10 Wrestlers Who Didn't Fit The Belt

This entry might be a little contentious for some readers, and they would be right in their concern given that the rules regarding the X-Division have changed more times than The Big Show has switched between heel and face. One second the division has a weight limit, the next it doesn't.

So Abyss' title reign may not have technically been against the stated rules of the time, but it was definitely against the spirit of the X-Division, whose mission statement was basically to provide a home for the blending of traditional wrestling styles with the with the high-flying cruiserweight and lucha libre styles.

Abyss is the heaviest wrestler to have held the championship, and at 350lbs, neither his frame nor his wrestling style really suited the division. Other 'big men' have also held the title, most notably Samoa Joe. But in Joe's case, his wrestling style at least allowed him to look like he belonged with the other X-Division wrestlers.

To be fair Abyss' title reign did make sense in story line terms. Eric Bischoff was having a little war against the X-Division at the time, and Abyss was his chosen weapon. So in this context, it made sense to have the exact opposite of the division as its champion in order to bring it down.

Although the X-Division ultimately survived Bischoff's onslaught, Abyss' reign did take some prestige and uniqueness away from the title. Perhaps an example of life imitating art, the story-line campaign to destroy the X-Division actually sapped a lot of energy and momentum out of it, a setback from which it took it quite some time to recover.