Oftentimes what's harder than winning a world championship is remaining relevant as a main event competitor. A wrestler can go from WWE Champion to competing for a secondary title once their time on top is up. At Extreme Rules, Damian Priest successfully defended his United States Championship against two Superstars who held multiple world titles in WWE. Not everyone is meant to be a main eventer forever.

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"The Charismatic Enigma" Jeff Hardy won multiple world titles both as a singles competitor and tag team wrestler, but that didn't stop him from becoming a member of the 24/7 Division earlier this September. Hardy has since been drafted over to SmackDown, but there have been many like him who fell from grace, going from a world champion to a mid-card act.

10 Sheamus

Sheamus WWE Champion US Title

"The Celtic Warrior" Sheamus quickly ascended to the top of WWE in his debut year, defeating John Cena for the WWE Championship at the inaugural TLC pay-per-view in 2009. Throughout his career, Sheamus has won four world titles in WWE, with three reigns as WWE Champion and one reign as World Heavyweight Champion. However, his world title reign on SmackDown was not featured in the main event of pay-per-views.

Before Sheamus' third reign with the WWE Title in 2015, he had already slipped into the role of a mid-carder. And although this title reign put him back in the main event scene, it didn't last long. Since then, Sheamus became a standout tag team wrestler alongside Cesaro. After leaving the side of Cesaro, Sheamus has continued to be a mid-carder. At WrestleMania 37, Sheamus became a three-time United States Champion when he defeated "The Ultimate Bro" Matt Riddle. The Celtic Warrior has since donned a protective facemask after Humberto Carrillo broke his nose.

Sheamus dropped the US Title to Damian Priest at SummerSlam and lost all his rematches against the current champ, including at Extreme Rules and the following episode of Monday Night Raw. However, since losing the gold, he was able to defeat Drew McIntyre, a former two-time WWE Champion.

9 Jeff Hardy

Jeff Hardy WWE Champion IC Title

Jeff Hardy was once one of WWE's top stars during the tail-end of the Ruthless Aggression Era and the beginning years of the PG Era. By the end of 2008, Hardy had finally reached the top of the mountain, becoming WWE Champion at the Armaggedon pay-per-view. Jeff entered the new year as champion, but his reign ended at the 2009 Royal Rumble as a result of his brother Matt betraying him.

In 2009, Hardy would win the World Heavyweight Championship twice. His first reign was very short because CM Punk cashed in immediately after Jeff's ladder match against Edge at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view. Punk and Hardy then traded the title throughout the summer. Jeff then left the company soon after. He would spend the next seven years with Impact Wrestling where he became a three-time TNA World Heavyweight Champion.

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Ever since Jeff Hardy returned to WWE in 2017, he's mostly been used in a mid-card role with an occasional multi-man world title match. In 2020, Hardy secured his fifth reign with the Intercontinental Title. Most recently, Jeff has found himself going from the 24/7 Title Division to challenging for the United States Championship.

8 Bobby Roode

Bobby Roode TNA WWE

During his record-setting first reign as TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Bobby Roode was known as the "It Factor" of Impact Wrestling. No wrestler has surpassed Roode's 256-day reign with the Impact World Title. Roode's second reign with the title was also lengthy, going on for 111 days. He's also won eight World Tag Team Titles with the company, two with the NWA belts, and six with the TNA straps.

Roode has led a very mid-card existence on WWE's main roster. While he initially showed promise as NXT Champion, The Glorious One fizzled out on SmackDown not long after. Despite not achieving the type of accolades he did with TNA, Roode has been able to win various titles in WWE. A few months after debuting on the blue brand, Roode was already US Champion, but the reign didn't amount to much. Bobby also found championship success in the tag team division, holding one reign with the blue belts and two with the red ones. Nowadays, he could be found on WWE TV alongside Dolph Ziggler in the tag team known as The Dirty Dawgs.

7 Dolph Ziggler

Dolph Ziggler World Champion Dirty Dawgs

Speaking of The Dirty Dawgs, Dolph Ziggler is also a former two-time World Heavyweight Champion. During a lone episode of SmackDown in February 2011, Ziggler was World Heavyweight Champion after being awarded the title following Edge's violation of the Spear ban. However, Teddy Long would emerge and remedy the situation. By the end of the night, Edge was once again a world champion. Following this loss, Ziggler would sink back into the mid-card, only rising again a year later to unsuccessfully challenge CM Punk for the WWE Championship.

Ziggler's 2012 MITB win would lead to him receiving his second reign with the World Heavyweight Championship on the Raw after WrestleMania 29. However, Ziggler's reign lost momentum as a result of an untimely concussion. And when Ziggler returned to in-ring competition for his first televised title defense, he immediately dropped the gold back to Alberto Del Rio. Since then, Ziggler's star power has never recovered. He's contended for world titles since then, but it's mainly to get the other wrestler over.

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Ziggler is one of the most decorated champions on the WWE roster, mid-card or not. Five of his six reigns with the Intercontinental Championship came after his second reigns as World Heavyweight Champion. Both of Ziggler's reigns with the US Title came after he was already a world champion.

6 Chris Jericho

Chris Jericho World Champion List Fandango

Chris Jericho became an Undisputed WWE Champion towards the tail end of 2001. However, since then, Jericho went back-and-forth from a main-eventer to a mid-carder on numerous occasions. Jericho is a record-breaking nine-time Intercontinental Champion, with five of those reigns happening after main-eventing WrestleMania X8.

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​​​​​​Jericho won the World Heavyweight Championship twice in 2008. And in 2009, Y2J had a classic feud with Rey Mysterio over the Intercontinental Championship. That year, he also formed Jerishow and became one half of the Unified Tag Team Champions with Big Show. Throughout the 2010s, Jericho could be thrown into a main event program if need be, but he was also used to put over rising stars as a mid-card act. Most notably, Jericho became World Heavyweight Champion in 2010 and successfully defended the title against Edge at WrestleMania 26. He also unsuccessfully challenged CM Punk for the WWE Title at WrestleMania 28. As a mid-carder, Y2J put over Fandango at the next year's 'Mania, put over Mr. MITB Dolph Ziggler, and engaged in a friends-turned-rivals feud with Kevin Owens, which also included the United States Championship.

Nowadays, Jericho is one of the top acts in All Elite Wrestling. He's the first-ever AEW World Champion, yet in 2021, he has fallen back down into being an upper mid-card act. In total, The Demo God has won seven singles world championships throughout his illustrious career.

5 The Miz

The Miz WWE champion

The Miz is an eight-time Intercontinental Champion, with each reign coming after his experimental WWE Championship reign that went on for 160 days between 2010 and 2011. The Miz did main event WrestleMania 27 alongside John Cena, but their rivalry was overshadowed by an even larger conflict brewing between Cena and The Rock. Miz went from a top heel to a third-wheel by the time his 'Mania match came along, with his momentum sacrificed to promote the following year's match between Cena and The Rock.

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By 2012, The Miz became essentially locked into the mid-card position. The Hollywood A-Lister has had some brushes with the top since then, but he wasn't able to win the WWE Title again until Elimination Chamber 2021. However, The Miz's second reign with the WWE Championship only lasted eight days and he was back performing in a mid-card role once again shortly thereafter.

4 Chris Benoit

Chris Benoit WWE

Chris Benoit entered WWE in early 2000 shortly after winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Benoit's exit from the company led to WCW.com withdrawing recognition of his one-day reign. But the World Title reign of Benoit that most people are aware of happened in 2004. That year, he won the Royal Rumble after beginning the match as the first entrant. In the main event of WrestleMania XX, The Crippler defeated Shawn Michaels and Triple H for the Raw brand's top title.

After Benoit dropped the title to Randy Orton at SummerSlam, he opened up the next pay-per-view with William Regal as his tag team partner. It was clear that Benoit wasn't a lock for the main event in WWE. Although he was a talented in-ring performer, he wasn't what WWE was looking for in terms of a long-term headliner. Benoit was still a figure in the red brand's main event scene between the fall of 2004 leading into early 2005, but he was no longer booked as the dominant force who became World Heavyweight Champion.

Benoit was drafted to SmackDown in 2005 and won the US Title from Orlando Jordan in humiliating fashion at that year's SummerSlam. The Crippler then spent the remainder of his career as a mid-carder, defending the United States Championship at consecutive WrestleManias between 2006 and 2007. Benoit was being positioned to be a main-eventer on WWE's ECW brand, but those plans were scrapped as a result of his highly controversial death.

3 Rob Van Dam

Rob Van Dam champion

Rob Van Dam experienced the biggest push of his life in 2006 when he became Mr. Money In The Bank at WrestleMania 22 and went on to defeat John Cena for the WWE Championship in the main event of ECW One Night Stand. On the debut episode of WWE's ECW brand, Van Dam became a dual champion when he was awarded the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. However, he would lose both titles in quick succession in early July '06 after a drug-related arrest.

Van Dam would attempt to get back into the main event picture after his 30-day suspension was up, but when he finally had his chance to win back the ECW World Title on pay-per-view, WWE decided that Bobby Lashley was the better option. The ECW Triple Crown Champion then took part in a mid-card feud between rival factions as the ECW Originals went to war with The New Breed. RVD then left the company following a victory against Randy Orton at the 2007 One Night Stand pay-per-view.

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RVD arrived in the Impact Zone in March 2010. A month later, he was already the TNA World Heavyweight Champion, going over AJ Styles for the gold. Van Dam had to vacate the title in August of that year after an attack from Abyss. After his reign as champion, TNA set its sights on building up other ex-WWE wrestlers like Jeff Hardy and Ken Anderson. Van Dam exited TNA in March 2013 following a run as X Division Champion. In 2019, RVD returned to Impact Wrestling for another run with the company. Similar to his exit, for the most part, RVD wasn't used in a main event role. He left the company in September 2020 and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2021.

2 Booker T

Booker T champion

Booker T is a five-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, but he was treated as a mid-carder for most of his time with WWE. After being shown up by The Rock in the ring and by Stone Cold as an authority figure in The Alliance during the Invasion angle, Booker T slipped into a secondary role and formed a tag team with Test. Following the break-up of The Alliance, Booker T was thrashed in a grocery store by Steve Austin. He then began a brief rivalry with Edge over a Japanese shampoo commercial, became a member of the nWo, and formed an odd-couple partnership with Goldust.

The former WCW star was featured in the first-ever Elimination Chamber match in the main event of Survivor Series 2002, but he was unsuccessful in becoming World Heavyweight Champion. Booker T's career seemed to be on the rise when he challenged Triple H to a one-on-one match for the red brand's top title at WrestleMania XIX. However, The Game convincingly beat Booker, and he was back in the mid-card soon after. Booker T was a decorated mid-card performer in WWE, becoming a former Intercontinental Champion and a three-time WWE US Champion.

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On SmackDown, he finally rose back into a main event position during the fourth quarter of 2004 in a feud with JBL, but Booker T was unsuccessful in becoming WWE Champion. The former member of Harlem Heat finally got his big break with WWE with the King Booker character. At the 2006 Great American Bash, Booker finally became WWE World Heavyweight Champion. He held onto the Big Gold Belt before losing it to Batista in the main event of Survivor Series '06.

Booker T had a mid-card run in Impact Wrestling as a TNA Legends Champion. He also received one reign as TNA World Tag Team Champion, alongside Scott Steiner.

1 Christian

Christian WWE champion

Christian is a multi-time world champion, seven times if you count his two reigns as ECW Champion. In 2011, he won WWE's World Heavyweight Championship twice. But unlike his run as NWA World Champion in TNA, he didn't main event one pay-per-view in WWE as a world champion. Christian's first reign as World Heavyweight Champion was offensively short and his second reign wasn't lengthy either, with both title reigns ending via "The Viper" Randy Orton.

Captain Charisma fell back down the card not long after losing the World Title to Randy Orton at SummerSlam 2011. In 2012, Christian had one last run as Intercontinental Champion. He unsuccessfully challenged for the World Heavyweight Championship against Alberto Del Rio at SummerSlam 2013, but that match took place in the middle of the card. Christian was supposed to challenge Big E for the Intercontinental Title in the spring of 2014, but that didn't happen because of a concussion-related injury.

In 2021, Christian is back in the ring as a featured act in AEW. As a result of the company's cross-promotion policy, Christian Cage was the Impact World Champion for 71 days before losing the gold to Josh Alexander at that year's Bound For Glory pay-per-view.