Hiya!
Becoming the “top” Champion in the WWE is a big deal. Getting awarded the most prized belt in RAW and Smackdown means the company has a lot of faith in you. After all, you are the supposed to be the headliner of your respective brand. You are going to be the reason why hundreds of WWE fans will pay a ticket to see you love. You are going to be the person everyone wants to see on television. You are going to be why they will tune in to a pay-per-view. You’re the main man and you deserve the respect and the accolades it comes with that belt.
Well, that’s usually the case, anyway. Sometimes, the WWE will put the “top” belt on someone who will make fans scratch their heads and wonder what they were thinking. The sad thing is this kind of thing has happened quite a lot in the history of the WWE. So, let’s go through the five worst WWE Superstars the company decided to put the crown belt on and their reigns as the king of the hill for their respective brands.
Now, I’m not a hater of Kofi Kingston and the entire Kofi-Mania storyline leading to him winning the WWE World Championship was great. The buildup for this entire thing was organic, with Kofi Kingston being a last minute replacement for Mustafa Ali at the 2019 Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. No one really expected him to win but, for a brief moment, there was a certain magic in the air that he just might. This all led to fans backing him all the way to beat Daniel Bryan at Wrestlemania 35 for Smackdown’s top prize.
The problem is the WWE had no idea what to do with Kofi Kingston once he won the WWE World Championship. He then proceeded to have lackluster feuds with Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe and Randy Orton. He then had a match against a returning Brock Lesnar and proceeded to lose to The Beast in less than 10 seconds. After that, Kofi Kingston was not seen to be a viable contender for the WWE World Championship and returned to being a tag team wrestler again.
While Kofi-Mania was electrifying, it was more of a “spur-of-the-moment” thing. It only worked as he was an underdog, someone who was a longtime WWE Superstar and fans wanted to give him a little love. Once he became top dog of Smackdown, Kofi Kingston was no longer the underdog. His entire run was an underwhelming exercise of not planning ahead of time and a good example of how the WWE Universe can be a fickle bunch.
#4 Diesel
Before Kevin Nash started to use his real name, he was known as Diesel. He started out as Shawn Michaels‘ bodyguard and the duo helped each other to earn various Championships such as the WWE World Tag Team belts and the Intercontinental Championship. The two eventually broke up and Diesel managed to win the illustrious WWE Heavyweight Championship from Bob Backlund in a house show in just 8 seconds.
Unbeknownst to everyone, this would actually kick off one of the darkest times the WWE ever experienced. House show attendance plummeted under Diesel’s reign as the top guy of the company. They tried to “fix” him by totally changing his personality from the tough “Big Daddy Cool” to someone who would conduct a choir while wearing a Santa hat and a suit. The sad thing is Diesel’s reign as the top guy of the company lasted for almost a year.
It was already an odd decision to give a WWE Superstar with a name like Diesel the WWE Heavyweight Championship. What’s ever odder is how Diesel’s reign as the WWE Heavyweight Champion really didn’t amount to anything. It looked like the WWE was trying to manufacture a new top contender but fans simply rejected the concept. What’s worse is Diesel came off more like a side character to the likes of Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart, who looked like the real main characters. The only good thing that came out of this is “Diesel” earned enough cred to move to WCW, change his name to Kevin Nash, form the New World Order and flip the script on what fans would cheer for.
Yeah, I bet you forgot The Great Khali actually became WWE World Champion, didn’t you? It certainly didn’t help that he became champion in one of the most boring ways to become champion. He didn’t beat anyone for the belt. He didn’t go through a tournament. No, The Great Khali became the WWE World Champion by winning a battle royale to win the then vacated title on Smackdown. Lame, right? Then again, this is one of the rare times when the biggest man in a battle royale actually won. Too bad it had to be The Great Khali, though.
On paper, having someone as imposing like The Great Khali should be great. He’s a big scary guy and even the toughest of babyfaces would have a chance against him. The problem is The Great Khali is one of the most boring big man wrestlers ever. He has a very limited arsenal of moves in his repertoire. He can’t really move around, meaning most of his matches has him standing around like a lump and no-selling attacks. What’s even worse is, despite his large size, he still had to cheat in order to not lose the belt during 1 of his 3 title defenses!
Thankfully, The Great Khali’s reigns as the top guy of Smackdown only lasted for 3 months or so. Even though it was so short, it definitely felt much longer. Like I said, the idea of making him the WWE World Champion kind of makes sense but, seeing as how he can’t actually wrestle or, you know, move around, which is essential for wrestling, makes his reign one of the worst ones in WWE history.
Speaking of big guys…
#2 The Big Show
Once again, I get why someone like The Big Show would be in the main contender spot for the top guy in the WWE. He’s a big guy, making it plausible to topple over stronger guys like Batista and John Cena. He’s also generally much more agile than you would think, so he could do some moves as well as have moves done to him. The problem is, despite his size, he always came off as a transitional champion. He was the guy you put the belt on when you just wanted to take the WWE World Championship off of someone before you put in on another guy. You know why this is? Because he never really holds onto the big belt for more than 2 months!
This becomes a huge problem as, although he’s become the WWE World Champion and the WWE Heavyweight Champion multiple times, none of his runs on either holds any significance. In essence, the Big Show only becomes the top dog once in a while so the WWE can still promote him as a top contender. Fans quickly grew tired of this as we all figured out he’ll be losing whatever belt he’s raising over his head in a month or so.
#1 Jinder Mahal
I mean, was there any doubt who would get the top spot of the worst WWE “top” champions? Jinder Mahal’s reign as the WWE World Champion is legendary for all the wrong reasons!
Before Jinder Mahal’s run as the top guy on Smackdown, he was essentially a jobber. In fact, prior to becoming the #1 Contender by winning a 6-man singles match, Jinder Mahal lost to Mojo Rawley, thanks to interference from former football player Rob Gronkowski. Nevertheless, he went on to defeat Randy Orton at Backlash with the help of his new allies, the Singh Brothers.
He then went on to hold onto the WWE World Championship for 170 days. Yes, Jinder Mahal was the top guy on Smackdown for 170 days. Yeah, I’m surprised, too. I thought it was much longer because it felt like a year to me!
There were so many things wrong with putting the WWE World Championship on Jinder Mahal. It’s been rumored the reason why the WWE put the belt on him was because they wanted more Indian viewers to subscribe to the WWE Network. Seeing as he’s from Indian descent, they used him to try to entice them. It’s never been confirmed but it does line up. His matches were also very boring as Jinder Mahal isn’t that exciting of a wrestler. Most of his title matches generally involve a lot of rest holds. I mean, a lot of rest holds slowing down the pace of the match. So, the really boring wrestler is supposed to be your headliner? Brilliant, WWE. Just brilliant.
He also came off as a very weak Champion. I’ve already mentioned how he was basically a jobber and that was already his vibe. So, of course most of his “wins” would involve him getting help from the outside to win! While I’m fine with heels doing sneaky things to keep their titles, it should come like a last ditch effort to win, not the wrestler’s standard protocol.
Anyway, this was the longest 170 days for the WWE Universe. No one really cared for Jinder Mahal as WWE World Champion and the only reason why we kept watching was the hope he would finally lose the belt and the nightmare would be over. It did end with AJ Styles beating him on an episode of Smackdown. I, for one, really cheered for AJ Styles because he stopped the torture.
Byee!
Who was the worst “top dog” in the WWE in your opinion? Let me know in the comments section below!
3rd World Geeks 