WWE Wrestlers With Surprising Championship Droughts

It's been a while since Kevin Owens and a few others were able to win the big one.

It's been a long time since Kevin Owens was a singles Champion in WWE / wwe.com

Winning a Championship is not the be all end all in WWE. Even someone as accomplished and as heavily featured as Randy Orton can suffer his dry spells. As a matter of fact, the Viper is currently approaching the four year anniversary of the last time he held the WWE Championship.

Just three weeks removed from defeating Drew McIntyre inside Hell in a Cell to become a 14-time World Champion, Orton would drop the title back to the Scottish Warrior on the November 16, 2020 episode of Raw.

Orton did miss 18 months of action due to a back injury that nearly ended his career. He's also had two different runs with the Raw Tag Team Championships (now World Tag Team Titles) since the end of 2020, so we'll cut him some slack and keep him off this list.

There's also not a doubt in my mind that Orton will hold singles gold again in WWE, especially after recently signing a five-year extension with the company. It's unfortunately fair to question, if and when, some other WWE Superstars will ever be able to win the big one again.

AJ Styles has not held a singles Championship in WWE in over four years

AJ Styles last held the Intercontinental Championship during the ThunderDome Era in WWE / wwe.com

AJ Styles has had multiple chances to end his Championship drought this year, dating back to January when he was one of four men to challenge Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble. Not only did the OTC retain the gold that night, but he pinned Styles to do it.

After Cody Rhodes finished his story at WrestleMania XL, Styles stepped up as the first challenger for the American Nightmare. These two Georgia boys battled for Cody's WWE Championship at both Backlash and Clash at the Castle, with Rhodes prevailing each time.

Styles is in phenomenal shape (pun intended) at age 47, and if nothing else, proved in his match-ups with Cody that he can still perform at a very high level. Its been three years, however, since his Raw Tag Team Title run with Omos came to an end and over four years since he last held the Intercontinental Championship.

For those having trouble remembering, Styles won his second WWE Championship when he beat Jinder Mahal ahead of Survivor Series in November of 2017. He lost the title over a year later to Bryan Danielson, and has not won it back since.

Alexa Bliss burst onto the scene with five World Title wins, but her last reign ended over six years ago

Alexa Bliss posing with the Raw Women's Championship for the final time at SummerSlam 2018 / wwe.com

Let's just get this out of the way. I refuse to consider her loan 24/7 Title win as anything resembling a legitimate singles Championship reign. No disrespect intended to anyone who did their best to make that novelty all it could be. Until Nikki Cross literally threw it in the trash... almost.

Alexa Bliss was drafted to SmackDown from NXT in the summer of 2016. By December she had claimed her first World Title when she put Becky Lynch through a table at TLC to win the SmackDown Women's Championship. She became an instant mainstay in the main event scene. At least until Ronda Rousey dominated Little Miss Bliss in four minutes to win the Raw Women's Championship at SummerSlam 2018.

It's not as though Bliss faded away from the spotlight in the years that followed. Subjective as the material may have been, Alexa more than proved her range as an in-ring and character performer during her time with Bray Wyatt. She was also heavily featured in the women's tag team division, winning gold with both Nikki Cross and Asuka.

Bliss has been on hiatus from WWE since the 2023 Royal Rumble, where she lost an opportunity to win the Raw Women's Title away from Bianca Belair. Shortly afterward, Alexa announced that she was pregnant with her first child.

She's reportedly been training for a return to the ring, but with the competition in the WWE Women's Division growing by the day, it could be difficult for her to climb back to the top of the mountain on either Raw or SmackDown. It'll be great to see her back on TV regardless.

A man of Braun Strowman's stature and dominance should would have won more Championships over the last four years

Braun Strowman defeated Goldberg at WrestleMania 36 to capture the WWE Universal Championship / wwe.com

Standing 6'8" and weighing in at nearly 400lbs, Braun Strowman is a physical specimen. Having stood next to the Monster Among Men himself, I can attest that he is one large human being. And he's been dominating wrestlers of similar and smaller stature since he burst onto the scene on the WWE main roster over eight years ago.

That domination though, has somehow not translated to much Championship success. Even a slam dunk proposition of Strowman with the 2018 Money in the Bank Briefcase did not end with him winning the title from Roman Reigns at Hell in a Cell.

It wasn't until Reigns was unable to compete in the Universal Championship match at WrestleMania 36, that Strowman was brought in his replacement. Braun defeated Goldberg to capture his only World Championship to date in WWE. He held onto the title until SummerSlam 2020 where he dropped the belt to Bray Wyatt.

Kevin Owens will win singles gold again one day... right? It's been nearly seven years.

Kevin Owens moments after winning back his United States Championship from AJ Styles at Battleground 2017 / wwe.com

Kevin Owen has established a long and distinguished list of accomplishments during his 10 years in WWE. He's a Grand Slam Champion. He main evented back-to-back WrestleMania's, including fighting Stone Cold Steve Austin in his long awaited return match at WrestleMania 38 in Dallas.

Whether or not his time in WWE runs out when his contract expires early next year, KO can be proud of what he's done throughout his tenure with the company. That said... it's truly mindboggling that the man who once called himself the 'Prize Fighter' is closing in on seven years without holding singles gold.

Owen's lengthy dry spell was thrust into the spotlight ahead of his match with Cody Rhodes at Bash in Berlin. His loss to the American Nightmare in Germany kept intact this title slump that dates back to October of 2017.

It's even more confounding (and depressing) when you remember that his lone Universal Championship run ended just weeks ahead of WrestleMania 33 when he lost to Goldberg at Fastlane in just 22 seconds.

No matter what happens from here on out, at least fans can always look back fondly on KO and Sami Zayn capturing the Undisputed Tag Team Championships from the Usos at WrestleMania 39.

The Street Profit want the smoke, but they need to win the WWE or World Tag Team Championships for the first time in three years

Street Profits at the 2020 WWE Draft / wwe.com

It feels like folks have been talking about Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins as future singles stars for so long, that they've forgotten how good they are together as a tag team. That may have something to do with the fact that it's been over three years since the pair held any form of WWE's three Men's Tag Team Championships.

The last time the Street Profits were credited with 'winning' tag team gold was back in October of 2020 when they swapped their Raw Tag Team Championships for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles that were held by the New Day, after both teams had traded brands in the WWE Draft.

Dawkins and Ford would drop the belts a couple of months later to Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode, two men who are no longer even active competitors in WWE. It's beyond time that the Profits get some gold back around their waists, and if that's not in the cards any time soon, the best decision might be to pull the trigger on those long awaited singles runs.

Sheamus' new multi-year contract extension will give him more time to win only his second singles title in nine years

Sheamus defeated Matt Riddle at WrestleMania 37 to capture the United States Championship /

The Celtic Warrior has won just about everything there is to win in WWE. He's a multi-time World Champion, United States Champion and Tag Team Champion. He won the 2012 Royal Rumble and the 2015 Money in the Bank contract, which he successfully cashed-in on Roman Reigns.

The only accolade missing from his Hall of Fame resume is an Intercontinental Championship victory and he has not hidden his desire to capture that title in recent years.

If some day Sheamus is able to cross off one of the last remaining items on his bucket list, he would accomplish something he's only done once in the last nine years - win a singles title.

Following the aforementioned MITB cash-in on Roman Reigns at Survivor Series 2015, the Celtic Warrior lost the belt back to the Big Dog 22 days later at TLC. Sheamus would not win another title on his own until WrestleMania 37 when he beat Matt Riddle to capture the United States Championship for the third time in his career.

It would be unfair not to at least mention the success of The Bar, the tag team of Sheamus and Claudio Castagnoli (Cesaro in WWE), who became five-time WWE Tag Team Champions between 2016-2019. Even taking their run into account, Sheamus only having one title win in five years is a little hard to believe.

Honorable Mentions:

Chad Gable and Xavier Woods have never won a singles Championship in WWE. That is something that needs to change before both men hang up their boots for good.

*Since this article was published, Jey Uso captured his first singles title in WWE when he stunned Bron Breakker to capture the Intercontinental Championship on the 9/23 episode of Raw.

You can follow Rick Ucchino on X and on Instagram: @RickUcchino

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