Championship Material wrestlers who never won any title in WWE

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), today is considered to be professional wrestling's greatest promotion. It is the biggest pro wrestling promotion and to fans around the world, the term "pro wrestling" is synonymous with WWE. There is no doubt that WWE has created so many stars in the past and we have seen some of the greatest pro wrestlers grace the squared circle with their presence. WWE has produced the biggest pro wrestling stars with Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior, Bret Hart, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Triple H, Batista, John Cena, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and AJ Styles among others, all of whom have been former WWE Champions.

However, there are some also some of the great wrestlers who deserved to be WWE Champions or World Heavyweight Champions or deserved to have a world title run one way or the other during their WWE tenure but never achieved that feat such as Roddy Piper, Mr. Perfect, Montel Vontavious Porter, Mr. Kennedy, Ken Shamrock, Carlito, John Morrison and Shelton Benjamin, who largely held mid-card titles and there are some who were world-title material or at least mid-card material, but surprisingly never won any championship during their career.

"The Narcissist"/"The All-American" Lex Luger:
The first and foremost example of a wrestler who surprisingly never won any title in WWE is of Lex Luger. Luger is a well-known name in the pro wrestling scene. In 1992, he left WCW due to a contract dispute after losing the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to Sting at SuperBrawl II. He then suffered a motorbike accident and after a stint in the ill-fated World Bodybuilding Federation, Luger made his way into WWF in 1993. With the resume of a world champion beside him, the former WCW Champion made his WWF debut as "The Narcissist" Lex Luger under the tutelage of Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. After racking up wins over several wrestlers establishing himself in the mid-card during the first half of 1993 including a win over Mr. Perfect in his WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania IX, Luger was suddenly thrust into the main event scene after Yokozuna won the WWF Championship from Hulk Hogan at King of the Ring.

Luger who had the potential to be a world champion and be the leader of the company with an impressive physique and great in-ring talent, was chosen by Vince McMahon to be Hogan's successor as the company's face but WWF creative team made a big mistake by building him up as the "All-American", which was just the 1990s version of Hogan's "Real American". Fans had been seeing the "Real American" for the past decade and were sick of it. It is rumored that Luger was expected to win the WWF Championship from Yokozuna but things went wrong and he failed to get the job done. After being pushed as the company's top babyface and the number one contender for WWF's most prestigious title throughout late 1993 and early 1994, his main event run ended soon in the company after being screwed out of the title by Mr. Perfect at WrestleMania X.

Luger deserved to be the WWF Champion as he had all the looks and charisma to be the world champion but things did not go down in Luger's favor. Maybe there were backstage politics or other factors that caused things to go wrong. Luger's career fell down after WrestleMania X and he became a mid-carder and did not even get a run with the Intercontinental Championship and the Tag Team Championship. A failed run with British Bulldog as Allied Powers in 1995 led to Luger's departure and surprisingly he did not win any title throughout his WWF run.

Jake "The Snake" Roberts:
Jake Roberts is often credited for having invented the famous DDT move in professional wrestling. He is also known for his intense knowledge of in-ring psychology. Roberts created one of the most epic characters in the WWF history and while he may never have enjoyed main event success like his contemporaries Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, his "Snake" character has his own significance. He never won any championship in the WWF but was inducted into the Hall of Fame due to his historic rivalries and matches. It is a huge surprise that Roberts never won any title in the WWF despite being one of the company's most popular stars in fact he never won any title in any major promotion including WCW and ECW, where he wrestled. He is perhaps the greatest pro wrestler who never won any title in any major promotion.

"Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff:
Paul Orndorff is one of the biggest heels of the WWF's Golden Age Hulkamania era. One of the major villains during Hulk Hogan's initial days as WWF Champion, Orndorff headlined the first-ever WrestleMania in 1985 by teaming with Roddy Piper against Hogan and Mr. T. Despite being one of the top heels of the company at the time and having an impressive physique, Orndorff never won any championship in the WWF. He rather found success in WCW, where he was a World Television Champion and one half of the World Tag Team Championship winning tag team Pretty Wonderful.

"The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes:
Dusty Rhodes was one of the biggest successes in Jim Crockett Promotions and National Wrestling Alliance during the 1980s. He also had a brief reign as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion and remained in the NWA Championship picture during the mid-1980s, putting up many classic matches with Ric Flair over the title and enjoyed success winning numerous titles in the JCP. However, his WWF career was a complete failure. He jumped ship to WWF, where the creative team failed to capitalize on his prior name recognition and instead put him in a ridiculous gimmick of "The American Dream" where he wore black shirts with yellow polka dots. He would get involved in ridiculous feuds with Randy Savage and Ted DiBiase but failed to gain any championship success in WWF and left the company for good in 1990.

Harley Race:
Harley Race had a great resume heading into the WWF as he was a multiple-time former NWA World Heavyweight Champion but he was badly booked in WWF. He won the 1986 King of the Ring tournament but surprisingly never had a championship run in the WWF. If the WWF creative team had wisely booked him, he could have easily become the number one contender to Hulk Hogan's WWF Championship at time and could have made a good heel champion or at least a good heel contender but he unfortunately never even won the Intercontinental Championship and remained a mid-card competitor throughout his WWF tenure, leaving the company for good in 1989 and retiring in 1990.

"The Beast From The East" Bam Bam Bigelow:
It is a surprise that Bam Bam Bigelow never won any championship in the WWF and never rose to prominence during his run with the company as he was expected to be. He found success in IWGP, WCW and ECW, winning titles everywhere and was even a former ECW World Heavyweight Champion but his WWF run was a total failure. He did put up some great matches and feuds in the mid-card and was the runner-up of the 1993 King of the Ring tournament and headlined WrestleMania IX against Lawrence Taylor, but that match was used to publicize Taylor and did no good for Bigelow's career. His WWF career ended after he lost to the newcomer Goldust at the 1995 Survivor Series without enjoying any championship success.

"The Masterpiece" Chris Masters:
The Masterpiece was just a version of Lex Luger's The Narcissist gimmick. Chris Masters had similar impressive physique, looked himself in a mirror and was impressive just like Luger. He had champion written all over him. He received several title shots for the WWE Championship in his rookie year and nobody was able to break his patented Masterlock for two years. He may be a main event material or maybe not. He had the potential to be a world champion or at least deserved a run with the Intercontinental Championship, but for some reason, Masters was never pushed as a champion and both of his runs with the WWE were utter failures.

"The Native American" Tatanka:
Tatanka arrived in the WWF as the undefeated Native American warrior, who was a fan favorite and very beloved in the Native Americans. Blessed by the fellow Native American Hall of Fame wrestler Chief Jay Strongbow, Tatanka seemed to be destined for greatness in at least mid-card upon his debut as he was given a lengthy undefeated streak (even longer than Bill Goldberg) which lasted one and a half year. While the undefeated streak meant for him to become a WWF Championship contender, he was not even given a run with the Intercontinental Championship despite getting a chance against Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania IX. Michaels took the dirty loss that night by getting counted out but maybe if WWF had pulled the trigger on Tatanka to be the champion, he could have made up an amazing champion in the mid-card.

His comeback to WWE was also fruitless as he once again failed to get any championship success during the mid-2000s and embarked on a losing streak. He managed to end the losing streak but never won any championship.

Super Crazy:
One of the very successful mid-carders in the original ECW, the high-flying luchador Super Crazy was an exciting addition to WWE in the cruiserweight division on the SmackDown! brand. Making his WWE debut alongside fellow luchadors Juventud Guerrera and Psicosis as the trio Mexicools, the group were an instant success in the cruiserweight division but unfortunately only Guerrera had a run with the Cruiserweight Championship. Crazy even came close to winning the Cruiserweight Championship once from Gregory Helms at Judgment Day in 2006 but then his career went nowhere after Mexicools broke up. He would constantly switch brands and contended for the Intercontinental Championship on Raw's mid-card but never became successful. He could have made a good Cruiserweight Champion and Intercontinental Champion had he been given a chance. He was the longest tenured member of the Mexicools stable in WWE but only Guerrera was the one who had a championship run in the WWE.

Sabu:
The hardcore legend of ECW, Sabu is very well known for his death-defying high risk stunts which made him famous in the original ECW. Once WWE reinstated the ECW brand, they brought in Sabu to compete for it and even put him in high-profile matches with WWE's main eventers of that time, Rey Mysterio and John Cena at pay-per-view events but nothing came into fruition. Sabu would also become a contender for the ECW Championship against Big Show, where many hardcore fans of ECW believed Sabu deserved to win at SummerSlam. Once Sabu lost and he was buried in ECW's mid-card as he continued to lose to rising heel wrestlers on the roster. WWE even took him out of the Extreme Elimination Chamber at December to Dismember and replaced with Hardcore Holly but Vince McMahon never saw anything special in him but there was a reason that he was the main eventer and one of the top guys in the original ECW and maybe WWE could have made him an ECW Champion for the benefits of their emerging ECW brand.

The Sandman:
The beer-drinking cane hitting The Sandman was one of original ECW legends who was recruited by Vince McMahon for the new ECW brand in WWE. While he was a five-time ECW Champion in the original ECW among other accomplishments, his run in WWE was a total failure. He was badly booked in matches and never even came close to an ECW Championship opportunity. After concluding a rivalry between ECW Originals and New Breed in 2007, Sandman was traded to the Raw brand, but instead of being treated as a former ECW legend, he jobbed out to Carlito in a Singapore Cane on a Pole match at The Great American Bash. That was it for Sandman and he ended up quitting WWE in 2007.

Savio Vega:
The Puerto Rican sensation Savio Vega first made his mark in WWF as the masked Asian named Kwang under the tutelage of Harvey Wippleman. After the failure of Kwang character, Vega removed the mask and showed up on his own as Razor Ramon's friend. Vega received a quick push and became the runner-up of the 1995 King of the Ring and it seemed that Vega would soon be on the verge to become an Intercontinental Champion but never attained such heights. WWF even teased him to become the Intercontinental Champion in 1996 during a title shot against Goldust when the title was held up and they had a rematch but Goldust came out victorious. That was it for Vega. He would later be a member of the Nation of Domination and the leader of Los Boricuas but nothing worked out for him. The most promising rookie of 1995 failed to win any championship in WWF.

Elijah Burke:
Elijah Burke emerged as one of the most emerging rising stars in WWE during the mid-2000s. He debuted in WWE as the mouthpiece of the powerhouse Sylvester Terkay before establishing himself as the leader of The New Breed, a group of young wrestlers who wanted to rise in ECW and opposed the ECW Originals. Burke seemed to make full on promise by having an ECW Championship reign but the group was completely buried after Burke failed in a rivalry against CM Punk and the group dissolved. Burke was an afterthought afterwards. He would then become the sidekick of the rechristened "Gold Standard" Shelton Benjamin before quitting WWE in 2008. He was a promising championship contender and could have been an amazing champion if given a championship run.

'The Alpha Male" Marcus Cor Von:
Monty Brown who was a contender for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on numerous occasions in TNA, finally made his way to WWE as a member of The New Breed in 2007. A promising powerhouse who was very intimidating to his opponents in the ring and had the charisma to be a world champion in WWE was never properly booked and once the group lost in feuds against ECW Originals and CM Punk, Cor Von's career went nowhere. He was a promising ECW Champion but WWE never decided to pull the trigger on him and he left WWE and quietly retired from wrestling for good.
  Gangrel:
Gangrel made his WWF debut as Edge's rival and quickly abducted Edge into his gothic stable The Brood, along with Edge's on-screen brother Christian. The trio were a quick success in the mid-card and were involved in important storylines with the Ministry of Darkness in 1999. Brood split up in mid-1999 when Gangrel turned on Edge and Christian and appointed The Hardy Boyz as The New Brood. Once the rivalry between the two teams was settled, all four of them turned on Gangrel and went on to become successful tag teams and eventually all four men went on to become world champions in WWF. However, Gangrel was the unfortunate superstar, who fell in the ranks from being the leader of Brood to being a low mid-carder, who never had a championship run, not even with the Hardcore Championship but he could have been an amazing contender for the WWF Championship had he been given a chance.

Jimmy "The Superfly" Snuka:
The legendary Jimmy Snuka had a great share of historic moments during his WWF career, including performing a Superfly Splash from the top of a steel cage onto Don Muraco. He was the first to perform such an amazing feat in the WWF, which Jeff Hardy does commonly today but was not very common during the 1980s. One of the most prolific superstars of his generation, Snuka enjoyed success in JCP where he was a former United States Heavyweight Champion among other accolades and became the first-ever ECW World Heavyweight Champion as well as the ECW World Television Champion but his WWF career went nowhere and he failed to make a mark. He is also notable for an infamous Piper's Pit edition where Roddy Piper smashed his coconut on Snuka. Snuka is also renowned for being the first victim of Undertaker's famous undefeated streak at WrestleMania.

"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan:
Jim Duggan is the winner of the first-ever televised Royal Rumble match in the WWF but unfortunately that was the only accomplishment that Duggan ever achieved in his WWF career. The rest of his career was forgettable. He never rose above the mid-card ranks and never achieved any championship success even though he deserved to be. He was always kept as a hilarious character often carrying his 2x4 beside him and playing the American patriot but never even enjoyed a run with the Intercontinental Championship.

Heel Turns Made To Help Transition Into Successful Babyface Runs

A professional wrestling storyline works on one aspect: the hero vs. villain feud where one wrestler is portrayed as the heroic character and the good guy who is supposed to be cheered by the fans and doing things that entertain the fans and are ethically good and the villainous character or the bad guy is supposed to do ethically wrong things and cheat to win.

However, we have seen sometimes that fans get tired of the "good guys" and "their ethically right ways" and begin booing them which leads those good guys into becoming "bad guys" or doing bad things to amuse the fans. Examples are of the anti-hero Stone Cold Steve Austin, who would often betray his allies by hitting them with a Stone Cold Stunner because he was the rattlesnake and not trustworthy. Despite his actions being ethically wrong, fans always cheered for him and then there was Eddie Guerrero, who "lied, cheated and stole". Lying, cheating and stealing is a characteristic of bad guys but this mantra helped Guerrero into becoming an overnight star and the fans chanted for him and cheered for him whenever he lied, cheated and stole.

Sometimes creative writers' perception of a character is not important but the fan reaction is a lot more important than that. Fan reaction is very important in designating storylines and alignment of a character and fan reactions have often forced creative writers to change characters and turn babyfaces into heels or heels into babyfaces.

There have been a lot of notable examples in wrestling history where a babyface wrestler was not getting very over and the character was getting very stale and being booed by the fans instead of being cheered which led to creative team turning the character into a heel where the heel turn would bring cheers instead and once the character became popular and beloved in the heel turn, the creative team turned that character into a babyface.

Shawn Michaels:
"The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels started his World Wrestling Federation career in 1988 as one half of The Rockers, along with Marty Jannetty. The fan favorite good looking young team was very popular among females but not popular enough to succeed in the wider WWF landscape which was being ruled by Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior and others. The Rockers even failed to win the WWF Tag Team Championship and after failing to gain success, the team broke up for good in 1992.

This was a turning point in Michaels' career where he turned heel by superkicking Jannetty on Brutus Beefcake's interview segment The Barber Shop and transformed into the narcissistic Heartbreak Kid. This egoistical transformation helped Michaels become a quick rising star in the mid-card as he became Intercontinental Champion later that year and even headlined the 1992 Survivor Series pay-per-view against Bret Hart for the WWF Championship but came up short. However, this heel turn made him very popular and Michaels would become an important part of the WWF mid-card scene. In 1994, his partnership with his bodyguard and tag team Diesel broke up, which led to Diesel quickly becoming the WWF Champion. Michaels would win the 1995 Royal Rumble and face Diesel for the title at WrestleMania XI but came up short.

It was then that Michaels accused his new bodyguard Sycho Sid of failing to help him win the title, which led to Sid attack and injure him. It was there that Michaels turned back into a fan favorite after making himself significant enough. The late 1995 revolved around Michaels as WWF began building him as a bigger star and transition him from a mid-carder into a main eventer. He won the 1996 Royal Rumble for the second consecutive time and finally won the WWF Championship at WrestleMania XII from Bret Hart in the first televised Ironman match in WWF history. The rest of Michaels' career is history.

The bottomline is that if The Rockers had not been broken up and Shawn Michaels had not transformed himself into the heel The Heartbreak Kid, maybe he would not have developed into the legend that he is today and would have not been even close to the WWF Championship scene.

The Rock:
Dwayne Johnson was the first third-generation professional wrestler heading into WWF. His father was Rocky Johnson, a former WWF Tag Team Champion and his grandfather was Peter Maivia, who had brotherly relations with the famous Anoa'i family. Johnson took his ring name to be "Rocky Maivia", a portmanteau of Rocky Johnson and Peter Maivia's names. He made his debut in November 1996 and competed in his first WWF match at the 1996 Survivor Series. Rocky Maivia was destined for greatness from the star as he became the sole survivor in his debut match and quickly upset Hunter Hearst Helmsley to win his first Intercontinental Championship, just three months later. Billed as the "Blue Chipper", the typical babyface soon became annoying to the fans and they began booing him even though Maivia displayed all the traits of the babyface character.

The constant negative reception led to a failed run for Rocky Maivia despite having an impressive Intercontinental Championship reign and his heel opponents were cheered over him. This would lead to Maivia officially turning heel by joining Nation of Domination in late 1997 under Faarooq's tutelage. It was during his time in Nation that Maivia nicknamed himself "The Rock" and developed his everlasting character by cutting interesting promos based on his exceptional talking skills and developing legendary catchphrases. He proclaimed himself The People's Champion and quickly eclipsed Faarooq in popularity as he became a two-time Intercontinental Champion. Faarooq remained the leader until early 1998 but Rock had become the most popular and most significant wrestler of the group.

His quick rise to stardom began as he kicked Faarooq out of the Nation of Domination and became the group's leader. The Attitude Era had just begun at that time and Maivia changed Nation from a militant group to a cool dude group as his nickname The Rock became his ring name and the chants of "Rocky Sucks" had turned into "Rocky!" "Rocky!". Despite being a heel, Rock quickly became popular due to his interesting catchphrases and verbal skills. His feud with D-Generation X further elevated his status and after losing the Intercontinental Championship to Triple H at the 1998 SummerSlam, Rock slowly began transitioning into a main eventer. He officially turned babyface and even became the number one contender for the WWF Championship. Nation dissolved at that point as his teammates turned on him but Rock had become a bigger star with bigger things on his way.

With his status as the number one contender and the WWF Championship being vacated in late 1998, it was the road to set up Rock as the perfect top babyface. Vince McMahon did everything in his power to prevent Rock from winning the title. At the 1998 Survivor Series, Rock entered the Deadly Games tournament and made it to the final, where he met McMahon's favorite Mankind. McMahon double crossed Mankind and screwed him when Rock had applied the Sharpshooter on Mankind by ringing the bell and awarding the title to Rock even though Mankind had never submitted. This marked Rock's first WWF Championship reign and led to the formation of McMahon's new stable The Corporation with Rock as its centerpiece.

Now being billed as "Corporate Champion" and renaming his "People's Elbow" finisher to be "Corporate Elbow", Rock would engage in a historic rivalry with Mankind throughout the fall 1998 and early 1999 that helped elevate Rock's career and make him a perfect main eventer to usurp the position of the number two guy in the WWF as the "number one guy" was still Stone Cold Steve Austin. Rock dropped the WWF title to Austin at WrestleMania XV in 1999 and failed in a subsequent rematch at Backlash 1999, after which he accused Vince's son Shane McMahon of costing him the title, as Shane had been the guest referee during Rock and Austin's rematch at Backlash. This led to McMahon and Corporation attacking Rock and officially turning the popular Rock into a babyface.

It was during this time that Rock evolved himself into a top babyface as his fan following increased. Stone Cold Steve Austin maintained his top position throughout 1999 while Rock continued to remain the number two guy and formed a popular tag team with Mankind called Rock 'n' Sock Connection and the two amassed three WWF Tag Team Championship reigns. A turning point took place in Rock's career at the 1999 Survivor Series when Austin got injured and was run down by a mysterious assailant. Austin's absence helped Rock to transform him into the number one guy and the number one babyface of the company as he went on to win the 2000 Royal Rumble match and dominated the main event scene throughout the year 2000, which would definitely be Rock's year where he established himself as the top star of the company and eventually helped him transform into becoming one of the biggest stars of Hollywood and perhaps the most well-known professional wrestler on the planet today.

The bottomline is that if Rocky Maivia had not joined The Nation of Domination and become the cocky heel The Rock and had not been a part of Vince McMahon's The Corporation, things would not have been good for Rock as they have been.

John Cena:
John Cena debuted as a clean-cut babyface with a "ruthless aggression". He made his WWE debut on June 27, 2002 answering Kurt Angle's open challenge. He made a mark by entering the ring and knocking Angle out with a punch. It seemed that he was destined for greatness since the beginning as he took Angle to the limit in a grueling match, although he came up short. However, Cena quickly rose in the ranks as he pulled out upset wins over Test and former Undisputed Champion "Y2J" Chris Jericho. However, the clean-cut babyface run for Cena was not being very successful and he was not becoming very popular.

Cena eventually made the right choice at the right time when he turned on his tag team partner Billy Kidman after the duo lost a match in the upcoming WWE Tag Team Championship tournament. A subsequent feud with Kidman turned Cena into a heel and he developed himself into a rapper called "The Doctor of Thuganomics". The year 2003 saw bigger things for Cena. The heel rapper who insulted fellow wrestlers and fans in promo soon earned himself a WWE Championship opportunity by winning a tournament to become the #1 contender against Brock Lesnar at the 2003 Backlash, but the rapper came up short. He had by that point beaten major stars such as Undertaker, Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit. His stock continued to rise and his rapping skills made him very popular among the WWE audiences and he began receiving cheers which led him to officially turn babyface in fall 2003 when he refused to join Brock Lesnar's Survivor Series team and joined Kurt Angle's Survivor Series team instead.

Cena continued his rapping character but now in a different way. His popularity can be judged by a #1 contender's 20-man battle royal on SmackDown in December 2003 where he lasted until the final two and most of the fans were chanting his name and he was the most popular person in the ring. He continued to rise in superstardom as the babyface Doctor of Thuganomics with three United States Championship reigns in 2004 and then became the runner-up of the 2005 Royal Rumble. He won a tournament to become the #1 contender for the WWE Champion and unseated JBL at WrestleMania 21 to become a world champion for the first time within just three months in the company.

The bottomline is that if the simple "ruthless aggression" John Cena had not turned heel and converted himself into the "Doctor of Thuganomics" maybe he never could have become the "face of the company", holding the position for ten years and becoming a sixteen-time world champion in WWE.

The New Day:
After years on the mid-card, Kofi Kingston and Big E were gathered together by Xavier Woods and the three formed a trio called The New Day. Spreading their power of positivity, New Day first began teaming on WWE television in November 2014. The three were supposed to be the three babyface positive guys but their positivity did not sit very well with the WWE audiences and they began booing him in early 2015. This led New Day to turn heels when they cheated to defeat Lucha Dragons to become the #1 contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship and they used underhanded tactics to beat Tyson Kidd and Cesaro for the Tag Team Championship at the 2015 Extreme Rules.

The heel tactics continued as New Day feuded with teams like Prime Time Players, The Usos, Lucha Dragons and Dudley Boyz to stay on top and remain the dominant heel trio. However, by the fall of 2015, the heel New Day trio began receiving cheers from the crowd while their babyface opponents were being booed. As a result, New Day officially turned babyfaces in a feud with the League of Nations in early 2016 and the WWE crowd was firmly behind them as they used to enjoy their "Booty-O cereals", "their clapping and dancing".

This newfound popularity led New Day to become one of the greatest teams in WWE history and the leaders of the WWE tag team division. They became the longest reigning WWE Tag Team Champions and the longest reigning tag team champions overall in WWE history. They also helped ignite the SmackDown tag team division by putting on classic bouts with The Usos, The Bar, Bludgeon Brothers and Sanity throughout 2017 and 2018 and went on to become five-time tag team champions in WWE. In addition, Kofi Kingston's popularity skyrocketed in 2019 as he went on to beat Daniel Bryan to win the WWE Championship for the first time in his career at WrestleMania 35.

Becky Lynch:
One of the most recent major pushes in WWE has been of "The Irish Lass Kicker" Becky Lynch. After spending years in WWE's developmental territory NXT, Lynch made her main roster debut in 2015 as a clean-cut fan favorite. The babyface Lynch became the first-ever SmackDown Women's Champion in 2016 but once she lost the belt to Alexa Bliss, Lynch lost her momentum and got lost in the mid-card scene. She failed to reclaim the glory as the top women's star on SmackDown but continued to be a popular star.

After spending two years on the mid-card, the Irish Lass Kicker finally began rising to superstardom in 2018 when she became the #1 contender for the SmackDown Women's Championship against Carmella. She faced Carmella and the returning Charlotte Flair in a triple threat match at the 2018 SummerSlam, where Flair pinned Lynch to win the title. After the match, Lynch shocked the fans by turning on Flair by attacking her and turning heel for the first time in her WWE career. Lynch berated the fans and continued to display villainous tactics but the fans screwed the heel turn as they continued to cheer for her and boo for the babyface Charlotte. The rivalry came to a head at the first-ever women's pay-per-view Evolution, where Lynch defeated Flair in the first-ever Last Woman Standing match.

The subsequent feud with Charlotte Flair cemented Lynch's legacy as one of the top female superstars on the roster and also began a new cocky attitude for her instead of the previous clean-cut babyface as "The Man". Lynch continued to rise in popularity throughout the remainder of 2018 and headed into 2019 with a rivalry against the undefeated Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey. Lynch officially turned babyface after the creative team realized that she had become the most popular star on the WWE roster. Her popularity would lead to a new revolution in WWE as for the first time in WWE history, women headlined WrestleMania at WrestleMania 35, where Lynch would take on Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey and the SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair, where Lynch established herself as "The Man" by pinning Rousey to win both titles and becoming the first woman on the roster to defeat Rousey.

The bottomline is that Becky Lynch, who was not supposed to be near the top of the card and was used in the pre-show Women's Battle Royal at WrestleMania 34, turned heel on her friend Charlotte Flair and evolved herself as The Man in 2018, which led her to become the most popular superstar on the roster and she finally cemented her status as the top female star of WWE at WrestleMania 35.