That was actually the original plan until Honky Tonk Man refused to drop the IC belt to Savage, which is why Macho Man ended up winning the tournament.
It's egregious that Owen didn't get a run considering how long he was with the company (93-99). Ditto with Scott Hall. Hennig is another one, but after SummerSlam 91 he would drift in and out of the company and never stayed for an extended period of time.
Yeah, it was a domino effect that started with Steamboat asking for time off after beating Savage for the IC title at WMIII, Butch Reed was supposed to get the title from Steamboat but no-shows the event, so in a scramble they put the belt on Honky Tonk Man.
I never understood why Honky wouldn't job to Savage in what would presumably be a hard fought 20 minute match that still makes him look good in a loss but is totally cool with getting squashed by the Warrior in like 10 seconds at Summerslam '88. That never made sense to me.
I agree, Owen should've gotten a run (or at least a cup of coffee) with title during his feud with Bret. The closest we ever got was this little teaser in '94
Ted Dibiase bought the championship.
Yeah, Andre beat Hogan in the famous crooked referee match and gave the belt to Dibiase, he wore it a couple times at house shows and was even announced as champion coming to the ring, but the WWF never acknowledged him as champion and the title was vacated days later which led to the tournament at WMIV.
If you look at WWE's title history they still don't list him as a world champion, it goes from Hogan to Andre and then to Savage.
WWE Championship