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Winning the big one is tough, but staying on top is even harder. Here are five former world champions who couldn’t hold on to their main event momentum once the gold was gone.

Big E’s moment arrived when he cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase and dethroned Bobby Lashley to become WWE Champion in 2021. Despite strong crowd support, his run never truly reached the heights many had hoped for. After losing the title to Brock Lesnar, Big E was shifted back to SmackDown, and with that, his singles push fizzled out.

Kofi Kingston lived a dream when he beat Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35 to win the WWE Championship. But it all came crashing down during SmackDown’s FOX premiere, where he lost the title to Brock Lesnar in seconds. After that crushing defeat, Kofi quietly resumed tag team duties and stepped away from singles championship pursuits.

Finn Balor had a meteoric rise, beating Roman Reigns on his first night on RAW and winning the Universal Championship at SummerSlam 2016. But an unfortunate injury in that very match forced him to relinquish the title a day later. Although Balor returned and collected other accolades, he never regained that initial top-tier push.

In 2016, Kevin Owens shocked the WWE Universe by winning the Universal Championship thanks to a surprising assist from Triple H. What could’ve been a long reign ended at Fastlane 2017 when he lost the title to Goldberg. Though he remained a consistent performer, his days in the world title picture soon faded into the background.

Dolph Ziggler’s World Heavyweight Championship win in 2013 was met with one of the loudest reactions in RAW history. But an untimely injury soon derailed his momentum, and he lost the title shortly after. Since then, Ziggler’s role has remained in the mid-card, with no major world title resurgence to his name.