10 WWE Stars That Should Have Won The World Title Sooner

Plenty of ex-WCW names and some returning stars...

chris jericho 2002 world champion
WWE.com

Okay, so the premise behind this article may sound a little greedy, as you’d expect that the guys who’ve won world titles are just grateful to have done so at all.

But if we’re going to be finicky about it, you could argue that there have been many cases in which a world title reign should have come sooner. A lot sooner.

Obviously this could be due to any number of reasons; from the much-discussed 'backstage politics' that have helped govern the business for years, to questionable booking decisions made along the way, or simply as a result of wrestlers not finding themselves in the right place at quite the right time.

Bearing all this in mind, this article looks to name 10 world champions whose time with the belt should have arrived somewhat sooner.

Oh, and by the way, we’ll only be including a wrestler’s first world title win, so those who never won a title at all won't be up for consideration, and this is exclusively a WWE list. Plus, reigns from the rebooted ECW haven't been included, partly because that’s period in history we should all be trying to forget…

10. Dean Ambrose

Chris Jericho Vengeance 2001
WWE.com

Dean Ambrose’s road to the WWE Championship wasn’t necessarily a sluggish one, and the win itself was an awesome moment, with Ambrose cashing-in his Money in the Bank briefcase just an hour or so after winning it.

As great as all of that was, however, I can’t help but feel that the optimum moment to crown Ambrose champion had arrived some 12 months earlier.

In the summer of 2015, Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins was once again proving to be one of the highlights of WWE programming. This particular chapter in their rivalry saw the two meet at the 2015 Elimination Chamber event for Rollins’ WWE title, where Ambrose would seemingly score the win after pinning the champ clean in the middle.

However, in a perfectly-executed Dusty finish, the decision was retroactively reversed in order to disqualify Rollins - and I say perfectly-executed because I was sold hook, line and sinker. Rollins remained the champion, and while Ambrose got a rematch at the following pay-per-view, he once again lost by the narrowest of margins.

For me, that was the ideal time to have pulled the trigger on the overwhelming popular Ambrose. Instead, though, he was consigned to the mid-card wilderness for pretty much the rest of the year.

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Elliott Binks hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.