestled in WWE, WCW, ECW or TNA for more than just one match. They can be dead, alive, retired or still wrestling.

Your list is fine, as is all the people who submitted Sting.

I didn't say he couldn't

I just said I ruled him out.

I just didn't put Sting in because I never overly rated him.

Hero wrote:Well here was my top ten...

1. Roddy Piper
2. Brian Pillman
3. William Regal
4. Vader
5. Jake the Snake Roberts
6. Rick Rude
7. Scott Hall
8. Ted Dibiase
9. Mr Perfect
10. Umaga

Nice list, where do you think they could have been champs and would they have been a better option than who was already champ?

Roddy Piper - 1985, I'd have had him win the title off Hogan at the War to Settle the Score before dropping it to Hogan at the first WrestleMania - space for it to happen? Yes

Brian Pillman - I think he'd have got Mankind's role in 98 after Austin won the WWF Title, obviously he wasn't around long enough to be viewed where a reign could have been fit in - space for it to happen? - No

William Regal - his time was in 2008, HHH was pushing for him to be his opponent at SummerSlam but he got himself Wellnessed, he cut his own balls off here - space for it to happen? No

Vader - always on these lists, I liked him in the WWF in 96 but his only real main event run was in Shawn Michaels first real main event feud as WWF Champion, after the whole Boyhood Dream build up and the 18 month build up then it would have been strange to see any other outcome than Michaels retaining - space for it to happen? No

Jake the Snake - one of the greats from a psychological stand point but for one reason or another was never propelled into the main event division, he was supposed to work with Hogan around 87 but it was to early in his WWF career to believe he'd win it then, between 88-92 would he have made a better champ than Hogan, Savage, Warrior or Flair? I'm not so sure, he'd have made a better champ than Slaughter but real life dictated that debacle and he'd have been better than Taker but again it was Taker's invincibility people bought into - space for it to happen? Yes

Rick Rude - loved Rude but I just don't think there was a time in the WWF when he could have won the title, he had that short main event run with Warrior at SummerSlam 90 but it was Warrior's first real feud since winning the title off Hogan and for me there was no way he was dropping the belt so quickly - space for it to happen? No

Scott Hall - this is pretty simple, he could easily have won the World Title in WCW with the way things where booked, not sure he ever truly had a chance in the WWF but I'd have liked him to be the guy who took the belt off Backlund instead of Diesel - space for it to happen? Yes

Ted DiBiase - I think he could have won it in 1988, I think he's vastly overrated though, he had a solid gold gimmick and was heavily invested in, it was basically fool proof, no doubting his in ring ability tho, for me he should have won the title off Hogan at Saturday Night's Main Event with help from Andre and Evil twin Earl Hebner before dropping it to Savage at WrestleMania IV - space for it to happen? Yes

Mr Perfect - often hailed as one of the best ever regardless of winning very little in mainstream wrestling, for me though there was never a time when he could have won the World Title, had a feud with Hogan in early 1990 but that was mainly filler and set-up for Warrior/Hogan - space for it to happen? No

Umaga - short and simple, this should definitely have happened in 2007, Cena was on a reign of terror and Umaga was a breath of fresh air - space for it to happen? Yes

I can't really disagree with the vast majority of your no's, there was a reason why they never were champ which in the case of many was an extended face champ run. For me though this is always WWE's main failing, like any decent story the audience is gripped when the hero is the guy chasing the goal not when he then gets it. Heels in my opinion should spend the majority of the time as champion but WWE always seem to believe that the champ has to be the poster boy.

Pillman though I reckon could have easily become the Heel of the Attitude era if he hadn't unfortunately died.

I'm not sure that the heels should mainly be the champion for the majority of the time, that was the case in the NWA and WCW but WWF bucked the trend, I can see why having the good guy chase the gold would make for a better story but it's all about balance for me, the good guy and guy sold as the best (i.e Cena) has to be seen as someone who can win consistently or else he'll not be seen as what they're trying to sell him as, look at Punk's win/loss ratio from when he was heel until the MitB last year (up until WM anyway)

I like a heel champ having a long reign, it helps the faces get more over but if they did that all the time they'd fall into the same trap WCW did

any update as to when the results will be posted?