Just as in legitimate professional sports competitions or any career, not everybody who performs for World Wrestling Entertainment can be a star who makes millions of dollars and headlines shows such as WrestleMania pay-per-views. Jobbers, enhancement talents, carpenters or whatever you want to call wrestlers who lose more than they win on WWE program such as Raw and SmackDown are vital to any company. They, theoretically, are hired to make those higher up on cards look better during matches, they are meant to help greener wrestlers improve and they advance feuds and storylines by taking defeats. Unlike in prior decades when such workers rarely, if ever, advanced in promotions such as the WWE, World Championship Wrestling and others, jobbers in today’s WWE can earn major titles throughout their careers. Heck, the WWE put one of the Raw Tag Team Championship belts on a child at its biggest show of 2018, WrestleMania 34. The importance, or lack thereof, of supposed major WWE Titles is routinely a talking point among fans and analysts these days. Jobbers winning such titles, if even for a brief period of time, adds zero prestige to championships viewers and customers are supposed to care about each week of the year.
One reason some hardcore followers of the WWE get upset seeing jobbers carry titles is because some current stars have never been given real opportunities to run with the figurative ball for the company and serve as major champions on either Raw or SmackDown during the promotion’s current brand extension. Such people would suggest that titles should be saved only for the best of the best workers, wrestlers and characters. While that certainly isn’t the craziest notion written or stated by wrestling fans, those individuals should remember that the WWE isn’t doing anything all that differently from what occurred in promotions back in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. Pro wrestling is a form of entertainment that is all about telling stories. In some cases, a jobber winning a major title could be an instance of the WWE attempting to build that person into a star. Admittedly, it often feels as if Vince McMahon and others who make these decisions for the WWE have no long-term plans regarding titles and future main-event matches, but the hope is that won’t be the case. After all, we’re all still waiting for Braun Strowman to receive his chance to hold the Universal Championship as of the spring of 2018.
15 Star: Elias
In fairness to the WWE, the Elias character hardly looked like a star when he was barely a mid-card act in NXT who only beat jobbers but who took losses to better performers on that brand. Reporters such as Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez claimed, even then, that Vince McMahon was high on the guy formerly known as “The Drifter,” and Elias has done well to get the most out of his gimmick and become a star in the eyes of fans since being added to the Raw roster.
The “Walk With Elias” idea is brilliant, and he draws heat and also positive reactions when he plays his guitar for an in-ring segment.
He still has a lot of work to do to improve the part of the act that involves him wrestling, but it stills feels as if it will be only a matter of time before the WWE puts a major title on him. We don’t expect to see Elias feuding with Roman Reigns over the Universal Championship, but don’t be surprised if Elias wins the Intercontinental Championship or a tag team title between the summer months and the last pay-per-view of 2018. Perhaps writers will add some seriousness to the character before that day arrives.
14 Jobber: The Colons
We can’t blame any reader for forgetting that the team of Epico and Primo Colon, barely jobbers on the roster as of May 2018, are still signed by the WWE, let alone the fact that they once held the tag team championships for a period of time. Epico has been out of action for the majority of 2018 because of a shoulder injury that required surgery to repair, and Primo has done little of note other than take losses in dark matches and house shows during the year.
The Colons are a fine tag team who can work with just about any duo on either Raw or SmackDown, but we don’t expect them to receive a major push once Epico is cleared and ready to return to action. Besides, is there really anybody out there who is yearning to watch the Colons feud with the Bludgeon Brothers over the blue tag team titles? Epico and Primo are definitely better together than apart, but their futures with the promotion could be in doubt once other teams are added from NXT to the main roster. At best, they will probably remain jobbers who aren’t part of any memorable storylines over the next year.
13 Jobber: Curt Hawkins
Looking at Curt Hawkins today, younger fans or those who weren’t following the WWE roughly a decade ago may find it difficult to believe that Curt Hawkins was once part of the “The Rated-R Entourage” that was featured in major storylines and that held the Tag Team Championships. Ironically, Hawkins’ partner at the time is also another jobber you may forget actually won major titles during his time in the WWE (more on him later).
Today, Hawkins’ gimmick is that he is in the middle of an epic losing streak, one that has seen him take defeats in 198 consecutive matches, per his Twitter account, as of the typing of this sentence. While those who don’t personally know him cannot say, for sure, it’s safe to assume Hawkins is merely glad to be back with the largest promotion in the world following stints in independent companies and Impact Wrestling. There was a time, early into his return to the WWE, when it seemed the promotion was going to do something significant with him as a member of the SmackDown brand, but we quickly saw that wasn’t going to be the case. He is now arguably the top jobber on Raw, which we suppose is an achievement.
12 Star: Samoa Joe
What has to be remembered here is that we are talking only about current WWE stars who have not held a championship while on the main roster. Thus, Samoa Joe, a former NXT Champion who won titles while working all over the world and for promotions such as Ring of Honor and Total Nonstop Action/Impact Wrestling, deserves to be mentioned. We don’t know, for sure, what could have been for Joe as a member of the Raw roster earlier this year had he not been sidelined because of an injury, but the assumption is that the WWE would not have pulled the trigger on the Samoan Submission Machine defeating Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at any point.
Now that Joe is part of SmackDown following this year’s Superstar Shakeup, there is, on paper, a better chance that he will carry a major title sooner rather than later.
Joe could take the WWE Championship from AJ Styles of Shinsuke Nakamura, depending on the story the company would want to tell regarding those characters, or he could become a babyface or heel United States Champion. Joe’s character will get over regardless of if fans are supposed to cheer or boo him. He’s that good of a performer and a promo.
11 Jobber: R-Truth
Sure, you may either remember or not be shocked to learn that R-Truth once held a Tag Team Championship as a member of the WWE main roster.
You may be surprised to read that he also worked as United States Champion.
What is even more amazing, considering what we know about how the WWE treats the character and wrestler in 2018, is that Truth has been involved in multiple major storylines, including a singles program with John Cena and, later, a feud with Cena and The Rock.
Unfortunately for Truth, he once said the wrong city while cutting a promo on an edition of Raw, and that did more damage to the gimmick than any bad match he has ever had. Many years after the fact, Truth plays a comedic character who doesn’t know what brand he is on and who gets the rules of matches wrong in certain instances. We’re not suggesting that the 46-year-old should be viewed as a work champion who feuds with the best wrestlers in the world on a weekly basis, but he probably deserves a little better because of all that he has given the company and the business during his career.
10 Jobber: Titus O’Neil
It’s not an accident that Titus O’Neil is following R-Truth on the list of jobbers some fans forgot won a major title while in the WWE. The former Tag Champion who hoisted that belt while working alongside Darren Young as the Prime Time Players, an act that got over with fans, seemed to be on the verge of decent singles runs on multiple occasions, and it made sense that Vince McMahon would see something in the former football player who had a good look and is a big guy.
It never clicked for O’Neil, though, and the jobber who is now the key man behind Titus Worldwide appears to be on the verge of following in Truth’s footsteps following one major mistake.
As he was entering the Greatest Royal Rumble battle royal, O’Neil lost his footing and crashed and burned en route to sliding underneath the ring, an error that has, predictably knowing how Vince McMahon views such incidents, become part of the act. Any gimmick is better than none, and O’Neil may be able to make some cash out of this by selling merchandise that references his slip. Just as with Truth, though, O’Neil’s new gimmick will probably get old rather quickly.
9 Star: Asuka
Back in March of this year, it would have been nearly unthinkable that Asuka would make a list of current WWE stars who haven’t won a major championship since joining the main roster. All indications were that she was going to defeat Charlotte Flair and win the SmackDown title at WrestleMania, but the company swerved viewers by keeping the belt on Flair until she dropped it to Carmella on the subsequent edition of SmackDown.
It’s possible the WWE will have the Princess of Staten Island lose the championship to the Empress of Tomorrow when those two meet in a singles match, but it seems like taking the belt off of Carmella after such a short run would be negatives for her future and also for the title. Because of this, it is a little difficult to envision what the future holds for the Asuka character. The idea that she could work a future program with former Ultimate Fighting Championship superstar Ronda Rousey lost some steam after Asuka’s winning streak ended. In some ways, she is now not all that different from any of the other women on SmackDown. Perhaps making Asuka look strong in a dominant victory over Carmella could repair any damage done at WrestleMania.
8 Jobber: Heath Slater
Before he was pushed as a wrestler who needed a job on SmackDown and wanted to be involved in championship storylines because he has kids and needs the money, Heath Slater was part of the first NXT class that ultimately invaded Raw and joined forces as the Nexus. While in Nexus, Slater worked as a Tag Team Champion alongside Justin Gabriel. After the company gave up on the Nexus experiment following horribly written segments and feuds involving the group, Slater was turned into a comedy figure who took losses to “legends” and older former stars in squash matches, and who was later joined with Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal to form 3MB. Mahal became a WWE Champion, and McIntyre seems on the verge of a major singles run now that he is back on the main roster.
Slater, meanwhile, isn’t doing much of anything as part of a tag team with Rhyno. Those two enjoyed some success while on SmackDown, but they aren’t headed anywhere up the card anytime soon. He may be better off making a full-time switch to the Pelvis Wesley character he played in the Southpaw Regional Wrestling segments. He still wouldn’t be a champion, but at least fans would get some laughs out of it.
7 Jobber: Alicia Fox
Alicia Fox may not even be a jobber in your eyes as of May 2018 because she has been out of action due to an injury. A reported incident involving Fox allegedly arguing with the real-life husband of Ronda Rousey probably won’t help her receive any real push once she is ready to return to full-time work in the WWE. Then again, the WWE could use this actual incident to spark a feud between the two, one that would likely result in Fox taking the loss in a squash match. Regardless of what happens to her character in 2018 or further down the road, nobody can take away from the fact that she is a former Divas champion.
In fact, she will forever go down as the first African American Divas title holder, something that has gone unmentioned throughout the bulk of the company’s women’s revolution.
There is still a role for Fox on either Raw or SmackDown depending on how Vince McMahon feels about her heading into the summer months. The company could even send her down to NXT for a handful of matches if writers feel there is nothing for her to do on the main roster ahead of SummerSlam.
6 Star: Sami Zayn
Sami Zayn has a long history of defying the odds and getting over among audiences around the world, and that trend has continued during his time in the WWE. At the start of the decade, even the thought that Zayn would receive a run in the WWE would have been unthinkable, and Vince McMahon probably would have scoffed at the idea of Zayn holding the NXT Title for two months at most. Zayn became the top babyface on that brand, but he still hasn’t held any championship since joining the main roster. Those who feel frustrated by that fact or because the WWE turned Zayn heel should appreciate how great he is in his current role, and also realize that it is likely he will eventually hold a midcard championship or a Tag Team Title in 2018.
Zayn and Kevin Owens winning tag team gold, either before or after the Authors of Pain win those belts, is a natural next step for the evolution of that storyline.
It could lead to the two expanding on the feud that is probably destined to continue so long as both men are signed by the WWE. We’re still hoping for a longer storyline featuring Zayn and Daniel Bryan, but it probably won't happen this year.
5 Jobber: Zack Ryder
At this point, nobody can honestly believe the WWE is going to use Zack Ryder as anything other than a jobber who is sometimes allowed to earn a handful of victories but who comes up short of winning a major championship. It wasn’t always like this. Ryder and the previously mentioned Curt Hawkins were tag team champions and “The Rated-R Entourage,” and “Long Island Iced-Z” then got himself over as a singles star thanks to an entertaining YouTube show that he created. When Ryder won the United States Title and stood tall alongside fellow champions CM Punk and Daniel Bryan during a segment on Raw, it felt as if the promotion was finally appreciating Ryder’s hard work and that he was a fan-favorite.
We all probably should have known better. Almost as quickly as Ryder rose to the top of the mid-card portion of the roster, he was dropped back down to jobber status. Ahead of the summer of 2018, one cannot help but imagine that Ryder would be better off following acts such as Cody Rhodes, who left the WWE and found success on the independent scene and overseas. Ryder would get over, and it’s possible working elsewhere could lead to the WWE bringing him back and pushing him in the future.
4 Jobber: Curtis Axel
Curtis Axel, the son of “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig, has experienced quite the roller-coaster WWE career since he was first introduced to fans as Michael McGillicutty. Most recently, fans have seen Axel as a jobber and in the Miztourage alongside Bo Dallas, and those two are now known as the “B-Team.” Before Axel and Dallas became jobbers who lost matches and fights on Raw just about every week, the former was a “Paul Heyman guy." That’s right. Axel was managed by Heyman, the man who serves as the advocate and mouthpiece for Brock Lesnar.
Somebody within the WWE obviously saw something in Axel at that time, as he was pushed as a legitimate wrestler who won the Intercontinental Championship during that singles run.
This gimmick didn’t click with fans, largely because Axel, no disrespect meant, is not as good or as over as Lesnar or CM Punk, and it is now something that isn’t mentioned on WWE programming. Maybe the B-Team thing will get over and allow Axel to escape being a jobber on Raw. Fans who follow the WWE have witnessed what happens when Axel holds a major title on his own or as part of a team. It doesn’t end well for anybody.
3 Star: Shinsuke Nakamura
The same that was said about Asuka could also be written about Shinsuke Nakamura, the former NXT Champion who appeared on his way to winning the main championship of the SmackDown men’s division but who lost that title match to AJ Styles. Little did we know immediately after the match that Nakamura’s loss was the beginning of a storyline that involved him turning on Styles and becoming the top heel on the brand in April and May.
Nakamura still hasn’t held any championship since going from NXT to SmackDown in April 2017, but he should be on the verge of winning the WWE Championship if the plan is for him to remain the top heel on the blue brand up until SummerSlam.
He continues to be over among fans following his character switch, and turning him from babyface to heel only for him to not win the title seems like a waste of the momentum he possessed before WrestleMania 34. It is also worth noting that Nakamura and Styles still haven’t produced a classic match underneath the WWE umbrella. We need to see that bout as part of this feud, especially if the idea is for Styles to move to Raw later in 2018.
2 Jobber: Rhyno
Winning the Tag Team Championship with Heath Slater as a member of the SmackDown brand was not the first time Rhyno, now seen as a jobber among WWE viewers, lifted a major title during his stint in the WWE. He was a Hardcore Champion on several occasions, and he even worked as a United States Champion during the failed Invasion storyline following the deaths of ECW and WCW in 2001. Those who weren’t watching the WWE or wrestling, in general, 17 years ago may be surprised to read that Rhyno entered the promotion as one of the more dominant champions in ECW history and the final person to hold that company’s World and Television titles before it folded. He never received that massive of a push in the WWE, though, and the 42-year-old who is a jobber in the spring of 2018 continues to team with Slater for reasons that do not make a lot of sense in storyline.
One would think the promotion would have Rhyno turn on Slater to give him a little momentum for a final run as a singles wrestler who could feud with Finn Balor, Braun Strowman and others. Rhyno wouldn’t win a major feud, but he could play the role of a Mark Henry on Raw.
1 Jobber: Goldust
Those who have been watching Goldust perform in the WWE and other pro wrestling promotions since before the Attitude Era could understandably have forgotten that he has won multiple major titles throughout different stints in the promotion. The most impressive accomplishment he achieved as a singles wrestler was winning the Intercontinental Championship, and he has also held the tag team titles and the Hardcore Championship.
While nobody believes that Goldust is going to challenge Brock Lesnar and win the Universal Championship before he calls time on his active wrestling career, it may be a little harsh to refer to the veteran as a jobber.
The 49-year-old is still a good wrestler who could benefit the promotion if he was able to work with others down in NXT, and he could even enjoy one last run as a Tag Team Champion. Eventually, Goldust is going to have to hang up his boots and move on, and he could do so as his current character or as “The Natural” and the gimmick that he played while in WCW. Either way, we hope he remains with the WWE as a tutor and mentor long after we stop seeing him on television shows.