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

4. Booker T

JBL title
WWE.com

As he'd regularly remind us, Booker T was a 5-time, 5-time, 5-time, 5-time, 5-time WCW Champion when he arrived in the then-WWF back in 2001. Whether Booker would've ever won a World Championship in Vince McMahon's company without the brand split is certainly up for debate.

The hottest that Booker T ever was in the WWF/WWE was when he went up against Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania 19. As Triple H said to Book at the time, "people like him" weren't supposed to win WWE World Championships. And in a decision that seemed ridiculous at the time (and still does now), Booker T lost. Clean. To a solitary Pedigree and a super-slow cover.

It wouldn't be until the Great American Bash 2006 that Booker would win his first real WWE World Championship, defeating Rey Mysterio for the World Heavyweight Title.

There's certainly an argument to say that Booker's chances of becoming a WWE World Champion were finished once he did the J.O.B. to Triple H at 'Mania 19, and were it not for the chance given to him years down the line on Smackdown then one would have to think that Booker T would never have worn WWE World Championship gold.

In this post: 
JBL
 
Posted On: 
Senior Writer
Senior Writer

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.