10 Most Unlikely Contenders For The WWE World Title
7. Vladimir Kozlov
Allegedly one of WWE's favorite pet projects, Vladimir Kozlov was a legit tough guy who trained in numerous martial arts and fighting styles. In WWE, however, he was a slow-moving Ivan Drago-type who was inexplicably pushed to not one but two world title shots.
Debuting with no entrance music or Titantron video, Kozlov was intriguing when he first cropped up in the spring of 2008. Kozlov squashed some jobbers and undercard guys to get over slightly but didn't exactly scream "main event talent".
WWE decided to strike while the iron was lukewarm though and Kozlov found himself booked in a Triple Threat match against Triple H and Jeff Hardy for the WWE world title... truly, one of these things was not like the others.
When Hardy was injured, WWE quickly realized that they were left with a main event of Triple H vs. Vladimir Kozlov. Realizing how badly that match would suck, they inserted Edge to save wrestling fans from dying of boredom.
Kozlov somehow found himself in another world title match when he entered the 2009 Elimination Chamber match for the WWE title at No Way Out. Thankfully, he was eliminated, shuffled into a comedy act with Santino Marella, and released about a year later.