8 biggest overachievers on the current WWE roster

In WWE, certain superstars have been destined for success, mostly due to family connections or a unique look. When thinking about the former, names such as Charlotte Flair and Randy Orton come to mind. This isn't a knock on either superstar, both of whom we believe have worked incredibly hard to sustain that spot.

However, the reality is that such superstars are a minority, and most legends and current names who have reached the top have come up through the ranks. Another reality that many fans don't like to accept is that in WWE, most superstars have a fixed place on the card. Sometimes, superstars who fans believe should be on a main event level stick to the midcard for most of their careers.

For many, the company doesn't view them as a top-tier talent, but as they say, the cream always rises to the top. This list looks at eight superstars who achieved far beyond what they were expected to:

#8. Sheamus

Sheamus has achieved all but one accolade in his career

When Sheamus came into the mix in 2009, it was clear that WWE intended to push him. Within months of his debut, he would dethrone John Cena to become the WWE Champion. While he would win it multiple times, his momentum fizzled out, and after his World Heavyweight title reign in 2012, he took a few years to get back on the top.

Even still, given Sheamus' place in WWE over the last decade, many failed to miss that he has already accumulated a Hall of Fame-worthy career. He's won every men's title in WWE except the Intercontinental Championship, and his other accomplishments include King of the Ring (2010), Royal Rumble (2012), and Money in the Bank (2015).

With only one accomplishment to cement a grand slam career, there's no doubt that Sheamus is one of WWE's biggest overachievers.

#7. Jinder Mahal

Jinder Mahal doesn't have nearly as many accomplishments as Sheamus has in WWE, but his 2017 run alone makes him a valid entry for this list. For the longest time before his WWE release, Jinder Mahal was a classic enhancement talent. Even when he returned, that was the role he resumed, up until WrestleMania 33 ended and he moved to SmackDown.

On the blue brand, Mahal would go from enhancement to main event talent in a week, shocking the world by becoming the #1 contender to then-WWE Champion Randy Orton.

While he was looked at as a filler opponent for Orton, he would turn the WWE Universe upside down by beating The Viper to become WWE Champion - only a month after he was an enhancement talent on the low card.

He would have successful title defenses against Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura before losing the title to AJ Styles in Manchester. Mahal went on to win the United States Championship at WrestleMania 34 in 2018 and went back to being an enhancement talent. There's no denying that Mahal's WWE title run makes him an overachiever.

#6. Alexa Bliss

When Alexa Bliss was in NXT, the most significant part of her time there was her run as the manager of Wesley Blake and [Buddy] Murphy. With Bliss eventually splitting from them and moving to SmackDown in 2016, nobody expected her to become as big a star as she would end up being.

At the time, people still believed that being pushed in NXT was a guarantee of a big push on RAW or SmackDown. As we've learned, that isn't necessarily the case. Alexa Bliss was one of the superstars who made fans realize that not succeeding as much in NXT doesn't mean that one can't do well on RAW and SmackDown.

Alexa Bliss was one of the later picks of the draft, but it only took her a few months before she won the SmackDown Women's Championship. It would be the first of five Championship reigns across both brands - where Bliss became the first woman to win the RAW and SmackDown Women's titles. Bliss truly exceeded expectations and achieved more than what people thought she would.

#5. Kofi Kingston

Kofi Kingston is arguably one of the greatest overachievers in WWE history. From being a man with a Jamaican gimmick to eventually moving on to serious feuds, we doubt that even WWE expected the Ghanian-born Kingston to become a Grand Slam Champion.

He has multiple reigns with the Intercontinental Championship, United States Championship and has dominated the tag team title scene, winning three different versions of the Tag Team Championship a whopping 9 times. The crowning jewel of his career, of course, came in 2019 when he rose to the top and had the entire WWE Universe push him to his first WWE Championship win.

His WrestleMania 35 match against Daniel Bryan will always be the greatest night of Kingston's career and it's the true example of hard work, grit, and dedication leading to a superstar holding the most prestigious prize in the industry. Kingston is the first African American WWE Champion in history and even after he lost it in underwhelming fashion, his tag team success would continue.

Kingston is a textbook overachiever and hopefully, he earns two separate inductions into the WWE Hall of Fame.

#4. Bayley

This one is a bit different from the others, in the sense that Bayley was always expected to be a future Women's Champion during her 2015-16 run in NXT. However, many expected it to be instant and hoped that The Hugger

Bayley would get a push right to the top as she was a character catered to a very specific demographic. Women's title success would come to her within six months of her run on RAW, but after defending the RAW Women's Championship at WrestleMania 33, it all went south for Bayley. She would spend almost two full years in creative limbo before her brief run with Sasha Banks as the inaugural WWE Women's Tag Team Champions.

As of this writing, she's the only woman in WWE to hold the NXT Women's Championship, RAW and SmackDown Women's Championships and the Women's Tag Team Championship. She has a Money in the Bank win to her name as well and only needs to win the Royal Rumble to have achieved it all in WWE. After her forgettable run between 2017 to late 2018, she's certainly overachieved.

#3. AJ Styles

AJ Styles' addition to this list might come as a surprise to some, especially since he's been among the best wrestlers in the world for all time. He took a long time to come to WWE, but when he did, he was more ready than ever.

After his debut, the expectation was that Styles would possibly be a midcarder at most, with backstage officials reportedly believing that when signing him. Little did Vince McMahon realize that he had signed the best in-ring talent of this generation.

It took Styles all but 8 months to win his first WWE Championship - a rare feat. Post WrestleMania 32, he was treated like a main eventer and would never look back, beating some of WWE's biggest names and being the face of SmackDown for 2 and a half years - having an incredible year-long reign as WWE Champion between 2017 to 2018.

Styles belongs to an elite list of superstars and after giving The Undertaker his best match in seven years at WrestleMania 36, it's safe to say that Styles is an overachiever.

#2. The Miz

The Miz, just like Kofi Kingston, is a classic case of an overachiever in WWE. Brought into the company in 2006, he had a stigma about him due to his past as a reality TV star. Given that he was new around the time, he crossed paths with many locker room veterans with large egos, famously being thrown out of the locker room for eating chicken over Chris Benoit's bag.

However, The Miz is an example of hard work and dedication to the craft, remaining one of WWE's most hated figures for the good part of a decade. Fans loved to hate him and Cody Rhodes even praised The Miz, once saying that he works just as hard as John Cena outside the ring.

The Miz was just a fan who turned into a Grand Slam Champion, having won almost everything there is to in the company. He remains a relevant figure who wins and competes for Championships.

The reality star-turned wrestler will one day cement his place in the WWE Hall of Fame.

#1. Becky Lynch

Becky Lynch was never supposed to be where she is today. While she was one of the Four Horsewomen of NXT, she was the only one to not have any Championship success. Even when she was called up to RAW in 2015 alongside Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair, it was clear that she was the "third fiddle", while the priority was pushing Charlotte first and then Sasha Banks.

It took a move to SmackDown for things to change for Becky Lynch, but even that was only a short reign to help put over Alexa Bliss. It would take another two years for her to regain her momentum and when she did, there was no turning back. It was not luck or coincidence that fans stuck by Becky Lynch through her spells of bad booking and her attempted heel turn.

It led her to the main event of WrestleMania 35, where she made history by winning the RAW and SmackDown Women's Championship. It would cement her place as the face of WWE's Women's division - a role that she's been thriving in over a year on.

Ex WWE writer blasts Liv Morgan HERE