6 NWA World Champions that never held the WWE title

#3 Sting

Despite spending the overwhelming majority of his career outside the WWE, Sting faced Seth Rollins for the WWE title

Sting's inclusion is rather unfortunate. The iconic WCW wrestler shunned the WWF until very late in his career. Despite many former WCW wrestlers going to Vince McMahon's promotion in the years following WCW's buy out by their northern rivals, Sting remained one of the few that never made the jump.

Sting was a World Champion in both WCW and TNA, where he won the NWA World Heavyweight title in both promotions. He had numerous high profile feuds against WCW wrestlers like Ric Flair, Vader, and the NWO. After WCW was sold, Sting wrestled for TNA Wrestling and became the first member of the organisation's Hall of Fame.

Finally, in 2014, Sting made his WWE debut at Survivor Series. Sting would then enter a feud against the Authority Stable. Sting would face Triple H in his first ever WrestleMania in a losing effort, and only competed in a few more matches before wrestling Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

Unfortunately, during the match Sting was injured and was forced to retire never having won a title in WWE.