Well we gave it a Shot!

They have been many times when a company will try to establish a new star as it's main attraction but it doesn't go according to plans. So I decided to look at 8 guys who were given a run with a big companies main title and see what went wrong (in my opinion). So lets begin!

Xavier-ROH World Champion
Ring of Honor has been around since 2002 and since that time it's world title has been held by 15 guys (16 reigns as Austin Aries held it twice) and 14 out of those 15 are a whose who of wrestling who became huge in wrestling, in one aspect or another. The other one was Xavier. Xavier ended the Low Ki's reign as the first champion in September of 2002 and would lose the belt in March of 2003. Over this time Xavier never looked like a main event guy and especially didn't look like he deserved the World title. After his reign had ended he was barely used in ROH and just left soon after, he wouldn't receive another title shot until Bryan Danielson's reign where he made a surprise one night return to little care. So what went wrong?
Well there were several factors that hurt his reign. First was him being apart of the Phophecy group, while the group was the main heel stable he never looked like a main member and just a sidekick. Christopher Daniels was the groups main star and probably should of been the man who was World champion if he wasn't already involved in programs. And this leads me to the other problem he had. Xavier was a OK worker in a roster full of fantastic workers so why was he chosen to be champion and so many others were over looked? Xavier didn't stand out and while his title matches were good it was mainly due to the guys he worked with. This ultimately summed up the issue with the fans, we couldn't understand why Xavier was champ. Sure that could be the "you didn't see it coming" factor that wrestling bookers love but it has to make sense in the long run. I'll put it like this, lets say that Justin Gabriel gets a match for the World title and he wins it right now while we all will say "Holy crap I didn't expect that" you also wouldn't accept him as champion as the win came from no where and he's sent the last year in a mid-card tag team. That's what we got with Xavier, someone who screamed mid-card being played as a main event and it just didn't work.

Ron Killings-NWA World Champion Twice
While R-Truth may be one big push away from being a main event in WWE now back in 2002 he was a far cry off. For this argument I'm going to look at his first reign as his second reign lasted just two weeks and it could of been anyone holding the belt. For Killings first reign we once again got the shock factor as he beat Ken Shamrock when no one thought he would but saying that Ken wasn't very committed to wrestling at the time and was probably more MMA than wrestling. Killings would keep the belt for 105 days until losing it to Jeff Jarrett. And that is the main problem and it would be a common one for TNA for years. While Killings was champion you hardly knew it as the focus was all on Jeff's "rise" to the championship. I can't tell you of any matches Killings had while champion as I just don't remember them. It was all on Jeff Jarrett and so when Killings lost to Jarrett instead of continuing the program they just said well that's it and put him in the 3 Live Kru. While the focus on Jeff was probably the biggest problem I have to say the timing probably hurt his chances as well. Killings was just a few years into wrestling and only a couple years removed from his K-Kwik gimmick which sank so fast in WWE. Now my thinking is TNA put the belt on him as a way of saying "We push the stars WWE don't" but it really didn't work. Killings is only just now being seen as a possible future champion 9 years after the fact he was a world champion.

Justin Credible-ECW World Champion
I could put any ECW Champion from the last year of it's existence here but decided that Jerry Lynn, Steve Corino and Rhino actually went on to do big things while this was the last big thing Justin ever did sadly. WWE and TNA used him but never in the right way and he never got past their mid-cards. So lets look at what went wrong during his ECW title reign, there are a few things in my mind. Probably the biggest problems were his big PPV matches and how he won the belt. Justin won the title at Cyberslam 2000 by beating Tommy Dreamer but that match happened just seconds after Dreamer beat Taz to become champion, the match was long it wasn't a money in the bank moment which has become over done lately but it still didn't help establish him as a main event star. His next PPV title defenses didn't go well either, when he retained against Lance Storm the fans were more bothered about Tommy Dreamer who was meant to be in the match but left after Justin threatened to thrown the belt in the trash, kind of stupid when you consider you could then reach in to that trash can and pick the belt up! So the fans didn't care about the match taking place. His next PPV match against Dreamer in a Stairway to Hell match i.e. a Ladder match for no reason what so ever, got overshadowed by the XPW guys trying to get themselves over and then them getting the crap beat out of them. When Justin lost the belt to Jerry Lynn at Anarchy Rules the match went well however it was Justin himself who hampered it here. The match was in Lynn's hometown so you knew the crowd would be red hot but Justin decided to go overkill and talk on the mic while attacking which was kind of cheap. Justin would remain in the title picture until ECW closed, which wasn't long but he would never be a main star in other companies. But before I move one there is one more reason I think he didn't get established or make that two, that being Francine (see what I did there!). This being ECW they focused on Francine, how hot she was and how little she wore in doing so she really out shadowed him, hell in his match with Dreamer one of the things I remember is her being stripped of her shirt and her boobs being covered by tape! When Justin was with Jason at least Jason could do stupid crap which would help get Justin over, like most managers do, but Francine couldn't take those bumps without gaining focus because it would usually be a guy doing the bump to her. So while placing her with him was meant to help it probably damaged him more.

Diamond Dallas Page-WCW World Champion Three times
DDP was WCW champion three times is that impressive? Not when you consider the fact he only held the belt for 29 days! That's about one month. While I love DDP and he is a legend the fact is he was never accepted as a main event star and his short time as champion proved that but who's to blame DDP or WCW? WCW it's WCW lets face it. DDP was the first victim of the Russo booking crap that helped destroy WCW. I remember watching WCW Nitro one night and in the first hour DDP lost the WCW title to Sting and then in the second hour he won it back in a four way! And lets no start on the fact it was him who lost the WCW title to David Arquette! I mentioned in another blog that WCW should of pushed DDP earlier, he was the biggest babyface in 1997/1998 and should of be champion then especially since the Hogan heel run was so horrible and boring but instead they decide to give DDP one month as a heel champion and he looked like crap because of the booking. So basically that sums up went wrong with DDP, the booking and nothing else.

Booker T-WCW World champion Five times
While Booker may be a five time champion it was in the final year of WCW and nearly everyone could of been champion and the fact is after his reigns and going into WWE he had to become a mid-card talent all over again and that was the problem. It was once again a "Let's surprise the fans" decision but WCW decided to stick to it. Booker had never really been pushed and just kind of stayed in the same spot then all of a sudden he was in the main events, which was a huge mess at that time and Booker was forced to work with guys who either didn't really care what performance they put on or wouldn't be able to put on a good show. Booker may have been a 5 time champion but the that championship was a joke by that time, remember this was the same year that David Arquette and Vince Russo got reigns as champion.

Samoa Joe-TNA World champion
This has links to Booker T just wait. Samoa Joe finally became TNA World champion after being the fans want for years by beating Kurt Angle in a classic at Lockdown 2008 he would lose it to Sting in another great match at Bound for Glory of the same year. The problem occurred inbetween those two events. Joe would be the first man to enter and retain the title in the King of the Mountain match which was full of odd names that year including Bobby Roode. But the biggest problem was the he was stuck with Booker T for 3 months plus. In their first one on one match they failed to deliver and that was probably more Booker's fault as he just didn't care much and Joe was fantastic at the time. So instead of seeing something that didn't work and ending it they decide to run 2 more months with it and then they built it around Sting and Jeff Jarrett's returns which overshadowed both men and the championship. Joe's reign would be seen as a flop and it's mainly due to how TNA booking handled it. If Joe was to take on the challenger of the month he could of worked with great names, him and AJ would of been a believable main event. Hell he had a fantastic match on Impact with Kazarian they could of built on that. But instead they focused on yet another former WWE guy as the main star and it seriously hurt one of the only guys that was in the main event and you could call a TNA guy.

Jack Swagger-World Heavyweight Champion
Where to begin here? The beginning would be a smart idea so let's start there. Swagger push to the main event was all of 2 days. Swagger won the money in the bank at Wrestlemania and then cashed in on the Smackdown taping the next week. Rushed isn't the word, stupid would do it. WWE could of built him so well, on the Raw before he ran in about to cash in and Cena started getting up so he grabbed the briefcase and ran off. You could of done that several times over months while having Swagger beat big names, hell you could have had him run to get the briefcase after the champion was getting up and be late and then actually beat the champion, making it look like he wasted his shot. But lets move on to the reign itself. Swagger didn't look like a champion, over his 3 month reign he hardly ever won. Now he did put on great performances with everyone he worked with but losing every match hurt him way to much. Hell he worked with Big Show and had to lose by DQ, a win would of helped him so much more. It's basic you can't build stars without sacrificing others and it's not even sacrificing as wrestlers can lose and not lose everything. WWE should of had guys put him over instead of him losing to everyone, which brings us too...

Sheamus-WWE Champion Twice
So you know where I'm going here so let's cut to the chase. During Sheamus' two reigns as champion he hardly ever won. He only just beat Cena in a tables match to win the belt (which was botched) he then lost continually by DQ to Cena, beat Orton by DQ and then lost the title in his reign. Then in his second he did pin Cena in a four way but it was because of the Nexus that he won and that was drilled home! The same occurred a month later in a cage as it was the Nexus stopping Cena from escaping that lead to Sheamus leaving the cage. He then lost by DQ to Orton and then lost the title to Orton. Just like Swagger the continuous losing hurt him more than they had planned. Now it is early days and it seems that Sheamus could be getting a push again on Smackdown lets just hope they do it right this time.

Well there you have it 8 guys who were given a chance but just never clicked. Now I was going to put Lex Luger's WCW reigns and Ron Simmons reign as WCW champion on here as well but I didn't see much of their reigns so don't want to talk about what I don't know. Anyways let me know what you think, if you agree or disagree I'm guessing the latter.