10 "Little Guys" Who Should Have Been WWE Champion

No matter which era of the WWE you're looking at, there are at least a couple of supremely talented guys on the roster that never seemed to get the respect they deserved.

Some of the superstars who seemed like natural contenders for the WWE Championship somehow never wound up in the picture.

And in most cases, that inability to catch their big break came down to one glaring factor: they weren't what you'd call 'big men'.

Yes, in Vince McMahon's company, the physically slight fellas in the locker room are usually just lucky to get any sort of major screen time or occasionally score a main event at one of the lesser pay-per-views. Because Vince is infamous in his love for the big, beefy, bodybuilder types that always draw and never completely suck.

The term "little" is all relative, though, as the definition of who qualifies for that label greatly changes depending on just what era we're talking about. In the 80s, for example, anyone who wasn't 300 pounds and built like a bodybuilder was considered one of the little guys, whereas today you have to be about the size of CM Punk to be considered little.

But regardless of the exact physical specifications, the little guys have always been there, flying under the radar and getting jammed out of the WWE Championship race. 

And that sucks, because these guys definitely deserved a shot.

Looking at the career trajectories of both Hardy Boys is a little confounding to anyone who grew up watching wrestling when the infamous Rockers split happened.

In that case, it was the more mic-ready Shawn Michaels who went on to have a lasting singles career, while the less extroverted Marty Jannetty faded into the background.

With the Hardys, though, it was the typically mic-shy Jeff Hardy who managed to catapult himself into main event status while older brother Matt - the one who seemed more comfortable cutting promos - was relegated to the midcard for all of eternity.

What's even more strange is that Matt is the only one out of that famous gang of four who stormed through the tag team division together - The Hardys and Edge & Christian - not to carry the title. Not even for a day!

And look, no one's saying that Matt Hardy was a natural superstar. The guy clearly had a lot to work on, both in the ring and on the microphone. But he also made drastic improvements in both areas in a relatively short amount of time.

At the very least, he was just as capable of wearing that belt as Christian.