8 Wrestlers WWE Regret Making World Champion

1. Chris Jericho

Finn Balor
WWE.com

From 2008 until 2010, Chris Jericho embarked on a legendary heel run that is easily one of the best of the modern era. During those years, the self-proclaimed Best in the World at What He Does managed to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship an impressive three times.

While WWE is likely mildly irked that those reigns are now attached to a top star in rival promotion AEW, it's Jericho's time as WWE's first ever Undisputed Champion that's the focus of attention here.

The simple fact of the matter is that there can only ever be one first Undisputed WWE Champion. And as much as it surely now gets under the skin of WWE brass, that first was Chris Jericho.

For WWE, they now get to see the top star of a potential rival organisation parading around and proudly proclaiming himself as the first ever Undisputed Champ. There's no direct mention of WWE in Le Champion's words, yet everybody knows that this is clearly a reference to the December 2001 Vengeance PPV which saw Jericho defeat The Rock and 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin in the same night to hold the newly-created biggest prize in the business.

You can only imagine how much Vince McMahon must now regret handing that prestigious Undisputed WWE Champion honour to Jericho back on that '01 night - and how much Vince must cry himself to sleep at the fact that Triple H was out injured during the crowning of the inaugural Undisputed WWE Champion.

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Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.