15 Biggest False Narratives In Wrestling History

9. Wrestler X Should Have Been World Champion

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WWE

Paul Levesque has grasped one thing above all else, and that one thing happens to be the most important: being a World champion truly matters, and should represent the pinnacle of achievement in the business. He has his favourites, and might be guilty of breaking his “the belt shouldn’t make the man” maxim with Damian Priest, but mostly, he gets it. 

It’s eye-watering how often you’ll fire up X and see some kind of engagement bait post asking who was never WWF World champion, but should have been: Mr. Perfect, Jake Roberts, Ted DiBiase, or Roddy Piper. 

You know who should have been World champion at that time? 

Hulk Hogan. He was the top draw, he convinced the most punters to part with their cash and buy a ticket, and that’s how the business operated at the time. 

This is all well-intentioned, of course, but it’s odd how often this sort of conversation occurs. 

Mad as it may be to read now, there was a weird online initiative - after 2010! - to give Kane “one last run” with the belt. 

Conflating favourite wrestlers with champions and insisting they get the belt is one of the nicer false narratives, but it’s still just…wrong. In general, there’s a strange mentality in which being a valuable midcard asset is a bad thing. 

AEW is in some ways a victim of this. Everybody should be headlining, apparently, which is less than ideal, since they have around 50 incredibly gifted upper midcarders.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!