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I can see Kofi getting the belt for a short run, but that has less to do with his happy smiley persona and more to do with the fact that he's usually really exciting to watch in the ring.
Santino and to a lesser extent Ryder, not so much. Yes, they can be entertaining and they can get over with the crowd, but neither of them (Santino especially) are really booked in a way where the crowd can really get behind them as credible contenders, rather than just clowns.
Yes, there have been wrestlers with a goofy side that have won the WWE Title--Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, to some extent the Rock, etc. The big difference between those characters and someone like Santino is that their goofy side was just that, a side of a more rounded personality, whereas Santino is nothing but goofy. Angle could come out and act like a big dork, but the crowd also knew he was a conniving bastard with a vicious streak. Foley would pull a sock out of his pants, but he was also known for having extremely brutal matches against the toughest guys in the business.
What I'm saying is that while you don't have to be "serious" to be the top guy in the company, you do have to be able to be taken seriously.
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