10 WWE Jobbers Who Became World Champion

3. Jeff Hardy

Jeff Hardy WWE Title
WWE

Technically, both Matt and Jeff Hardy could be included here, because Mr. Mattitude went on to grab two reigns as TNA World Champion himself. He was also ECW Champ. It was WWE's version of extreme, but that likely still counts as a 'World Title', right? So, Matt's along for the ride too, but most of the spotlight goes on Jeff for this entry.

The future 'Charismatic Enigma' first showed up as enhancement level cannon fodder for Razor Ramon on the 6 June 1994 episode of Raw. He was called Keith Davis for that booking, but the WWF quickly started using Hardy's real name for follow up matches vs. The 1-2-3 Kid, King Kong Bundy, Jim Neidhart and others. He'd keep on keeping on as a singles jobber until first teaming with brother Matt on WWF cards in 1996.

The young Hardy lads had an air of The Rockers about them, but they weren't predicted to do much beyond preliminary tags. Screw that - Matt and Jeff changed the face of tag-team wrestling as a whole alongside Edge, Christian and The Dudley Boyz come the end of the 90s and into the new millennium. That wasn't something anyone could've foreseen when Jeff was being bumped around by Bundy during the dying days of Wrestling Challenge. 

Hardy's raw charisma and star power eventually led to one WWE and two World Heavyweight Title reigns between 2008-2009. Personal problems would blight Jeff's career, so fans can only imagine what he could've gone on to achieve had he been able to stay sober and fight his inner demons.

What might've been (again).

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.