10 Wrestlers Who Were Only World Champion Because Of The Brand Split

8. Christian

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Like certain others on this list, there's no doubting the ability of Christian. The guy is great in the ring, always delivers the goods, and has charisma in abundance. But still, if it weren't for the brand split he would never have become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

Brother/best friend Edge is another who may come into this bracket, although his real-life issues with Matt Hardy and Lita would've arguably catapulted him to World Champion level regardless of the brand split. As for Christian, it's a different deal altogether.

The fact that Christian got the belt at all is largely down to the splitting of the WWE roster and the fact that he was seen as a sympathetic figure after Edge's retirement.

Christian is one of the greatest all-round WWE performers of the last decade or so, but the WWE would've likely never given this former Light Heavyweight and Tag Team Champion anything greater than the Intercontinental Title were it not for the brand split.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.