9 Wrestlers Who Could Have Been WWE Champion In The 1990s

In wrestling, belts are props.

Granted, they're the most important prop of all, but they're still ultimately just props, and their level of importance depends on who's booking them. As it currently stands in WWE? Well, there are some people who really elevate a belt because they're really talented and charismatic (such as Miz whenever he holds the IC title, or recently with Becky Lynch and the SmackDown Women's championship). However, in general, it doesn't really matter who's holding what belt; we all know they'll take a backseat to whichever part-timer comes to town.

That's especially the case for the World Titles, as during the last decade and a half, the two brand splits and hot-shotting has made it so that every Tom, Dick, and Jack Swagger has had a run at some point. This practice started in the late '90s, but for most of the decade, WWE were very protective of their top belt.

The '90s saw a lot of changes, as Hulkamania died down and Vince McMahon attempted to reshape his company. He went through several experiments before finally settling on Stone Cold Steve Austin and Attitude.

But whether as a heel transitional champion, or as the top babyface, there were plenty of men who could have or should have been WWE Champion - but circumstances prevented them from getting the strap.

At King of the Ring 1993, Hulk Hogan dropped the WWE title back to Yokozuna and disappeared from the company for nearly nine years. From there, Vince McMahon would go on a 4+ year trial-and-error process of finding his next top guy. His first experiment?

Blonde, musclebound Lex Luger.

In fairness to Luger, it's not like he wasn't credible in that position. As a former WCW Champion who had headlined major events such as Starrcade and The Great American Bash, he certainly was a good get for the WWF in 1992, even though Vince just wanted him for the World Bodybuilding Federation. Of course, that experiment tanked quickly, and Luger was brought into as a wrestler. With a Narcissist gimmick and Bobby Heenan as his mouthpiece, Luger might have actually done quite well for himself.

Unfortunately, Vince, being myopic, thought to pull a 180 on Luger and give him an all-American babyface gimmick, complete with red-white-and-blue trunks and a fancy bus. One would think with how sudden and momentous the Lex Express push was, he would have won the title at his first opportunity at SummerSlam 1993.

That didn't come to pass, however, as he defeated Yokozuna via countout, and he lost all his momentum as a babyface.

Two years later, Luger went back to WCW, a company that, if nothing else, knew how to use him better than WWE.