The Most Random WWE World Title Challenger In Each Year Of The 2010s

More often than not, only WWE‘s biggest stars go after the promotion’s coveted world titles. However, there’ve been notable examples of lesser names who shockingly challenged for a top belt over the years. In fact, some even managed to win said championship, as we’ll cover throughout this list!

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WWE entered the 2010s decade deeply into the PG Era. John Cena was still the face of the company, with Roman Reigns taking the ball in the second half of the decade. The champions faced some weird challengers for their WWE world titles throughout the decade. Let’s take a look at each and every year!

2010: Zack Ryder

An Easy Title Defense For Sheamus

WWE fans loved Zack Ryder and they couldn’t understand why the company never pushed him properly. The Long Island Iced Z used social media to become popular in 2011 and got huge crowd reactions. But in 2010, before the loud crowd reactions and social media buzz, Ryder was just another undercarder on the roster, wrestling almost exclusively on Superstars.

By August 2010 he only had 4 singles matches on Raw – all of them quick losses to MVP, Mark Henry, Evan Bourne and John Morrison. Still, he got a WWE Title shot because Sheamus wanted to extend the (often ignored) 30-day title defense policy with an easy win. The Celtic Warrior hit Ryder with a quick Brogue Kick and retained the WWE Championship in 10 seconds.

2011: Drew McIntyre

Long Before McIntyre Became A Main Eventer

It might seem strange to see Drew McIntyre’s name on a list such as this one, especially for younger readers. But back in 2011, Drew McIntyre was doing nothing on WWE television. After his initial push as The Chosen One fizzled out in mid-2010, McIntyre struggled to appear on Raw or SmackDown until 3MB was formed in October 2012.

In early 2011, McIntyre found himself in a weird storyline with Trent Barreta over Kelly Kelly’s attention. Then, Kelly’s involvement in the feud between World Champion Edge, Dolph Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero allowed Drew to wrestle Edge a few times heading into WrestleMania 27. That included the Elimination Chamber Match for Edge’s belt.

2012: Ricardo Rodriguez

Alberto Del Rio’s Personal Ring Announcer Got A Title Shot…

WWE decided to turn Alberto Del Rio face in December 2012, ahead of his World Heavyweight Championship victory over Big Show. But before we got there, Del Rio’s ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez – who, by association, was now a babyface as well – actually got a title shot first!

The final Raw of 2012 was dubbed Champion’s Choice, meaning all champions got to choose their own challengers. Big Show took the easy way out, although Ricardo did manage to make a small comeback. Big Show obviously retained his World Heavyweight Championship, albeit by disqualification after Del Rio got involved.

2013: Sin Cara

The Masked Wrestler Got A Rare Title Shot In Mexico

Remember that time Sin Cara challenged for the World Heavyweight Championship? The answer is probably no, unless you attended WWE’s tour of Mexico in October 2013, where the original Sin Cara (Mistico) unsuccessfully challenged World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio four nights in a row.

At this point, it was clear Del Rio’s days as World Champion were numbered, as he was putting the soon-to-be-retired Big Gold Belt up for grabs against the returning John Cena at Hell in a Cell about a week later. Meanwhile, these were the final matches of Mistico’s WWE career.

2014: Christian

Captain Charisma Only Wrestled For Two Months In Early 2014

You might be shocked to see Christian here, but there are a couple of reasons why he’s on the list. First, the title unification match at TLC 2013 and the World Heavyweight Championship being retired left the company with only one world title. Secondly, part-timer Brock Lesnar held the title for the last 4 months of the year, while Daniel Bryan spent most of his two-month reign injured.

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That means the WWE Championship wasn’t exactly defended often in 2014, which left us with very few options; mostly former main eventers who weren’t major threats to the belt at this point. Kane would be one, but he was a big part of The Authority storyline. Alberto Del Rio could be another choice, but we were just months removed from his last World Title reign. Poor Christian joins the list, as he was only active from late January until March.

2015: Neville

He Actually Came Close To Winning The Title

WWE fans were excited when Neville joined the main roster after WrestleMania 31. However, it was obvious the former NXT Champion would be a midcarder at best once he got involved in silly programs with the likes of Bo Dallas, King Barrett and Stardust. Still, he got a random WWE Title shot against Seth Rollins in August.

At that time, Rollins was feuding with then-United States Champion John Cena. Seth wanted to host his own open challenge… only under two conditions: the challenger had to be under six feet tall and under 200 pounds. Rollins wanted El Torito to come out; instead, Neville came out and he almost beat Rollins with the Red Arrow.

2016: James Ellsworth

Ellsworth Challenged AJ Styles For The WWE Championship Twice

James Ellsworth was actually fun for a while at first. The squash match against Braun Strowman was really entertaining, and that’s the reason why WWE signed him to begin with. But then, once Ellsworth got involved in the WWE Title feud between AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose, fans got tired of him pretty quickly.

Ellsworth himself challenged Styles for the WWE Championship twice, including a 12-minute match that Ellsworth won by DQ for some crazy reason. The second title shot, which happened after Ellsworth’s unnecessary heel turn at TLC, was won by Styles in 45 seconds to mercifully end their weird program.

2017: Jinder Mahal

Mahal’s WWE Championship Win Came From Out Of Nowhere

Too predictable? Possibly. But if we took you back to WrestleMania 33 and told you Jinder Mahal would be the next challenger for the WWE Championship, you would’ve laughed uncontrollably. For that reason alone, he has to be on this list. Not only did Jinder challenge Randy Orton, he actually became WWE Champion and held the strap until November.

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Mahal lost the WWE Championship to AJ Styles on an episode of SmackDown in Manchester, England. He proceeded to challenge Styles for the title leading up to Clash of Champions, where Styles put him away with the Calf Crusher to effectively end Mahal’s brief main event run.

2018: Mustafa Ali

Ali Was A Member Of The 205 Live Roster Until That November

At Survivor Series 2018, Mustafa Ali unsuccessfully challenged Buddy Murphy for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Just a few weeks later, the exciting 205 Live wrestler was promoted to SmackDown. Ali immediately started working with WWE Champion Daniel Bryan on the blue brand.

After a shocking pinfall win over Bryan in a tag team match on the December 18 episode of SmackDown, Ali got a title shot at a live event on Boxing Day in Rosemont, Illinois. Bryan managed to retain the belt against Ali and The Miz inside a steel cage.

2019: Cain Velasquez

Brock Lesnar Vs. Cain Velasquez: Huge In UFC, Odd In WWE

At UFC 121 in October 2010, Brock Lesnar’s UFC Heavyweight Championship reign came to an end at the hands of Cain Velasquez. Lesnar vs. Velasquez was a huge UFC fight that did big business, and WWE tried to recapture that magic nine years later.

Velasquez made his WWE debut immediately following Lesnar’s WWE Title win over Kofi Kingston on SmackDown. That led to a strange WWE Championship match at Crown Jewel later in the month, where Lesnar won in three minutes. Lesnar vs. Velasquez in WWE just didn’t work.