Who deserves their first WWE Championship run the most?

[ColePens]

Which active wrestler (any promotion) deserves a run as the top guy in the WWE who has not held the main title yet (Universal or WWE Championship)?

Some great choices out there from the non-WWE guys like Cody or Omega. Some great WWE choices out there in Big E, Rusev, Cesaro, Joe, etc.

So who deserves it the most?

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[Lunatik]

I'm not going to say "deserves", but I would love to see Rusev, Joe and Zayn get title runs.

 

[Kimi]

Yeah, I don't like the word 'deserve' for things like this. It implies that someone has been wronged because they've not been champion, or that it was their right to be champion. In reality it's just a prob on a TV show that a character holds, and the creative team give it to whoever they want to hold it for whatever reason.

There are lots of people who I'd think would do a good job at playing champion, but even that doesn't mean I'd make them champion if I could.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Kofi should get a run.

 

[Megahab]

Any of the New Day, especially Big E.

Strowman, Joe, Rusev. Maybe Cesaro.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Joe or Strowman should have been Universal Champ by now. Both should win a title soon.

Rusev, Big E, Kofi, Nakamura

 

[JackSlater]

Samoa Joe and Cesaro. Joe has everything a champ should have and I think has a decent chance to get one of the belts before long. Cesaro is one of the most perplexingly underutilized wrestlers I can ever remember. The guy is so much better than he has been presented as in WWE.

 

[ColePens]

Yeah, I don't like the word 'deserve' for things like this. It implies that someone has been wronged because they've not been champion, or that it was their right to be champion. In reality it's just a prob on a TV show that a character holds, and the creative team give it to whoever they want to hold it for whatever reason.

There are lots of people who I'd think would do a good job at playing champion, but even that doesn't mean I'd make them champion if I could.

Deserves in the sense that they've had a tremendous career and would be worthy of a WWE shot. Not that they've been wronged or anything. I like @M.C.G. 31 with the Kofi call. Just a guy who has been tremendous for his career and as a fan it would be nice to see. Same with a guy like Joe who made his name elsewhere. As a fan it would just be nice to see that.

But for me - it's Cesaro. I love Cesaro. I think his wrestling is out of this world.

 

[les Habs]

I know he technically doesn't count here, but I would throw Bray Wyatt's hat into the ring. His run was too short.

But for me - it's Cesaro. I love Cesaro. I think his wrestling is out of this world.

From a wrestling perspective I think Cesaro is a great call (from what I've seen), but isn't he pretty bland on the mic? I'm seriously asking because I've only seen so much of him.

 

[Megahab]

I can only imagine guys like Cesaro and Kingston as short term champions.

Another guy I think has it all is McIntyre. He was so bland in hos last run but changed everything since

 

[WingsMJN2965]

They've literally relegated Braun to having a random tag team partner every week because he should be chasing the title, but they don't want him in the picture while they try to get their golden boy over...

... Again.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Cesaro deserves a good mid-belt title run, but main event? Idk. His work is phenomenal, but he would need some kind of gimmick and a new theme.

I feel like you need some kind of charismatic presence to be a top of the card champ. Someone like Rusev has that it spades. He just oozes personality no matter what he does. Big E is the same way, no matter the quality of the act, Big E’s personality comes through.

I haven’t really seen Cesaro hit those levels at any point in WWE. He deserves a chance as a singles champ to build that up though.

It is ridiculous how long they have wasted their top belts recently. Absolutely nothing is happening on the RAW side since it isn’t ever on TV, and seems destined to move to Roman at some point.

Smackdown the belt being on AJ is good, but they wasted a lot of time last year with the belt on Orton and Jinder forced some other guys who deserved a shot and a run to have to keep waiting.

Also I understand he doesn’t fit the requirements for this thread, but I would say Finn deserves a real run with a belt. He was only champ for a day, and still hasn’t been given even a rematch.

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

When Cesaro was a solo heel and doing those videos of him traveling to different cities and interviewing locals I thought he had personality in spades too. That was good stuff.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Cesaro “deserves” it far more than collar popping Finn too imo

 

[ColePens]

They've literally relegated Braun to having a random tag team partner every week because he should be chasing the title, but they don't want him in the picture while they try to get their golden boy over...

... Again.

They definitely had the perfect opportunity to pull the trigger. Braun was so mega over as a monster. Roman was already way dead with the crowd. Braun was getting THE biggest pops of the night. One F5 and he was done. All to set up Roman kicking out.

And then they made Braun smile, high five children, and goofy. And now Braun is crashing down in terms of popularity and it just feels meh.

 

[Disclose]

more importantly, a title would cover Finn's abs. we dont want none of that.

 

[Cor]

Define “Deserves”

Like, I naturally include worthiness into “deserving”. I don’t think Cesar, as awesome he is in the ring, has the charisma to be a WWE Champion

To me, this is Braun Strowman easily. He’s worked his ass off, and went from a henchmen to the most over person in the company for a bit. He’s clear Championship material.

Second would be Joe, but I feel like he’s still on the build up.

Big E is up there as well.

 

[JackSlater]

With Cesaro I find that there is an issue with his presentation compared with his ability. Claudio Castagnoli showed a lot of personality on the indy scene, and I don't think that it just evaporated over the last eight years or so. He was never the Rock, but I view him as easily more charismatic (and better in ring and in every way I can think of) than Braun Strowman for instance. I expect that Cesaro would get massive reactions if given the right push (Strowman) but that just doesn't seem to be in the cards. It's difficult to tell how much of someone's performance is ability and how much is opportunity and positioning. No one in 1993 would watch WCW and predict that Stunning Steve had the ability to outdraw peak Hogan. Even WWWF didn't fully realize what it had in Hogan until he went away to the AWA and performed in Rocky III.

That isn't to say that Cesaro has Hogan and Austin levels of charisma, but in my eyes he does have significant natural charisma and is very poorly underutilized, though admittedly that doesn't necessarily mean that he "deserves" anything.

 

[Conrad McBenis]

Joe or Strowman should have been Universal Champ by now. Both should win a title soon.

Rusev, Big E, Kofi, Nakamura

Braun is a former tag champ.

 

[BonMorrison]

Even though I don’t think Kofi will ever get back to the overness of 2008 Kofi, I’d definitely love to see him get a small run.

 

[ColePens]

Define “Deserves”

Like, I naturally include worthiness into “deserving”. I don’t think Cesar, as awesome he is in the ring, has the charisma to be a WWE Champion

For me, if you are the best wrestler in the world, and I could make the argument Cesaro is in the top 5, then I think a short run would be worthy. But if he doesn't win the championship, I won't call it a crime. He's just one of those guys I feel deserves that nice pat on the back.

Even though I don’t think Kofi will ever get back to the overness of 2008 Kofi, I’d definitely love to see him get a small run.

I sense a similar final run like Christian one day. I think the fans could sink their teeth into that. Maybe even win it in a ladder match?

 

[Sheppy]

Samoa Joe.

While I agree, Kofi deserves a title, he just isn't WWE title material imo. He's a career mid card guy at best.

 

[Sammy225]

Right now Big E is likely to get a run before Kofi (which there is nothing wrong with). If we are talking in terms of getting over and in ring work Joe in my eyes should be at the top of the list. Everything he has been doing is great and i think after Nakamura and Styles feud is over you are going to see Joe as the #1 contender.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Samoa Joe and Cesaro. Joe has everything a champ should have and I think has a decent chance to get one of the belts before long. Cesaro is one of the most perplexingly underutilized wrestlers I can ever remember. The guy is so much better than he has been presented as in WWE.

Cesaro being underutilized isnt perplexing at all. The guy has the charisma and personality of wet paper. He's Lance Storm 2.0

To answer the thread, I say its Joe. Guy has been money since he joined them and would have a hell of a run as a heel champ

 

[JackSlater]

Cesaro being underutilized isnt perplexing at all. The guy has the charisma and personality of wet paper. He's Lance Storm 2.0

Well, I suppose they can't all be good takes.