5 members of the WWE roster who won world titles outside the company
WWE currently has multiple world championships available to its roster. The women challenge for the RAW, SmackDown and NXT Women's Championships. The men can challenge for the legendary WWE Championship on RAW, the WWE Universal Championship on SmackDown Live, and WWE NXT Championship on NXT 2.0.
Of course, other promotions have their own world championships. Some of the most prestigious titles amongst them are the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship, informally referred to as "10 lbs of gold", the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship and the recently created IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.
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Many members of the WWE roster previously performed in other promotions, and some of them were successful enough to win world championships before they entered the WWE ring. Here is a list of 5 such superstars who won world championships outside the confines of the Vince McMahon-led promotion.
#5. Former WWE United States Champion R-Truth (NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship)
On this day, Ron Killings (R-truth) became the first and only African-American recognized NWA Heavyweight Champion by defeating Ken Shamrock In NWA/TNA. https://t.co/iCPPN7UwID
R-Truth is one of the most successful comedic characters WWE fans have witnessed in recent times. Charismatic and seemingly timeless, Truth can bring attention and laughter to any program he is part of. The 24/7 chases have become as stale as they can be, but Truth's facial expressions are always on point.
However, in between his two WWE stints, Truth wrestled as Ron "The Truth" Killings. He was one of the first main-event stars of TNA, where he won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship twice. Killings was the first African-American to win the historic championship and the first African-American to win a world championship in TNA history.
Truth has rarely been treated as a world championship contender in WWE, but he is valued as a comedic worker and is beloved in the locker room, who once famously celebrated his birthday in the ring.