10 WWE Champions Who Wouldn't Make It In Today's Developmental System

Oh. Controversial.

The current godfather of developmental arrived in WWE almost completely undeveloped himself. His first major run in WCW was as the generic wild man Terra Ryzing, and he later became Jean-Paul Levesque, French aristocrat. This one note, hoity-toity gimmick is the way he'd arrive in WWE, minus the terrible accent.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley was one of the least impressive rookies in WWE history. He was squashed by the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania and lost his valet to Marc Mero. He was technically sound, but had no real idea how to speak into a microphone or engage an audience. He was Wesley Blake and/or Buddy Murphy in a tailcoat.

Triple H's big career break was his association with Shawn Michaels, and the closeness to Vince McMahon that this friendship afforded. Triple H certainly forged himself an amazing career, but if he'd had Bill DeMott as a mentor instead of the best wrestler of the decade and the man who owns North American wrestling, the landscape of pro wrestling itself would be very different.