10 Best Wrestlers Who Were Never WWE Champion
1. Owen Hart
Often graced with gold thanks to Tag, Intercontinental and Slammy Award success, Owen Hart was familiar with WWE gold. The company's top prize evading him was as much to do with timing as it was talent.
Though delighting between the ropes for much of 1994, Bret and Owen Hart's WWE Title programme drew poorly at box offices already hammered by a business in decline. He carried the midcard underneath the political minefield presided over by his brother and Shawn Michaels, but fell short as a babyface and a heel during the rises of both Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock in 1997 and 1998 respectively.
It was the former's dominance that ultimately doomed his headline aspirations before his utterly tragic death in 1999. Owen injuring Austin ahead of his earth-shaking industry dominance at SummerSlam 1997 marked his cards with 'The Rattlesnake' regardless of his otherwise-exceptional work between the ropes.
One of the great losses to the industry as a performer, Owen's comedic chops ensured even his final days as The Blue Blazer weren't wasted. Resilient in the wake of the Montreal Screwjob that decimated his family's place in company history, the Over The Edge 1999 tragedy was made worse because of his refreshingly realistic take on an industry he'd already planned to exit.