20 Wrestlers You Totally Forgot Held WWE Championships
Not all title reigns are made equally - just ask Essa Rios.
Every wrestler starts their career with the goal of eventually becoming a champion, but the competition can be fierce. That wrestling legends Jake Roberts and Dusty Rhodes went their whole careers without winning WWE gold speaks volumes of how difficult it can be, particularly at the highest level.
Wrestling companies usually use championships to reward superstars for their loyalty, skill, and dedication. Winning a belt should be the ultimate acknowledgement of a wrestler’s contributions to the sport, but there aren’t always enough seats at the table, and not everybody gets to hold the gold.
Companies have tried to alleviate this problem by installing a number of additional mid-tier titles so that more wrestlers get a chance to call themselves “champion.” There are currently nine active title belts on WWE’s main roster, and countless defunct championships in their history. There are more title opportunities than ever before, but these don’t come without side effects.
Where the Intercontinental and World Championships were once reserved for the best in the business, WWE’s endless slew of lesser belts has seen countless forgotten title reigns. Winning a belt isn’t always a springboard to greater success, and as a byproduct of having too many belts, some former champions simply fall through the cracks.
Here are 20 wrestlers you totally forgot held WWE championships.
20. Mideon (European Champion)
The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Chris Jericho: the Attitude Era is responsible for some of the most memorable characters in WWE history. Mideon, however, isn’t one of them.
A bit part player in the Undertaker’s Ministry of Darkness, Mideon was a former WWE Tag Team Champion as Phineas I. Godwinn in the mid-90s. He became the Ministry’s demonic soothsayer after returning from injury in 1998, but he was rarely used as another other than cannon fodder, even while teaming with the gigantic Viscera.
In 1999, Mideon “won” the WWE European Championship in strange circumstances. Skulking around backstage one evening, Mideon found the belt in champion Shane McMahon’s duffel bag, and decided to claim it as his own. His reign was far from memorable, however, and he dropped the belt to D’Lo Brown one month later.
The Ministry of Darkness disbanded, and Mideon was reborn as “Naked Mideon,” but let’s not talk about that...