Roddy Piper, Ted Dibiese, Jake Roberts, Rick Rude, Vader and Jimmy Snuka are the only WWF wrestlers from the past who I would have liked to have seen as world champion. (Obviously, they couldn't all have a shot at it, but if I had to pick one guy to give a reign to that never got one, it'd be one of these six.)
Dibiese was supposed to win it at Wrestlemania 4 but it was changed. Roberts didn't want to win the title because he said he was so over that he didn't need the belt and that only guys who need to get over should win the belt (terrible logic.) Rude was supposedly in line to win the belt at some point but Hogan vetoed it (according to Flair, that's why he didn't want to work with Hogan in WCW.) Snuka was extremely popular back in the day and Vince even said at one point that if Hogan hadn't been available, he probably would have been the one he went with as the face of the expansion era. Vader was supposed to win it at Summerslam 1996 but Michaels was a bitch back then and vetoed that, too.