10 WWE Stars Who Were Promised A Title Reign

Believing a promise in professional wrestling is a risky endeavour, particularly in an industry in which plans often change at the very last minute. Despite this, there are many wrestlers who have convinced themselves they were about to have a run with a particular title just because a higher-up said so.

Plans change, unforeseen circumstances occur, and sometimes a higher-up just outright lies, all of which resulted in “promised” title reigns never seeing the light of day. 

These are 10 WWE stars who were promised a title reign. 

10. Vader - WWE Championship

The in-ring career of Vader was, on the whole, the stuff of legend, but the hall of famer’s stint in WWE is generally viewed as one of the most disappointing in history. 

Wrestlers, fans and everyone else knew what The Mastadon was capable of and expected him to be a major player for Vince McMahon but, for various reasons, it never happened. Leon White himself certainly had high hopes for his WWE run, especially after he was (according to him) promised a WWE Title reign on two separate occasions. 

Vader claims he was set to dethrone Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam 1996, then lose the title to someone else, before once again regaining it and finally dropping it back to The Heartbreak Kid at Royal Rumble ’97.

The big man had serious problems working with Michaels, however, and they only had one pay-per-view match in their feud, with Sycho Sid taking Vader’s spot at Survivor Series. 

As an aside, Vader also claimed that Vince McMahon later promised him a run as Intercontinental Champion, but that didn’t happen either.

9. Aleister Black - United States Championship

While he had one reign as NXT Champion, Aleister Black never won the a title on the WWE main roster across his two runs with the company. 

He had shots at both the Raw and SmackDown tag team titles, as well as the United States Championship, the latter of which he was told he was going to win. 

Zelina Vega first brought up that her real-life husband was going to be the one to end Andrade’s run with the belt in late 2020, blaming injuries and other factors as to why it didn’t happen. A few months later, Black confirmed that he had indeed been told he was going to win the US Title, but claimed Vince McMahon nixed the planned switch as he didn’t want Black’s first main roster title win to take place in front of no actual fans, as this was during the COVID-19 pandemic.

8. Brutus Beefcake - Intercontinental Championship

As Hulk Hogan’s then-best friend and perennial hanger-on, you would have thought Brutus Beefcake would have been good for more than a sole run as one half of the WWF Tag Team Champions, alongside Dream Team partner Greg Valentine, during the era of Hulkamania. 

According to Beefcake himself, he was promised a run as Intercontinental Champion not once, not twice, but three times. 

The first time he was told he was going to win the title was in 1987, when Ricky Steamboat had the strap, according to Beefcake. The decision was made, at the suggestion of Hogan, to go with The Honky Tonk Man instead and Beefcake was told he would be the man to dethrone the wannabe Elvis after a long reign.

By the time SummerSlam 1988 rolled around, though, The Ultimate Warrior had been picked to squash Honky and win the title, meaning Brutus would have to wait a little longer.

The third and final time he claims to have been promised the elusive title win was at SummerSlam 1990. Beefcake may very well have dethroned Mr. Perfect at the pay-per-view, had he not suffered catastrophic injuries in a parasailing accident on July 4, paving the way for Kerry ‘The Texas Tornado’ Von Erich to jump in as his replacement.

7. Kurt Angle - ECW World Heavyweight Championship

When WWE decided to reboot ECW as a third brand in 2006, they felt as though they had to shift some wrestlers over from Raw and SmackDown in order to give the new third brand immediate credibility and star power. 

Nobody was as credible as Kurt Angle, the man who had stormed out of his lone appearance for the original ECW in 1996 after the controversial Raven/Sandman crucifixion angle.

Vince McMahon told The Olympic Hero that he wanted him to be the face of the brand but the boss also told Angle doing so meant he would be working in smaller arenas and wouldn’t make as much money on a per-show basis.

It felt like a demotion to Angle, but McMahon assured him he would take care of him financially on the back-end with bonuses. What was more, Kurt was promised a run as ECW Champion.

Angle would likely have gotten his time with the title after Rob Van Dam, had he not been suspended for 30 days after falling afoul of the WWE Wellness Policy. After returning from suspension, the gold medallist was in self-destruct mode and soon left the company under a cloud before he could get his run as ECW Champion.

6. Bad News Brown - WWE Championship

Having previously worked for Vince McMahon Sr. in the late 1970s, Bad News Brown was brought back into the fold by Vince Jr. in the late '80s. 

Bad News was working for New Japan and Stampede Pro Wrestling when McMahon pitched his WWE return. Among the various promises he made the Olympic bronze medallist in judo was a run with the WWE Title and subsequent programme with Hulk Hogan. 

According to Brown, McMahon sold him on beating ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage to become the first Black world champion in the company’s history. 

While Bad News did enjoy a decent push and worked with WWE Champion Savage soon after arriving in WWE, a run as world champ never materialised. Brown claimed that Vince told him he had been talked out of making the switch by members of the office, who were fearful that Bad News, as a legit shooter, might not willingly give the belt up when it came time to drop it to The Hulkster.

Brown laughed at that notion and realised that the would-be WWE Title run was just one of many lies McMahon had told him during his stay. 

5. Hardcore Holly - Intercontinental Championship

Across his 15-year run in WWE, Hardcore Holly captured plenty of gold, having six reigns as Hardcore Champion and four runs as one-half of the WWE Tag Team Champions. 

Holly, though, always believed he deserved a chance to hold one of the more prestigious singles titles that were up for grabs, including once pitching the WWE creative team that he should win the world title and then beat everyone.

According to his autobiography The Hardcore Truth, Holly hadn’t been in the company too long when he was informed that he was going to win the Intercontinental Title. 

At a WWE Action Zone taping on April 26, 1995, Holly beat Jeff Jarrett to win the belt, but the finish saw Jarrett put his foot on the bottom rope, which the referee hadn’t seen. The ensuing controversy was supposed to build to a rematch at the very first In Your House pay-per-view. 

Per Holly’s account, when he got backstage he was informed that he was to go right back out and do the rematch immediately, with Jarrett winning, after an announcement that he hadn’t actually won the title.

4. Adam Bomb - Intercontinental Championship

One of the more pushed talents during WWE's New Generation era was Adam Bomb, and the future Wrath was told he would be winning the Intercontinental Championship from Razor Ramon in the spring or summer of 1995 around King of the Ring. 

Bryan Clark was looking forward to the bump in salary that would have come with a title reign but those plans ultimately never came to fruition. Clark has conceded that plans can and do often change, but he has pointed to backstage issues with The Kliq as a reason he was overlooked in favour of Shawn Michaels. 

“It was definitely discussed and I was told what you just said, but it didn’t happen. That’s the way the business is. Things change. But yes, that was definitely discussed. Just didn’t happen unfortunately. I’m still very happy and blessed with how we progressed and moved on in our careers,” Clark told Wrestling Life.

3. Ryback - WWE Championship

There was a time where not only was Ryback a viable option to become WWE Champion, but a lot of fans actually wanted him to end CM Punk’s epic reign in late 2012. That never happened, but at Elimination Camber 2015, The Big Guy claimed his lone WWE Championship when he won the vacant Intercontinental Title. 

According to Ryback, it was during this reign that he entered into fresh contract negotiations with the company. When he didn’t sign the proposed deal, Ryback claims WWE took the title off him. 

That wasn’t the whole story, though, as Ryback also revealed that, as part of negotiations, he and Vince McMahon had reached a ‘handshake’ agreement for him to turn heel, ditch the singlet for trunks, and have a run as WWE Champion.

Ryback still wasn’t happy with the fine print, though, and when he didn’t sign the contract, the promised WWE Title run morphed into a feud with Kalisto over the United States Championship, which Ryback never won.

2. The Rockers - WWE Tag Team Championships

Near the top of the list for tag teams that never held the WWE Tag Team Championships are The Rockers of Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty, although they did technically hold the belts for a very short period.

The Rockers were one of the best tag teams in an era chockfull of great duos and worked with tag champs like Demolition, The Nasty Boys and The Legion of Doom. 

Their work was so consistently good that Vince McMahon made the decision to put the titles on them at a Saturday Night’s Main Event taping on October 30, 1990, where they beat The Hart Foundation two falls to one in a two-out-of-three falls match. 

Unfortunately, the top rope broke during the contest and the match wasn’t very good as a result. Shawn and Marty had hoped it could be fixed via the magic of post-production editing but, after they had already defended the titles at a house show, they were informed it wasn’t salvageable. 

The match wouldn’t air and WWE would forge ahead pretending like the title switch never happened, with the belts remaining with Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart.

1. Mr. Kennedy - World Heavyweight Championship

When The Undertaker beat Batista to win the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 23, The Deadman was scheduled to have his first long run with a world title in a decade. 

Sadly, just a few weeks into his reign, Undertaker suffered a torn biceps, an injury that was made worse when the champ decided to work through it and wrestle The Animal in a Last Man Standing match at Backlash. 

The Undertaker needed surgery and, surveying the SmackDown locker room at the time, the decision was made not to have Batista regain the title but to go with Mr. Kennedy, who would cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase after Undertaker and Batista went to a draw in a Steel Cage Match.

Kennedy was informed of these creative plans just days before he himself went down with an injury at a blue brand house show. Wrongly diagnosed as a total triceps tear initially, the injury caused WWE to book Kennedy to lose his Money in the Bank briefcase to Edge, who then cashed in on The Undertaker.

Kennedy was subsequently diagnosed with a much less serious injury, allowing him to return earlier than expected, so he could have won the big gold belt after all.