10 Superstars You Forgot Competed For A World Championship On WWE PPV

As budding rivalries, championship feuds and in-ring tensions gradually boil to the point of fever pitch, PPV events become necessary instalments on the wrestling calendar, to showcase WWE's burgeoning too-hot-for-TV narratives. Often, the crème de la crème of these events is, and has historically been, the World Championship slots. Simply put, PPV is the best chance for WWE to showcase their signature straps at the top of the card, as the biggest prize in the business.

A hot World Title match can transform even the most cumbersome of PPVs from completely skippable, to must-see events. Crucial these are, as they afford management the opportunity to provide audiences with a definitive blow-off to the storylines writers and audiences alike have invested so much time in.

Whilst many a legend has defined their legacy in such clashes, there are an assortment of men who have unremarkably graced the prominent World Championship picture on the PPV stage.

Whether it be a superstar benefiting from a random insertion into the main event scene, or WWE’s inability to capitalize on a certain star’s momentum, there have been many instances of forgettable title challengers under the bright lights of pay-per-view.

We all remember how ECW crashed and burned when re-introduced as a third WWE brand, no matter how hard we try to forget. However, what may fly under the radar to the casual fan, was that the brilliant One Night Stand events from 2005 and 2006 provided the catalyst for the rebirth. For viewers generally unfamiliar with Extreme Championship Wrestling, both WWE-produced shows offered a captivating insight into Paul Heyman’s hardcore promotion which set the wrestling world ablaze during the mid-1990s.

Case in point, a rollercoaster World Heavyweight Championship bout between two men who defined their respective styles. At ONS 2006, the death-defying ECW legend Sabu, challenged then champion Rey Mysterio, who himself was a former alumni.

Jam-packed with vicious chair shots and seated senton table bumps, the match suddenly ended with a jaw-dropping finish. With Rey seemingly lying on an outside table, Sabu spring-boarded from the ring and DDT’d a standing Mysterio through the table, in a move which could have very easily broken both competitor’s necks. As a result, the encounter was diabolically thrown out, with Mysterio retaining his title, angering the booming Hammerstein Ballroom crowd.

Despite few expecting Sabu to emerge victorious, he dominated the contest, and very nearly achieved a huge upset, in an underrated car-crash spectacle, which remains a brutal watch.