10 WWE Jobbers Who Became World Champion
1. Mick Foley
It's 'Mrs. Foley's Baby Boy'...Jack! That's right, Mick was initially known as Jack Foley during four of his first five jobber matches for the WWF in 1986. In 1987, he received another extras gig, but someone had the bright idea to change his name to Nick Foley. Kamala didn't care - he gobbled up poor Nicky in less than 30 seconds during a Wrestling Challenge taping.
Earlier, Foley had lost to The British Bulldogs, The Killer Bees, Hercules and Kamala again. In his books, the future Mankind, Cactus Jack and Dude Love revealed that Davey Boy and Dynamite booted lumps out of him during that tag with Les Thornton. Such was the life of a WWF enhancement talent. They were only on shows to make the stars look good.
It would've been easy for Foley to fade away like so many others, but he cultivated something special in WCW and ECW before Jim Ross coaxed Vince McMahon into giving him a full time shot. Famously, McMahon told JR that he'd only sign Mick so the beloved announcer knew what it'd be like to have his heart broken. Lovely. Things didn't quite work out as expected for the then-boss.
Mankind was a revelation as The Undertaker's main antagonist in 1996, and Foley understood how to get wrestling fans onside with a sympathy vote as a lovable (if deranged) babyface after that. In 1999, he won the WWF Title and legitimately became one of the biggest names of the 'Attitude Era'. McMahon, to his credit, spotted that he'd been wrong to write Mick off completely.
From starstruck Jack/Nick to a bestselling author and fine purveyor of multiple brilliant gimmicks. What a journey.
Which other WWE jobbers went on to taste success as World Champs? For more wrestling, check out 20 Most RANDOM WWE Royal Rumble Entrants and WWE Women’s Royal Rumble 2025: Predicting All 30 Entrants!