5 WWE King of the Ring winners who never won a world title 

#3. WWE King of the Ring winner Billy Gunn

Billy Gunn

Billy Gunn is another King of the Ring winner who would never win a World Championship during his career. But he's also one of the more surprising names to ever win the tournamentt.

#OnThisDay @TheRealXPac faced @WWERoadDogg while @RealBillyGunn faced Kane in respective King Of The Ring '99 semifinal matches with Billy Gunn going on to defeat Xpac in the finals to win the KOTR pic.twitter.com/dFySWudYum

— Matt Ryan/Ozzy Dead (@MatthewRyan15) June 27, 2018

Gunn surprised wrestling fans by winning the King of the Ring tournament in 1999. The legendary D-Generation X member would go on to face The Rock at that year's SummerSlam.

.@PrichardShow on The Rock vs. Billy Gunn: "“It didn’t work. It just didn’t work. I think the confidence in Billy’s single run quickly diminished. It wasn’t just this match, it was leading up to it as well." https://t.co/SP5TXJtB2O pic.twitter.com/4D5AuYKqJJ

— 411 Wrestling (@411wrestling) September 7, 2020

Gunn's match with The Rock was unfortunately the breaking point of his push as a main event star and the end of WWE's attempt to propel someone else into the main event spotlight. Afterward, Gunn very quickly reverted to mid-card status.

After winning the King of the Ring tournament it looked like Gunn was on his way to maybe becoming main event caliber, but instead, he reunited with fellow DX member Road Dogg to become Tag Team Champion once again and he mostly remained on that level for the rest of his WWE career.