10 Wrestlers Who Turned Down Title Reigns

3. Torrie Wilson

Shawn Michaels World Title
WWE

Torrie Wilson wouldn't be far behind Stacy Keibler on the list of best women to never win gold in WWE, and for many of the same reasons. Torrie was hardly Dean Malenko in the ring, but she was about as far away from Dean Malenko as it got outside of the squared circle. Wilson was the apple of many a young man's eye in the dying days of the Monday Night Wars and the years that followed, so it is somewhat surprising that WWE never capitalised on that by putting the title on her.

It tried, most notably with the introduction of the WWE Divas Championship in 2008. Wilson was reportedly bandied about as a potential inaugural champion, but the Boise, Idaho native didn't consider herself the right choice to kick off that particular lineage. That honour eventually went to Michelle McCool, who defeated Natalya for the title at The Great American Bash in 2008.

Some reports suggested that Wilson rejected the title run because she didn't consider herself a worthy first champion. This could be true, but it is worth remembering that by the time McCool was defeating Natty for the title, Torrie had retired from wrestling. Wilson went into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019, so all's well that ends well.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.