Greatest Wrestler To Never Hold Any Titles

[Guest dreamer420]

I have seen a lot of threads about "Greatest Wrestler To Never Hold A World Title" but I haven't seen one about the greatest wrestler to never hold anything.  Your thoughts please.

[Guest Tony149]

The only guy who comes to mind is Jake "The Snake" Roberts.

[Guest dreamer420]

That is who I had in mind as well.  I was thinking mostly out of the big three so Nova would be on my list.

[Guest Zack Malibu]

If we're only talking Big 3, there's a few that come to mind.

 

La Parka (great worker, was over, always overlooked by WCW)

Jake "The Snake" Roberts (one of the all time great heels...still has many years ahead though)

Simon Diamond (great worker, smooth talker)

Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka (very popular)

Lanny Poffo (very good worker, stuck with a comedy act in WWF)

Hercules (typical WWF "big man" from the 80's, but if Paul freakin' Roma could go onto numerous WCW Tag Titles, why couldn't Herc get a break?)

[Guest Sting Fanatic]

La Parka.  I dunno.  I never saw enough of his actual ring work in WCW to get a good feel for him.  He did get over as the "chairman", yes, but he was a novelty gimmick.  One of those "pop" the crowds for a couple months type deals.  Albeit this guy did hold a title or two, he got over the same way Norman Smiley did.  And honestly, did it matter what Smiley did as a title holder?

 

Jake Roberts.  Now that right there is a really sad tragedy when it comes to potential blown.  He could have easily been a IC Champion at a couple of points in his WWF tenure.  Maybe if he was continously pushed, I think he would have been a considerable WWF Champion.  However, his personal life really closed him down for good.  And his last two *respectible* runs in pro wrestling (WWF in '96, WCW in '92) were both uneventful.  He never showed that same intensity that made him over.

 

Lanny Poffo wasn't too bad.  Good worker, and personally, I thought his comedy act was kind of a good idea.  It got him over as a heel enough to warrent some airtime against Hogan, no?  But as with all comedy acts, there is a limit.  It certainly ain't the sky.

 

Hercules did hold one half of the IWGP Tag Titles in the mid '90's with Scott Norton if I am not mistaken.  Their team name played off their size, but I forget it off hand.  Personally, I loved the chain swinging he did.  But, if you really want to know what killed his career, I can tell you...his name.  Its a mythology characters name for goodness sake.  Tell me the moniker of half-man, half-god is not too much to overcome?  See also Konan (Conan).

[Guest Tony149]

La Parka was one of the most marketable Mexican wrestlers to ever hit the U.S. The masks could of been big business.

[Guest The Great Wesuke]

I almost got a La Parka mask when I was in Tijuana... then my drunk friend pissed off the lady who was trying to sell it to me and she called the whole deal off.

 

Probably woulda fallen apart anyway... but oh, think of the possibilities...

[Guest bob_barron]

Great topic-

Jake Roberts definetely and uhhhhhhhhhh that's all I can think of right now.

[Guest Tod deKindes]

- Lash Leroux. Would've been a great Cruiserweight champion in 99, but NOooo!! Kevin Sullivan had to book his friend Prince Don't Call Me Nakamaki to win the belt over Lash.

 

- Sean O'Haire. Sure, you'll say he was tag champ with Palumbo and Jindrak before. But WCW was pushing the guy when they knew full well the company was going under. Then in the "new" WCW, he was buried by damn near everybody. The guy should've been a US title contender, easily.

 

- Davey Boy Smith. He deserved at least one reign with the WWF title.

 

- Ditto for Owen.

 

- Buff Bagwell, in 99. Say what you will about the guy, he's an ass backstage and he ruined the original Invasion angle, but back during the young vs old angle, he was over. If it were me, I'd have done a few changes to the gimmick (lose Judy, the top hat, new finisher) but I'd have given Buff the U.S. title for a while.

 

- Same for Kanyon. Let him EARN his titles once in a while.

[Guest Slingshot Suplex]

Tough topic....

 

I mean..most of the good/great wrestlers have held a major title at some point in their careers.A lot of people have mentioned Jake Roberts and a case could be made for him but I don't classify him in this category because he was NWA World TV champ and Mid South North American champ which was a big regional belt.

 

Damn..I really can't think of anybody I would consider a relatively big name that didn't hold some sort of title.

[Guest Youth N Asia]

Tod...the topic was wrestlers who have NEVER hald ANY titles...you named guys who have only won title.

 

Davey Boy should have never been WWF champ...he was never over enough...and I like Owen, but same for him, we love his stuff...but fans wouldn't have accepted him as a champ.

 

Sean O'Hair has been in the business no time at all...he'll get an honest push when he's ready for it...that's like saying Maven's being underused.

 

And Lash was nothing special...didn't he have a cruiser and tag title anyway?

 

ANYWAY...

 

My pics would be:

 

Nova

Simon Diamond

Psicosis almost makes the list...but they just gave him the cruiser belt a couple of times just to put someone over a day later.

 

it seemd like anyone in the WWF now who's at all deicent has won one of the 2,000 wrestling titles between WWF and WCW...I really can't think of any names in the WWF that should be on the list.

[Guest bob_barron]

Jimmy Snuka ever hold a title??

[Guest Tony149]

Snuka held the WWF I-C Title, I belive.

[Guest Slingshot Suplex]

Snuka never held the IC title but he was 1/2 of the NWA World Tag champs with Ray Stevens

[Guest Silvpak]

I'd probably go with Roberts, even though he held regional titles.....however, Jake made a *lot* of sense when he said that he "never needed the belt".  His character wasn't really in the title hunt for a reason........

 

Brad Armstrong was a GREAT worker back in the day;  Flair, out of kayfabe, said he was one of the best workers he'd ever seen.

[Guest Drury37]

Jimmy Snuka is definitely one of the first one's who comes to mind.I know Andre The Giant was once one half of the Tag Team Champions with Haku but he should have been World Champion(cleanly)at least once.

Thanks.

[Guest dreamer420]

My list is:

 

Jake Roberts

Brad Armstrong

Nova

Simon Diamond

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

Jake Roberts & Brad Armstrong top the list.

 

Others that I like and haven't held titles in the big leagues (non-Indys), that I am aware of, include Bad News Brown, Ray Rougeau & Barry Horowitz.

[Guest Tony149]

Brad held the WCW Six-Man tag titles with the Freebirds in 1991 as "Badstreet". Unless you don't count his gimmicks.

[Guest Some Guy]

Snuka was Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) champ.

[Guest Slingshot Suplex]

Brad Armstrong was also National Heavyweight Champ,Smoky Mountain champ and 1/2 of the UWF tag champs with Tim Horner.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

I suppose nobody has ever heard of a man named Bad News Brown.

[Guest Deathnote]

Well Davey Boy Smith has been wwf tag team champ, wwf IC, wwf Euro and wwf hardcore champ so to say he never held a title (in the big ones) is quit an understatement.

Jake Roberts is indeed a great example. Bad News Brown did held a number of titles in Stampede