5 WWE Mid-Carders who were World Heavyweight Champion in Rival Promotions

With AEW on the horizon it looks like WWE is going to have legitimate competition for the first time since the demise of WCW at the beginning of the millennium.  Thus all the excitement surrounding AEW has caused a great deal of speculation in the Professional Wrestling community as to who will be the first ever AEW World Heavyweight Champion?  Will it be Chris Jericho? Kenny Omega? Cody? or someone completely unexpected!?  With this in mind, I have decided to compile a list of 5 WWE mid-carders who held the top championship in a rival company.

#5 RON SIMMONS

Photo: wrestlingupdateonline.com

On 2nd August 1992 Ron Simmons made history when he defeated Big Van Vader at a House Show in Baltimore, Maryland becoming the first ever African-American wrestler to hold the World Heavyweight Championship in a major promotion (WCW), with a reign lasting 150 days, before dropping the title back to Vader at another House Show in Baltimore, Maryland later that year.  This came after earlier success in WCW as a Tag Team Champion with Butch Reed as Doom.

After leaving WCW Big Ron also had a headline run in ECW in the mid 90's challenging for Shane Douglas' ECW Championship. Simmons AKA Farooq later joined WWE in 1996, where he had a successful career most notably as the original leader of The Nation of Domination & 1 half of, 3 time WWE Tag Team Champions, the APA with Bradshaw AKA JBL. However Simmons never held any major singles titles in WWE.

Ron Simmons was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012.

#4 RICK MARTEL

Photo: WWE.com

In the early 1980's Rick Martel became a household name for fans of the AWA (American Wrestling Association) where he would hold their version of the World Heavyweight Championship for 19 months between 1984-1985, taking on the likes of Ric Flair, Jimmy Garvin, Nick Bockwinkel & King Tonga before losing the title to Stan Hansen.

Before joining the AWA, Martel was already a 2 time WWE Tag Team Champion with Tony Garea.  He returned to WWE in 1986 forming the Can-Am Connection with Tom Zenk before joining forces with Tito Santana as Strike Force becoming a WWE Tag Team Champion for a 3rd time.

Martel later went on to adopt the obnoxious "The Model" gimmick which he had a fairly succesful singles run with in the early 1990's before being relegated to the lower card of WWE.  Rick Martel joined WCW in 1997 and had successful rivalry with Booker T where Martel became WCW World Television Champion, but unfortunately Martel suffered a career ending injury in a title defence against Booker T at Superbrawl VIII in 1998, ultimately resulting in his retirement later that year.

#3 BARRY WINDHAM

Photo: Pro Wrestling Illustrated

The former Horseman had a number of runs in WWE over the years, the most successful of which as a 2 time WWE Tag Team Champion with his brother in law Mike Rotunda (The US Express) in 1985.  He had a few more forgettable WWE runs in later years as The Widowmaker, The Stalker & as a member of The New Blackjacks.

However Windham had arguably his greatest wrestling accomplishment in 1993 when he captured the WCW's NWA World Heavyweight Championship from The Great Muta at Superbrawl III, holding the title for 147 days before dropping the title to Ric Flair at Beach Blast.

Windham was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012 as part of the Four Horsemen, along with Ric Flair, J.J. Dillon, Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard.

#2 DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE

Photo: Wrestle Zone

DDP is undoubtedly a legend in the world of professional wrestling. Starting out as a manager in AWA & WCW, as well as a cameo appearance as Rhythm & Blues' driver at Wrestlemania 6, it would be several years before Page actually entered the squared circle as a competitor.  Even though he was a late starter, Page went on to hold multiple titles over the years in WCW and at the pinnacle of his career (1999-2001) he held the WCW World Heavyweight Championship 3 times.

After WWE took over WCW, Page returned to WWE with the highlight of this run being a very strange feud with The Undertaker (but the less said about that, the better!)

In the twilight of his career, in 2005, DDP had one last run at the top of the card, this time in TNA, losing to NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett at Destination X.

Since his retirement DDP founded his world famous DDP Yoga and was inducted into WWE Hall of Fame in 2017.

#1 DUSTY RHODES

Photo: Eurosport

The American Dream Dusty Rhodes will go down in history as one of the all time greats in professional wrestling.  Rhodes was one of the NWA's top attractions in the 1980's with his historic feuds with Harley Race & Ric Flair culminating in The American Dream becoming 3 time NWA World Heavyweight Champion.

Rhodes joined WWE in 1989, where he was giving the polka dot clad "Common Man" gimmick, which many people believe was used by WWE to discredit their rivals as Dusty was synonymous with WWE's biggest competitors at the time Jim Crockett Promotions/WCW.  Although The Dream had moderate success in "getting over" in WWE, with feuds with Macho Man Randy Savage & the Million Dollar Man, he never got the main event push many thought he deserved.

"The Son of a Plumber" was one of the wrestling industry's most influential characters for several decades both inside the ropes as a competitor & behind the scenes as a booker in multiple promotions and was a driving force behind NXT right up to his passing in 2015.

***DID I LEAVE ANY OUT? IF SO, FEEL FREE TO MENTION THEM IN THE COMMENTS SECTION!***