It’s not easy to make it to the top of WWE. If by some miracle you manage to make it to WWE at all, you’re then expected to shine amongst some of the absolute best wrestlers in the world. More than that, you must be able to shine a week-by-week basis while entertaining fans whose wants and needs can change drastically based on what city you’re in that night. Even if a wrestler manages to consistently entertain a variety of fans, they then have to overcome the biggest hurdle of them all; the mysterious whims of Vince McMahon.

It’s that last hurdle that most wrestlers never clear. At the end of the day, nobody becomes a WWE champion unless Vince McMahon says that they’re ready to be one of the company’s top champions. It’s been that way for years, and that’s likely not going to change so long as Vince McMahon is alive. The problem with that system is that it’s sometimes very hard to tell who Vince McMahon likes and why. What we can tell you is that there are some male and female wrestlers who will just never get the Vince McMahon seal of approval no matter how hard they try. These are the 10 stars Vince never wants as World Champion and the five stars he never wants as Women’s Champion.

15 World Champion - Cesaro

Not long ago on the Stone Cold Steve Austin podcast, Austin asked Vince McMahon why Cesaro hasn’t received a notable push. It was a great question. Cesaro is big, talented, speaks several languages, and is able to work as a heel or face. That’s when Vince McMahon gave his infamous quote about how Cesaro hasn’t reached for the brass ring. Now, nobody is quite sure what that means.

Vince has talked about the fabled brass ring many times, but he hasn’t really talked about what the brass ring really is or how someone breaks away from the highly scripted world of WWE to reach out and grab it.

What most people probably rightfully assume is that the brass ring is really just an abstract idea that Vince McMahon uses as a way to separate the people he likes and the people that he doesn’t. If that is the case, - which it very well may be - then it’s really just a simple matter of Vince McMahon not liking Cesaro for whatever reason he happens not to like him. That’s not very descriptive, but it does make it clear that Cestaro has relatively little chance of ever snagging the company’s top prize.

14 World Champion - Rusev

The story of Rusev’s WWE career is a complicated and confusing one. When he first came into the company, many figured that Rusev was just Vince McMahon’s latest attempt at a foreign heel. He was, but it turns out that he was actually much more than that. Much like Umaga, Rusev took an outdated gimmick that shouldn’t have really worked and found a way to turn it into absolute gold. While Rusev’s mastery of the evil foreigner gimmick was impressive, it was the way that he balanced that characterization with shockingly good ring skills and consistently entertaining promos that really made it clear that he was one of the absolute best in the business.

Despite all of that, Rusev hasn’t really come that close to the World Championship or even a meaningful long-term singles title run.

There have even been recent rumors that WWE was considering removing Rusev from the Greatest Royal Rumble card despite the fact that Rusev’s “Rusev Day” gimmick has been a shockingly successful hit. Quite frankly, we can’t begin to imagine what Vince’s problem with Rusev is unless he just doesn’t like the idea of an “evil foreign heel” wrestler rising above his station.

13 Women’s Champion - Sasha Banks

During her NXT run, some people called Sasha Banks the best wrestler in the world. Not the best female wrestler; the best wrestler period. That bold statement was backed up by a body of work that was just undeniably impressive. Banks came to NXT greener than most of the wrestlers that typically get brought into the promotional brand, and her inexperience showed. She struggled to build a character for herself, she struggled in the ring, and she struggled on the mic. Over time, though, Banks proved to be a truly gifted in-ring performer that performed well beyond her years. Her ability to play a true heel is a rare gift, and the way that she makes every little in-ring move feel like it matters is just amazing.

Despite all of this, Vince McMahon doesn’t seem to be a fan of Sasha Banks.

Banks has said that her relationship with Vince has improved over the years, but that the two got off to a rough start.

It seems that rough start may have severely limited the scope of Banks’ initial push. The problem now is that Banks has had substantial time to cool off which severely impacted the considerable goodwill she debuted with.

12 World Champion - Big E

There was a time when all you needed to be a WWE Champion was the ability to lift a ton of weight many times. If Big E had come up during that era, he probably would have had a much better chance to win the World Championship. For those of you who don’t know, Big E is among the strongest men in WWE. He may very well be the absolute strongest. Big E doesn’t get to show it off too much in the ring, but the guy is a physical wonder. More than that, his time in The New Day has proven that Big E is capable of entertaining a crowd with his promos as easily as his feats of strength. Yet, you almost never see Big E in a position to even challenge for the World Championship.

It doesn’t really make any sense. There was at least a point in his career when he should have been a top contender. As for why that didn’t happen...well we’re back to the brass ring theory. Some people will say that Big E not being a serious title contender is a race issue, but we’re always hesitant to go down that path. However, it’s clear that he did something to upset Vince, or to give Vince a reason to doubt him.

11 World Champion - Roderick Strong

This may be a bit too early to call, but we’re going to call it anyway. Some of you may know that Roderick Strong was a major player on the indies at around the same time that guys like Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, and Samoa Joe were making a name for themselves. However, Strong didn’t join WWE at that time. Instead, he stayed on the indies and spent his time improving what some considered to be the weakest elements of his game. His promos got better, his character work got better, and he became a much more diversified in-ring performer. Still, WWE didn’t come knocking.

It got to a point when you wondered whether Strong was ever going to be invited to WWE despite his accomplishments. The company did eventually bring him into NXT, but in the kind of unceremonious way that is typically reserved for the performers that they don’t believe are actually going to make that much of an impact on the company. After letting Strong spend his athletic prime on the indie circuit and having him just kind of appear in NXT, it’s hard to believe that WWE are actually going to give Strong a World Championship push even though he kind of deserves one.

10 Women’s Champion - Dana Brooke

Now, we should first make it clear that nobody is saying that is only being held back by Vince McMahon. She not. However, Dana Brooke is an interesting competitor. She was brought into WWE following a pretty successful bodybuilding career which, again, has historically been a pretty good sign that Vince believes you’re ready for bigger and better things.

Brooke initially struggled with just about every aspect of her game in NXT, which wasn’t really surprising given her relative lack of experience. However, she eventually teamed up with Emma and learned how to portray an effective heel and use her physical assets to become a respectable power wrestler.

Brooke continued to improve her game and was seemingly rewarded with a “demotion” to valet. Why? It’s not easy to say.

There were reports that Vince confronted Triple H over Dana Brooke and asked if she was really ready to be on television. That was after rumors that Vince was quite high on her potential. Recent events have made it clear, though, that Dana Brooke doesn’t have a future as a champion in WWE. Actually she might not have much of a future as an in-ring performer at all.

9 World Champion - Shinsuke Nakamura

Shinsuke Nakamura is a big deal. In fact, there were some who said that his debut in NXT was such a big deal that might represent an effective new era for the company. That might sound like hyperbole but think about it. When is the last time that a Japanese wrestler who primarily made a name for himself in Japan came to WWE and was treated like a big deal? It’s really never happened. So, when Nakamura was treated like one of the absolute best wrestlers on the planet before he even wrestled his first NXT match, some people wondered if WWE had actually learned from some of the mistakes of the past and were willing to embrace a Japanese superstar. The answer so far has been a resounding “not really.”

Nakamura enjoyed a good run in NXT, but his time on the main roster has been characterized by what seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding of what makes him work as a character. His post-WrestleMania push aside, Nakamura wasn’t given any truly notable storylines or feuds to work with nor was he really allowed to continue and develop the in-ring character that he established with great success in Japan. You have to wonder what his ceiling in the company is.

8 World Champion - Sami Zayn

We move now to Shinsuke Nakamura’s NXT debut dancing partner. Sami Zayn is one of those former indie stars who some doubted would ever really make it to WWE. He was undersized, worked a bizarre gimmick - the Canadian luchador El Generico - and wasn’t great on the mic in the way that most of the top WWE superstars were great on the mic. He was missing a lot of the things that typically separate the good wrestlers of the world from the guys that WWE actively pursues. NXT was a true gift to Sami Zayn in that respect. It allowed him to himself - or a version of himself - but develop as a WWE performer. Some went so far as to say that Zayn had developed enough to become a WWE Champion at some point.

However, recent years have thrown a little cold water on that enthusiasm.

Zayn’s time on the main roster hasn’t been a waste, but he’s consistently been treated as “the other guy.”

Zayn himself has said in recent interviews that he really isn’t sure whether or not Vince McMahon sees him as a WWE Champion and that he’s really not in a position to ask.

7 Women’s Champion - Ruby Riott

Everyone has a “type.” We occasionally stray from that type when we meet someone who defies our expectations, but almost everyone instinctively gravitates towards some type of person. That’s true in both a personal and a professional sense. Historically, Vince McMahon’s “type” when it’s come to female wrestlers is some combination of blonde, beautiful, and bodybuilder. There have been some exceptions, but the women who stay around the company for longer and enjoy sustainable success tend to check at least two of those boxes. Ruby Riott only really checks one, and if we’re to believe some of the stories about Vince’s personal preferences, we’re not sure if he’d consider her to be beautiful. In a fair world, Ruby Riott would have a chance at either the RAW or SmackDown Women's title.

She’s incredibly talented, pretty unique, and is currently holding her own as a faction leader. However - and we’re just being honest here - she’s got the look of the people who Vince typically treats as a side attraction. Granted, AJ Lee and Paige have kind of broken the mold in recent years, but Riott’s path to success is an uphill battle that she might not ever be able to overcome.

6 World Champion - Andrade Almas

There was a time when Andrade Almas had seemingly had enough with WWE. He was frustrated with his lack of direction in NXT and was seemingly looking for a reason to even bother being with the company any longer. The story goes that he talked to Alberto Del Rio who convinced him that it was a good idea to stick it out. Since then, Andrade ditched the white hat both literally and figuratively by turning heel. That turn helped Almas find his groove and rediscover the in-ring form that made him such a top prospect coming out of Mexico.

Despite his recent improvements, it’s hard to imagine that Almas is one of Vince’s boys. His problems in that respect start with the fact that Mexican wrestling stars have only fared marginally better in WWE than Japanese wrestling stars. Eddie Guerrero is an obvious example of a Mexican wrestler doing well for himself, but wrestlers like him are kind of the exception that proves the rule. Again, it’s not always a case of classic racism as it is an instance of Vince liking to shape international wrestlers to his own mold. So far as that goes, we don’t know if Almas is going to be able to adapt to Vince’s style.

5 World Champion - Luke Harper

This is one of the saddest entries on this list. There are a lot of people that seemingly don’t know that Luke Harper was a perennial champion on the indie scene (where he often went by the name of Brodie Lee). As a physically big guy on the indie scene, Harper was something of an anomaly that bookers loved to take advantage of, but his success wasn’t solely due to his size. The guy was a legitimately talented wrestler who seemed destined for a trip to WWE. Harper got a ticket for that trip and even got to enjoy a seemingly immediate push as a member of the Wyatt Family. Then things went wrong.

WWE eventually broke Harper away from the Wyatt Family after fans begged them to give such a clearly talented guy something to do, but it seemed that WWE didn’t really have a clear idea what they were going to do with the guy once he was free of the faction.

Harper enjoyed a very, very brief singles push that ended without ceremony.

We can’t begin to imagine why Vince McMahon doesn’t like Harper as a singles star, but it’s highly doubtful that he is going to reach that peak.

4 Women’s Champion - Asuka

This is maybe the most controversial entry on this list, but it’s one that we feel is probably true. Asuka was brought into NXT around the time that the brand’s “four horsewomen” era was winding down. Everyone familiar with Asuka’s pre-NXT work knew that she was an incredible performer who could bring a hard-hitting style to NXT/WWE that no female performer in the company had ever really displayed. It turned out that Asuka was even better than that. It turns out that Asuka is an absolute wrestling monster the likes of which we really haven’t seen in years. Triple H even begged Vince McMahon to keep her in NXT a little longer instead of promoting her to the main roster. At the time, some people thought that was a sign that Vince had big things in mind for Asuka. Now, though, we don’t think that’s the case.

Based on the fact that she lost to Charlotte at WrestleMania and seemingly has nothing to do, we wonder if Vince didn’t just see Asuka as a way to make Charlotte and Ronda Rousey look better. We honestly believe she’s a distant third behind those two stars in regards to the line of succession in Vince's eyes.

3 World Champion - Finn Balor

Wait, wasn’t Finn Balor a champion? Yes he was. In fact, he was Universal Champion for about one night before he had to vacate the title due to injury. At the time, fans didn’t think much of that. After all, this was Finn Balor. He was the guy who walked into NXT with his incredible demon gimmick and basically left a trail of money everywhere he roamed.

Finn Balor had the look, he had the in-ring skills, he was improving on the microphone, and he had the kind of character/gimmick that only comes around once in a great while.

There wasn’t a single Finn Balor fan - or WWE fan - that had any doubt that Finn Balor would be champion again within a short amount of time. That hasn’t happened, and we’re starting to wonder if it really will. Balor has been back on the roster for quite a while now, and he’s rarely been given a real chance to earn his title back. That’s pretty odd. There’s a story out there which suggests that Vince McMahon believes that Balor is kind of boring and not “over” enough with the crowd. Finn himself joked about that quite a bit on social media.

2 World Champion - Samoa Joe

Samoa Joe is one of the best wrestlers in the world and has been for quite a few years. If you want to see something truly special, then go back and watch some Samoa Joe matches from around 2004 and 2005. You’ll see a guy who walks into every arena like he’s an actual god and then performs on about that same level. Samoa Joe might have lost a step or two in the ring over the years - TNA really gave him no room to grow towards the end - but he’s only improved his microphone work and ability to implement his character into matches.

The guy is a natural-born wrestler whose family even hails from the isle of Samoa. Joe basically has everything that Vince loves in a star except for an excess of muscles. Well...almost everything. Samoa Joe has stated that his relationship with Vince isn’t great. It’s not that the two are openly hostile, but Joe admits that he’s not good at police or small talk and that his interactions with Vince are usually short and to the point. That’s not usually a quality that we associate with the guys Vince straps a rocket to on their way to the top.

1 Women’s Champion - Bayley

Bayley is one of the great NXT success stories. While she wasn’t a complete unknown when she entered the promotion, she also wasn’t one of those NXT wrestlers who rode into the company on a wave of hype. She was a step or two behind the best wrestlers in the brand at that time in just about every respect. Despite the number of disadvantages laid out at her feet, Bayley found a way to become a true star. In fact, the way that Bayley was able to embrace the classic babyface style in the modern age is nothing short of a miracle. People genuinely loved Bayley and were emotionally invested in her success.

Then Bayley came to the main roster and basically ceased to exist. What happened? Why didn’t Bayley become the female John Cena? All signs point to Vince McMahon. A series of reports suggest that Vince McMahon doesn’t believe that Bayley is genuinely over with the crowd or that she can become a true star. The problem is that it doesn’t matter if he’s right. Once Vince McMahon believes you’re not over, no amount of cheers will ever really change his mind. That seems to be about where Bayley’s career is at.