10 Legendary Wrestlers Who Never Won A Major World Title

Winning the World Heavyweight Championship for a wrestler is up there for prestige with being an actor and winning the Oscar. It’s simply the top prize of your trade. To get that kind of prestige you must be a compelling performer, able to capture the imaginations of audiences worldwide. You must have the dedication of a Pope and the presence of a Hollywood icon.

But wrestling is a fickle mistress. No matter how loudly the crowd chants your name, how much TV time you have, or how much merchandise you shift, you may never get the big belt around your waist. Some of the hardest working, most popular grapplers in the industry simply could not find that magic formula of personality, match quality, timing and luck. It’s a hard thing to achieve, even for established and prevalent talent.

This list counts down ten of the best wrestlers, workers and entertainers who never made the leap to be the top guy in their company. 

Only WWE, WCW, ECW, TNA, NWA, AWA and ROH Heavyweight titles constitute major World Championships. So no Tito Santana (ECW Champ), Ricky Steamboat (NWA Champ) or Mr. Perfect (AWA Champ)...

Jim Duggan is exactly what you want a world champion to be. Popular, patriotic and down to Earth. The American flag was synonymous with his image. He didn’t have an elitist streak though, so his brand of nationalism was more palatable than that of others who would tout Old Glory at matches.

With one raised thumb he could contain an audience in the palm of his hand. So what stopped him from taking a title everyone thought he was destined for? Getting caught doing coke with the Iron Sheik. For Sheik, who was and is a legendary bad guy, this wasn’t such a big deal for his character.

But for Duggan? He was an All-American hero, beloved by one and all, especially the little-uns. To get caught “partying” was bad enough but to get caught doing it with the enemy of America, the Iranian menace himself? That was near career suicide.