What happened to the 10 prospects WWE Magazine tipped to be future world champions in 2009

Back in 2009, the official WWE Magazine tipped 10 wrestlers to be future world champions in the company.

If you grew up as a WWE fan during the 1990s and 2000s, you'll probably remember picking up a monthly copy of either the WWE Magazine or the WWE Kids magazine.

Both have long since ceased being published in the United States as WWE moved more of its content onto digital platforms, though you could still pick up new editions of the Kids magazine in the UK as recently as 2023.

Issues would focus largely on wrestling, but also on lifestyle and fitness among other things.

The last WWE-branded magazine, WWE Kids, was released in December 2023 (Image: WWE)

The editors and writers of the magazine would also often create a yearly feature in which they tipped 10 current stars to be future world champions of the company.

In 2009, WWE was going through something of a transition, with the company moving to PG programming in 2008.

A number of top stars, such as Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Batista and The Undertaker, were all coming to the end of their full-time in-ring careers, while the popular Jeff Hardy also left WWE.

Here are the 10 stars WWE predicted would guide them through to the next era - with mixed results:

The Miz

The Miz joined WWE's main roster in 2006 and by 2009, was beginning to establish himself as a future world champion.

He won Money in the Bank in 2010 and subsequently cashed in for his first WWE Championship, before defending it against John Cena in WrestleMania 27's main event.

Miz won the world title for a second time in 2021 by again cashing in his MITB contract, with his second reign lasting eight days.

David Hart Smith

The son of the legendary British Bulldog, David Hart Smith was part of the Hart Dynasty with Tyson Kidd and Natalya in 2009 and would go on to win the tag titles.

He slipped down the card and was released in 2011, before returning for a bizarre four-month spell in 2021 during which he didn't wrestle a match on TV.

Jack Swagger

Jack Swagger's potential as a future world champion was realised early in 2009, when he won the ECW Championship.

Then, he won the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 26, before cashing it in to defeat Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship weeks later.

Swagger's reign lasted several months but, after he lost the title, he rarely featured at the top of the division again and was released in 2017.

Evan Bourne

Evan Bourne was one of WWE's most entertaining high flyers in 2009 and seemed destined to win a world title at some stage.

He won the tag titles with Kofi Kingston in 2011 but was then suspended for a violation of WWE's Wellness Policy, before being ruled out of action for a year after a motorbike crash. Bourne was released in 2013 without a world title to his name.

John Morrison

Another one of WWE's top entertainers around 2009, John Morrison was another who you would have expected to lift a world title during his time with WWE.

Morrison received a big push around 2010 and 2011 with several title matches, but didn't win any of them, and he left WWE at the end of 2011.

He returned to the company in 2019 but had a seven-month losing streak and another failed world title opportunity against The Miz. Now 45, Morrison is still wrestling in AEW.

Dolph Ziggler

Dolph Ziggler cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase in 2013 to defeat Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship.

A year earlier, he was the world champion for a matter of hours after Edge was disqualified from their championship match in storyline, but lost it back to 'The Rated-R Superstar' later in the show.

From then on, he became a major fan favourite but never again won a world title before surprisingly being released in 2023.

Kofi Kingston

In 2019, Kofi Kingston finally realised his dream of becoming a world champion after 10 years with the company.

In one of the most iconic moments in WrestleMania history, Kingston became the first African-born world champion when he defeated Daniel Bryan.

He had a number of high-profile title defences before controversially losing the belt to Brock Lesnar in a 10-second match in October 2019.

Tyson Kidd

Tyson Kidd won the tag titles on three occasions in WWE but was forced to retire after suffering a serious spinal cord injury in a match against Samoa Joe in 2015.

Kidd later revealed that only five per cent of people survive his injury, which usually causes those survivors to become quadriplegic - an outcome he also avoided.

He still works for WWE as a backstage producer and is popular among talent.

Ted DiBiase

Out of the 10 names on this list, nobody could have predicted the career path that Ted DiBiase has been on.

The son of the 'Million Dollar Man' Ted DiBiase, the now 42-year-old worked with Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes as The Legacy but did not win a world title before his 2013 release and subsequent retirement.

DiBiase Jr is now awaiting trial in the United States on multiple federal fraud charges, including alleged wire fraud, money laundering and theft of federal funds. If found guilty, he could face up to 45 years in prison.

Cody Rhodes

Cody Rhodes is now one of WWE's top stars after 'finishing his story' at WrestleMania 40 in defeating Roman Reigns for the world title.

The match was a culmination of Reigns' near-four-year reign as world champion, with John Cena, Seth Rollins, The Rock and even The Undertaker all interfering.

'The American Nightmare' quit WWE in 2016 before helping to form rival promotion AEW. He was tempted back to the company in 2022 and is now, as he often says in his promos, undeniable.