There are several WWE legends who held the WWE World Heavyweight Championship that may re-sign with the company in the future.
Of course we’re talking about the 2002-2013 iteration of the title – not the reboot which has since had 5 unique winners (GUNTHER, Jey Uso, Damian Priest, Drew McIntyre & Seth Rollins) since it was introduced in 2023.
Here are five WWE World Heavyweight Champions that could re-sign with the company.
5. Dolph Ziggler (Nic Nemeth)
Nic Nemeth held the World Heavyweight Championship twice in his WWE career under the name Dolph Ziggler.
While his first title in 2011 was technically gifted to him by SmackDown GM Vickie Guerrero and was short-lived, losing it to Edge later in the night. The other though was after his memorable Money in the Bank cash-in on Alberto Del Rio in 2013.
He is currently TNA Wrestling Tag Team Champions with his brother Ryan Nemeth – but would make for a very interesting return in the future.
After having been a tenured veteran of the company – it could be a special retirement tour to see Dolph Ziggler return to WWE before he elects to hang up his boots.
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4. Jeff Hardy
In addition to being in The Hardy Boyz tag team with his brother Matt, Jeff Hardy also had an acclaimed singles career in WWE as well.
Hardy held the WWE World Heavyweight Championship twice on SmackDown in 2009 with his first reign being extremely short-lived – with CM Punk cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase on Hardy after an intense ladder match. Jeff would reclaim it from CM Punk the next month only to lose it again.
After departing WWE and having a stay in AEW, Jeff Hardy currently finds himself signed to TNA Wrestling where he continues in a tag team with his brother Matt.
While the TNA crossovers with NXT have already seen the Hardys make appearances on WWE TV – it would be amazing to see a singles run again in WWE from Jeff Hardy.
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3. Batista
Batista has a dominant reign in WWE, capturing the World Heavyweight Championship four times in his in-ring career.
Winning it for the first time at WrestleMania 21 in 2005, he would later vacate the title due to injury. He would go on to capture victory in 2006 over King Booker at Survivor Series, in 2007 in a triple-threat against champion Great Khali and Rey Mysterio and again in 2008 over Chris Jericho at Cyber Sunday.
While the star has certainly gone on to have a big career in Hollywood since his WWE departure, fans still expect him to return at some point to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Since The Rock and John Cena have both made returns to WWE – perhaps the next big Hollywood return will be Batista.
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2. Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho is a three-time holder of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, twice in 2008 under the WWE Raw brand and again in 2010 on SmackDown.
Although Chris Jericho has been signed with AEW since the kick-off of the promotion back in 2019, it seems possible his days could be coming to an end.
Chris Jericho’s contract with the company reportedly ends at the end of 2025. While previous comments seemed to suggest he wouldn’t be willing to return, he has more recently noted he would be open to it.
Seemingly a shoo-in for inducting in the WWE Hall of Fame should he re-sign with the company, Chris Jericho is the one on this list most likely to be seen sooner rather than later.
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1. Edge
Edge managed to capture the WWE World Heavyweight Championship a record number of seven times, the most individual reigns for the title.
Having had a compelling journey with the title – winning his first championship via Money in the Bank cash-in in 2007, he would last hold the title in 2011 when he was forced to relinquish it due to career ending injury.
However it would end up that Edge would be back into in-ring action in the decade that followed, wrestling against for WWE before departing for AEW. Although the legendary star is signed to AEW where he is still in action under his latest character name Cope – he has been vocal about the likelihood of his retirement being sooner rather than later.
While he may not want to return to WWE as an in-ring performer, his electric energy and connection to the audience could prove to be enticing to re-sign if only to make periodic appearances.
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