WWE Hall Of Famers Who Never Won The Company’s World Championship
The WWE Hall of Fame is the promotion’s way of recognizing the people who have helped to make the global sports entertainment juggernaut what it is. Since André the Giant became the first inductee in 1993, a who’s who throughout the history of the WWE have been included into this prestigious club. While some of the celebrity inductions are questionable and certainly raise a People’s Eyebrow or two, there’s no denying the wrestling talent have all deserved their spot for their influence on pro wrestling as a whole.
There are some inductees who tasted varying levels of success in the WWE, but they never won the World Championship in the promotion. Of course, this is no measure of their abilities or success, since a wrestling promotion is the sum of its parts and all the elements of the card are what make up a show. Yet, there are a few surprising HOFers who didn’t win the big one in their time in the WWF/WWE, when they maybe should have in retrospect. So let’s take a walk through the WWE Hall of Fame and look at some of the biggest superstars to have never won the World Championship in the promotion.
Sean Waltman
When Sean Waltman debuted in the WWF, he had the most generic appearance and used varied names such as The Lightning Kid, The Cannonball Kid, and eventually, The 1-2-3 Kid. He had the word “jobber” written all over him — and he was for the start of his WWF career — but he turned it all around overnight when he cleanly pinned Razor Ramon on a 1993 episode of “Monday Night Raw.” However, it wasn’t his first stint with the company that resulted in his two-time Hall of Fame inductions in 2019 and 2020. That occurred because of his time in D-Generation X and the nWo.
When he returned to the WWF from WCW in 1998, Waltman went by the name of X-Pac and became an important part of the DX faction. Together with his fellow degenerates, he helped to shape the Attitude Era with his antics and picked up championship gold along the way — except for the World Championship. All things considered, Waltman was always a solid and consistent performer in the ring, but he was never viewed as championship material, especially if we’re comparing him to other talents from the era such as The Rock, Triple H, and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. If “NXT” had been around in his heyday, though, maybe he could have had a crack at the big prize there.
Ted DiBiase
When it comes to villains, there aren’t many better than the “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase. He dealt with all his problems by throwing money at them and buying his way up the card. His Million Dollar Corporation became one of the hottest heel stables around, as he’d employ wrestlers such as Bam Bam Bigelow, Sycho Sid, and Irwin R. Schyster to do his bidding, and he also created the Million Dollar Championship for himself because he simply could.
One of the best angles that DiBiase was involved in was when he tried to buy the WWF World Heavyweight Championship from Hulk Hogan in the late ’80s. Naturally, the Hulkster refused and DiBiase wasn’t able to defeat him in a one-on-one match for the title. So DiBiase got clever; he hired André the Giant to go after the title on his behalf. “The Eighth Wonder of the World” beat Hogan under dubious circumstances, then handed over the title to DiBiase. This reign was never officially recognized by the WWE and subsequently erased from the history books. Despite this, DiBiase was still inducted in the 2010 class of the Hall of Fame for the rest of his dastardly deeds as the ultimate heel of his era.
Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts
Jake “The Snake” Roberts was one of the most despicable heels in the WWF throughout the late ’80s and early ’90s, and featured in numerous big feuds against other icons, but he never won a single title in his time with the company. Nothing. Nada. Even though he made a triumphant return to the WWF in 1996 where he went to the finals of that year’s King of the Ring tournament, this event is best remembered for being the star-making turn for “Stone Cold” Steve Austin rather than for Roberts’ valiant efforts. Regardless of the lack of championship gold, Roberts was still inducted in the 2014 Hall of Fame.
During an episode of “Talk Is Jericho,” Roberts revealed how he was meant to be involved in a big championship program with Hulk Hogan, but the entire angle was nixed after the crowd chanted “D-D-T” rather than for Hogan … which didn’t go down well backstage. For the master of the DDT, he wanted to work with the champ since the payday for main event programs was much higher than normal. In a separate interview with Chris Van Vliet, Roberts stated that it didn’t bother him that he never won the big one, since he felt he was already a star without the title.
Jeff Jarrett
In the ring, “Double J” Jeff Jarrett was a phenomenal talent for the WWF. He won the Intercontinental Championship six times and hardly had a bad match, as he put on wrestling clinics and made his opponents look fantastic night after night. Despite there never being any question about his natural born talent, there was a reluctance to elevate him to World Champion; instead, he was put in a weird but memorable feud with The Roadie, aka the Road Dogg, over who really wrote and sang the song “With My Baby Tonight.” It was only after he left WWF to join WCW and TNA that he became renowned as a legitimate main eventer and world champion in those promotions.
On his podcast “My World” (via Fightful), Jarrett opened up about how his first reign as WCW World Champion is the one he holds dearest. “I had zero decision in it and obviously, all the baggage that goes with that,” he said. “I didn’t hold anybody up with a gun. My contract wasn’t about to expire. There was no leverage. It was, ‘Jeff, we’re gonna make you champion, that the big gold will always hold the most special place.'” Considering the outstanding tussles that Double J and Shawn Michaels had over the Intercontinental Championship, it’s a shame their rivalry didn’t extend to the main event when HBK became the World Champion. Nonetheless, Jarrett was still rightfully inducted in the 2018 WWE Hall of Fame.