12 WWE Failures Who Became World Champion

Everybody fails at something in life, but greatness is sometimes measured in a person's ability to keep moving forwards towards success. Failure can be temporary, and all that. In WWE, failure has walked hand in hand with success for decades. Not everything is going to work. The XFL, for example, has flopped multiple times. WWE running a sports league properly is one idea we can probably put to bed!

That's a corporate example. For individual workers, failure can be painful and lead to a lot of soul searching. Some toiled through endless duff gimmicks or storylines that made them wonder if they'd ever turn things around, whilst others were cruelly cut loose by the biggest promotion in the land and forced to find themselves on the uncertain independent circuit.

Mentally, that can't be easy. Please know that the word "failure" in this context isn't a personal attack on any of the men and women plying their trade. They should, however, be roundly applauded for striving to improve their skills (whether inside the ring, outside on the mic or even politically backstage). That determination created unpredictable moments and World Title wins they'll cherish forever.

Some reached the mountain top a second time after that initial triumph. A few will never get there again, but they can always tell the grandkids about the time they were one of WWE's top champions. So, in many ways, their greatest achievement was overcoming outright rejection or career collapse to write their names proudly in the history books. 

Consider this a collection of wrestlers who went from the creative outhouse to WWE's penthouse.

Check out the face "Big Daddy Cool" has on the left there. Glenn Jacobs surely knew he was sinking as the cosplay version of Diesel as calendars turned to 1997. Kevin Nash, the original 'Big D', had left the WWF for WCW in 1996, so Vince McMahon stuck the guise on one of Jim Cornette's monsters down in Smoky Mountain Wrestling. It was never going to work, but that dude somehow became WWF Champ.

Granted, Jacobs didn't win the belt as "Diesel". He'd left that gimmick behind for another one by October '97. Kane debuted by ripping the door from Hell In A Cell during The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels at In Your House: Badd Blood (which was interesting considering this was the first Cell match ever!), then smashed his kayfabe bro with a Tombstone and left.

Nobody was quite sure whether or not Kane would be around after Undertaker inevitably beat him at WrestleMania XIV, but fans loved the character and it went from strength to strength. Remarkably, Kane was beating Steve Austin in a 'First Blood' match at King Of The Ring by June. He'd drop the title back to 'Stone Cold' on Raw the next night, but still - Kane had been WWF Champ, and that was something no-one could take away from him.

The same guy who'd been Jerry Lawler's evil dentist Isaac Yankem and who'd dressed up as a literal Christmas tree in Memphis was now holding the biggest title in the biz. He'd traded gimmicky flops and Halloween dress-up as other wrestlers for a niche of his own, and it led to one of the longest/most fruitful runs of any character in WWE history. 

His partner 'Fake' Razor Ramon didn't get the same creative reprieve.