Sycho Sid & 9 Other Former WWE Champions Who Disappeared

WWE is the ultimate destination of every pro-wrester because it is the biggest sports entertainment company, which has been in the business for over five decades. Likewise, the WWE Championship is the most coveted prize, and it is considered the prestigious belt in this industry.

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Only elite names of the company get the chance to wear the WWE Championship around their waists. From Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Hulk Hogan to John Cena, all these legendary names have won the title multiple times. However, some Superstars became WWE Champions but didn't attain any significant success afterward or left the company.

10 Kofi Kingston

Kofi Kingston's career took a new turn in 2019, starting from Elimination Chamber. When the New Day member entered the WWE Championship picture, he started getting positive reactions from fans, which promoted WWE to push him.

Kofi Kingston beat Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35 to win the WWE Championship for the first time in his decade-long WWE career. After a reign of six months, he dropped the belt to Brock Lesnar in an unpredictable manner. Since the devastating loss, Kingston lost his way as a main event star and went back to mid-card.

9 Jinder Mahal

Nobody even imagined that Jinder Mahal, who was a jobber for the majority of his career, would win the most desired belt of the company. Yes, Jinder Mahal actually won the WWE Championship in 2017, and a myriad of fans found it hard to believe because he didn't have much momentum before winning the belt. His dream title run lasted six months before he lost the title to AJ Styles.

After losing the title, he didn't do much on either brand. Moreover, injuries were roadblocks for him to get the main event push.

8 Sycho Sid

Sycho Sid was an underrated name, who had all the attributes to be successful. Besides WWE, he wrestled in WCW. Despite winning the WWE Championship twice, he didn't exceed the expectations and quickly vanished from the limelight.

While Sid won the WWE Championship for the first time in 1996, he won it for the second time in 1997. Incidentally, Sid main-evented WrestleMania 13, where he lost the WWE Championship to The Undertaker, and the company released him within a few months after The Show of Shows.

7 Rob Van Dam

Rob Van Dam was certainly one of the exciting performers ever in the history of WWE, owing to his high-flying ability and swiftness in the ring. He was an asset of the ECW when WWE relaunched the brand in the mid-2000s.

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RVD won the Money in the Bank contract at WrestleMania 22 and cashed in the briefcase to win the WWE Title from John Cena. WWE, subsequently, let him go within a year after the WWE Championship reign.

6 Diesel

Diesel's first WWE run commenced in 1993, but he won the WWE Championship in 1995. As a matter of fact, he was the longest-reigning WWE Champion of the 1990s, keeping the title around his shoulder for 358 days. Despite such a lengthy run, it didn't benefit WWE because he didn't stay long with the company after losing the title.

Many wrestlers were jumping ship from WWE to WCW, as the latter was offering big money, and Diesel was no exception. After a failed contract negotiation, Diesel departed for WCW in 1996.

5 JBL

JBL was another one-time WWE Champion, who had a long run, but it wasn't the most auspicious reign for the company. In all honesty, JBL's reign of 280 days was slightly overlong, and it should have ended earlier than at WrestleMania 21.

As soon as he dropped the WWE Championship, he started to fade away from the main event scene, and he also hung up his boots four years later.

4 The Miz

When The Miz emerged in the main event scene in 2010, he was anticipated to be a gigantic star, which was a primary reason he main-evented WrestleMania 27, arguably the biggest achievement of his career. He also had an incredible run of 160 days as the WWE Champion, which cemented his place as a notorious bad guy.

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The Miz is still part of the WWE roster, but he isn't the star he was 10 years ago.

3 Dean Ambrose

Dean Ambrose was considered to be the weak link of The Shield before and after his departure from the stable. Nevertheless, he proved the doubters wrong and rose to the main event status as a singles star in 2016. Winning the Money in the Bank contract, he cashed it in to win the WWE Championship for the first time in his career, which was his only reign with that gold.

Ambrose had a great run as the champion, but WWE never saw him as a top guy. As he was exasperated by his position in the company, he decided to leave in 2019. Now, he is part of AEW, and he is also the current AEW World Champion.

2 Alberto Del Rio

WWE was trying to build new stars in the early 2010s, and Alberto Del Rio was certainly a big part of their future planning. As a result, he had a dream run in 2011 when he won many major accolades.

Del Rio won the 2011 Royal Rumble match and the Money in the Bank match in the same year. Furthermore, the Mexican Superstar wrapped the WWE Championship around his waist twice in 2011.

However, after his momentum had died down, the company fired him for unprofessional behavior in 2014. Although he returned to the company later, it was a brief run.

1 Yokozuna

Yokozuna, a member of the Anoa'i family, received a huge push in the initial years of his WWE career. After signing for WWE in 1992, he took the company by storm by headlining big pay-per-views and beating legendary names. Yokozuna won the Royal Rumble match in 1993 and earned the ticket to the main event of WrestleMania IX. After winning the WWE Championship twice, he also went on to headline WrestleMania X.

Despite such a massive push, Yokozuna failed to capitalize on it. WWE released the former WWE Champion in 1996 due to weight issues.

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