3 Superstars who became World Champion too early in their WWE career and 3 who won the title too late
The WWE Championship is arguably the top wrestling title in the industry. Wrestlers work day and night to prove themselves to the WWE creatives and win the big prize at least once in their careers. However, only a handful of Superstars have been fortunate enough to win the WWE title.
The company has arguably tried to change things around and award the Championship to Superstars who weren’t seen as “championship material” by many. Some Superstars were awarded the title too early in their careers, and this ended up causing some problems for them further down the line.
On the other hand, there are a few big names who had to wait a long time to win the title. Some of these Superstars could not do so in their prime and failed to make the impact that they could have, had they been given the title at an earlier stage.
Let’s take a look at three Superstars who won the WWE Championship too early in their career, and three who won it rather late.
#6 Early - Sheamus won the WWE Championship 166 days after his debut
Sheamus walked into WWE in 2006, but it took him almost three years to make his on-screen debut for the company. The Irish Superstar made his television debut as a heel in 2009, on an episode of ECW.
Sheamus started working his way up the ladder, and his physique and work in the ring allowed him to come across as a good heel. It took the Superstar less than six months to win the WWE Championship from John Cena at the WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs pay-per-view.
The Celtic Warrior’s reign as WWE Champion lasted just 70 days and was filled with disqualification victories. Even though Sheamus was playing a heel character, his title reign was largely forgettable due to the nature of his title defenses.
The Irish Superstar himself revealed that he couldn’t believe that he’d won the title so early in his career, and others around him were also in shock.
“I was like, ‘this is mad!’ I just had the title in my hand at the hotel room and the whole thing was just crazy, it just didn’t register at the time. Everyone was like, what the f*ck’s going on?"
“But when you win it, that’s great, it’s fantastic and you shock the world. But, then I had to go and prove to everybody (including myself) that this was not a fluke.”
Sheamus’ WWE Championship victory was seen as premature by many, and it took him some time to get accustomed to WWE. By the time he got his second run with the title, he was a much better and more complete Superstar.