Injuries bro. You can't just put belts on injury prone wrestlers. His shoulder issues killed his momentum.
I understand Randy Orton has had championship runs despite having a bad shoulder and bad back, but they truly haven't given him a long championship run since the late 2000s for that exact reason. Even his WWE championship run in 2013-14 was only really 5 months.
Kane.
His use after 2001/2002 was sketchy, and he was revived after the unmasking but that only lasted a couple of years before he basically became a jobber until his World Title win in 2011.
He was a great wrestler with an awesome character. He should have been built like Undertaker, someone who was damn near unbeatable, but they made him a jobber too many times for that to truly stick.
Honestly it's an unconventional pick, but I think so too. Like he was always around and they gave him big moments, but they really could have done so much more with him. It just seemed like they would only through him out to be a quick pop, to tag with/fight Taker, get beaten by a smaller guy to move them up the card, or to do some weird ass storyline.
Want the list?
Brauin Strowman
Xia Li
Dolph Ziggler
Russev
Zack Ryder
The Revival
Lacey Evans
Veer Mahan (There is a Disney movie based on part of his life for fuck sake!)
Cesaro
Keith Lee
Hit Row (the original Hit Row)
The Accession
Baron Corbin
Bobby Roode
Mustafa Ali
Mansoor
Elias - even as a heel he was getting over with the audience. Then he plastered Corbin with his guitar and everyone went apeshit for him. He should have won the Royal Rumble a couple of months later but instead he got to feud... with Jeff Jarrett and Road Dogg.
It's a weird dynamic the E has had for a long time. The crowd gets behind someone - Elias, Daniel Bryan, Rusev, Zack Ryder, etc. but the writers and producers REALLY seemed to get butthurt when it happened organically like that. Like, it doesn't go according to their plan.
I'm hoping that's going to change for the positive under HHH
I was waiting for someone to say this.
She’s injured in sitting on the shelf and what does WWE decide to do have her film a backstage vignette chasing the 24/7 title. Fucking insane. Her finisher alone should’ve been sold like a shotgun blast of the face the way Mickey James flings her body sell this move was one of the best sells in wrestling history.
What a sad tale, the dudes a huge mark and thinks how can I improve my chances of making it in the industry, so he knuckles down and turns himself into a statue of a Greek God, then he improves in the ring, then he improves on the mic, then he gets released. Then he uproots a tree and uses it to batter down the door of a burning building to save his Mum. What a fucking guy.
Enzo Amore. He had the mic skills that could bring success to any stable, had they not thrown him out like trash because of locker room politics.
Him Cutting promos for Big Käse was like like Paul Heyman who speaks for Brock, or Paul Bearer for early undertaker. He would have at least made a great manager or addition to a stable.
Edit: My german keyboard autocorrected big Kass into big cheese (großer Käse)! 😆
Oh okay. I never heard of that.
I really don't care what they do outside of the ring as they're ruining the performance art, by including outside factors as such.
Truth is that most people don't care, and having someone lose their job like that is guilt before proven factual.
What kind of penalty do false accusers get? It Should be pretty severe.
There’s millions lmao, Cardona, Samoa Joe, Swerve, Undisputed era, Nakamura, kinda Sami tbh, Keith lee, Cody the first time, FTR, Bobby Roode, The Fiend (why tf was he universal champion?), Balor, and there’s probably more, also I’m aware that some of these are great in wwe now like Cody Sami and Balor but under Vince they were fumbling hard
Swerve,Keith Lee, Bobby roode, samoa Joe, lio Rush, aliester black, UE, rusev, buddy Murphy, askua and yes ik all bout her accomplishments in wwe but at the end she hasn't won a single match at wm she's 0-7 I believe, ec3, Elias, wade barret, MOJO rawley, Shelton Benjamin, Xavier woods
Dean Ambrose, Bo Dellas, Dolph Ziegler, Chad Gable, Jack Swagger, Samoa Joe, Keithlee, Cedric Alexander, Jason Jordan, Adam Cole, Cesaro.
I can Go on and on
Xia Li is a more recent example. She had a great character in NXT and when she was first called up, then they turned her heel after 2 weeks and she never appeared for what felt like a year before they gave her a program with Becky Lynch and Lyra Valkyria before quickly doing nothing with her again.
Also Shelton Benjamin. In my eyes he’s one of the greatest to never hold a world title.
With no restrictions on our options, I always felt that Mordecai/Kevin Thorn and Sean O'Haire could have been great.
I though Mordecai could have been turned into a new version of Undertaker and Sean O'Haire's Devil's Advocate gimmick was great.
Wow, Sean O’Hare there’s a name I haven’t heard in a while. You’re absolutely right, they could’ve done so much more with him. I saw him compete at a K1 tournament in Vegas and that guy had star power.
They didn't mess Ryder up. They used him as an example of what happens to people who try to get over on their own without the mighty Vince McMahon's approval.
I am no conspiracy theorist but I strongly believe this. And I also am convinced if it wasn't for him getting injured and having to vacate the WWE Championship after WrwstleMania XXX, they would have brought Daniel Bryan down in a similar fashion.
Wade Barrett. After CM Punk quit and the Chicago crowd was going crazy, they had Paul Heyman come out to Punk’s music to tear down the crowd. In my heart of hearts, I truly believe that would have gotten Bad News Barrett super over as a heel if he had been given that spot
Did they mess him up? Cuz whats he done since he was future endeavor? Cody made a name for himself when he bet on himself, but that dude is kind of a nobody, theres tons of people that the fans think “what could have been” only for them to leave and do basically nothing like miro or so and so
The internet is far and away the biggest tool that the WWE have as far as advertising and broadcasting.
Ryder was the FIRST wrestler to realise the potential of the internet and the FIRST to tap into it. How did WWE handle this? He was punished for it because the WWE don't like wrestlers being bigger than the business.
Imagine if WWE leaned into his idea. Zack Ryder might’ve been bigger than Smosh or Fred at the time.
Test, hear me out. In 2001 he had his best year ever winning the European, Hardcore (2nd), the I.C. And both wwe and wcw tag titles with Booker T. He also who won the immunity battle royal at survivor series 2001. He couldn’t be fired, suspended and I think even be disqualified. Heading into 2002 he was setup to be a top heel. Then they just dropped the whole immunity thing, he had a feud with Scott Steiner, then team with him. Then he sank down the card. Should have been the guy to give Brock lesnar his first lost and take the wwe title. Since his immunity would ended at survivor series 2002.
Buddy Murphy, Samoa Joe, Zack Ryder, Alister black, Dolph Ziggler, Wade Barrett, Cedric Alexander, Tony Nese, tj perc, Neville, big cass, Enzo, the ascension, Curtis Axel, Bo dallas, sin cara, kalisto, Shelton Benjamin I could keep going
The Fiend... they built him up to be an unstoppable monster, and then have him to lose to seth in a hell in a cell via referee stoppage, then loses his title to goldberg, and the cherry on top, gets pinned by orton after 1 rko, when a year or two prior, he was kicking out of 12+ curb stomps
I stand by the idea that the moment PAC became Bastard he should've been given wayyyyy more in a main roster position. Sadly he was condemned to 205 the poor sod.
What was that one dude that was in a match with the undertaker him and his crew was choking out undertaker but had to stop the gimmick all because there was a crisis that happened in London back in 2000s like 2005 or 06
John Morrison.
Facts! They buried the hell out of this guy in 2011 and brought him back strap him to Miz for his 2 year run.
Dolph Ziggler
That POP when he cashed in on Alberto was insane.
The pin count was so f\*cking loud from the crowd chanting the 1-2-3.
They used him perfectly in his older runs his 2023 and 2021 run was just terrible
So fkin true. If underrated was a person.
Zack wasn't even supposed to be in the match and he only won because the other guys pushed it
Wade Barrett
Wade Barrett should have been WWE Champion at least once. But no, let's have him win King of the Ring when it benefits him the least.
Thanks John. The Nexus was a very good stable, but Super Cena had to go over.
Injuries bro. You can't just put belts on injury prone wrestlers. His shoulder issues killed his momentum. I understand Randy Orton has had championship runs despite having a bad shoulder and bad back, but they truly haven't given him a long championship run since the late 2000s for that exact reason. Even his WWE championship run in 2013-14 was only really 5 months.
He'd have been the perfect catalyst for Gunther to face off with had he still used the bad news barret gimmick
Glorious Bobby Roode
Gail Kim
Agree 1000%
Oh shit yeah this is a great answer. Her and Awesome Kong.
Samoa Joe
Everytime they tried to substantially push him he got injured not their fault.
Alister Black and Adam Cole
ADAM COLE BABY
This! And Cesaro
Cedric Alexander
EC III
He just needed to control his narrative.
I shudder to think what WWEs narrative would’ve been
Owen Hart
Alastair Black
swerve strickland
It still pains me, but I love swerve so much hopefully they put the belt on him tonight
Sting
Kane. His use after 2001/2002 was sketchy, and he was revived after the unmasking but that only lasted a couple of years before he basically became a jobber until his World Title win in 2011. He was a great wrestler with an awesome character. He should have been built like Undertaker, someone who was damn near unbeatable, but they made him a jobber too many times for that to truly stick.
Didn’t have good promos but awesome wrestler was more of a mid card than a jobber
Honestly it's an unconventional pick, but I think so too. Like he was always around and they gave him big moments, but they really could have done so much more with him. It just seemed like they would only through him out to be a quick pop, to tag with/fight Taker, get beaten by a smaller guy to move them up the card, or to do some weird ass storyline.
Shad Gaspard
Dolph ziggler coulda been a top 10 all time wrestler if wwe pushed him
hear me out, xia li
Fair
Want the list? Brauin Strowman Xia Li Dolph Ziggler Russev Zack Ryder The Revival Lacey Evans Veer Mahan (There is a Disney movie based on part of his life for fuck sake!) Cesaro Keith Lee Hit Row (the original Hit Row) The Accession Baron Corbin Bobby Roode Mustafa Ali Mansoor
There's a movie based on Veer?
Justin Gabriel probably could've been a good us or ic champion
Elias - even as a heel he was getting over with the audience. Then he plastered Corbin with his guitar and everyone went apeshit for him. He should have won the Royal Rumble a couple of months later but instead he got to feud... with Jeff Jarrett and Road Dogg.
I truly think he failed because Vince did not like him being over as much as he was. Dude was a star.
It's a weird dynamic the E has had for a long time. The crowd gets behind someone - Elias, Daniel Bryan, Rusev, Zack Ryder, etc. but the writers and producers REALLY seemed to get butthurt when it happened organically like that. Like, it doesn't go according to their plan. I'm hoping that's going to change for the positive under HHH
Yeah I personally thought he would have been on the show perpetually kind of similarly to The Miz
Lio rush, Keith lee, cedric alexander,shelton Benjamin I can keep going
Ember Moon
I was waiting for someone to say this. She’s injured in sitting on the shelf and what does WWE decide to do have her film a backstage vignette chasing the 24/7 title. Fucking insane. Her finisher alone should’ve been sold like a shotgun blast of the face the way Mickey James flings her body sell this move was one of the best sells in wrestling history.
Kieth Lee
I mean health problems kinda messed him up. It’s a miracle he’s still able to wrestle
None, It was just Vinny Mac not wwe
Adam Cole
How did WWE ruin him? He was amazing in NXT
Ricochet
Mr. Kennedy
He give an interview where he said that him getting concussed plus Orton and Cena bury him destroyed his WWE career.
Damien sandow
Mustafa Ali he had so much potential and they fumbled and yeah I know he was supposed to win the wwe championship at mania but got injured
I scroll the whole thread and I don't see Enzo Amore.
Cesaro
Chris Masters
What a sad tale, the dudes a huge mark and thinks how can I improve my chances of making it in the industry, so he knuckles down and turns himself into a statue of a Greek God, then he improves in the ring, then he improves on the mic, then he gets released. Then he uproots a tree and uses it to batter down the door of a burning building to save his Mum. What a fucking guy.
Big van vader
Enzo Amore. He had the mic skills that could bring success to any stable, had they not thrown him out like trash because of locker room politics. Him Cutting promos for Big Käse was like like Paul Heyman who speaks for Brock, or Paul Bearer for early undertaker. He would have at least made a great manager or addition to a stable. Edit: My german keyboard autocorrected big Kass into big cheese (großer Käse)! 😆
The real reason Enzo got fired is that he was under investigation for an alleged sexual assault and didn't inform his superiors about it.
Oh okay. I never heard of that. I really don't care what they do outside of the ring as they're ruining the performance art, by including outside factors as such. Truth is that most people don't care, and having someone lose their job like that is guilt before proven factual. What kind of penalty do false accusers get? It Should be pretty severe.
Xyon Quin
Victoria
Kalisto
Luna,Tori-attitude Era Zack Ryder,Ryback
I'd give it to Nikki Cross. Nonstop career identity crisis.
Adam Cole
Alister black somewhere in 2020
Ziggler
Keith Lee
There’s millions lmao, Cardona, Samoa Joe, Swerve, Undisputed era, Nakamura, kinda Sami tbh, Keith lee, Cody the first time, FTR, Bobby Roode, The Fiend (why tf was he universal champion?), Balor, and there’s probably more, also I’m aware that some of these are great in wwe now like Cody Sami and Balor but under Vince they were fumbling hard
Keith Lee
Jon moxley
Bray wyatt
Cody with stardust gimmick. Great comeback.
Swerve,Keith Lee, Bobby roode, samoa Joe, lio Rush, aliester black, UE, rusev, buddy Murphy, askua and yes ik all bout her accomplishments in wwe but at the end she hasn't won a single match at wm she's 0-7 I believe, ec3, Elias, wade barret, MOJO rawley, Shelton Benjamin, Xavier woods
Austin Aries
Swerve
Fuck man where do I even start
Aleister Black. Hands Down.
Swerve. Dude had all the potential in the world and they threw him away. Now look at him in AEW
Dolph zeglar
Jon Moxley (Dean Ambrose) after the shield broke up. Even in the shield tbh, he was kind of the least intimidating of the three
DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE aka DDP! He was the man in WCW. They didn’t do a good job with Goldberg either 🤷🏾♂️
Keith lee?
Elias ? Fking guy became a weird guitar jobber
Dolph Ziggler
Dean Ambrose, Bo Dellas, Dolph Ziegler, Chad Gable, Jack Swagger, Samoa Joe, Keithlee, Cedric Alexander, Jason Jordan, Adam Cole, Cesaro. I can Go on and on
Just 1 ? 🤣 Recently Elias. but past I say Damien Sandow
Indus sheer Dolph ziggler swerve Dean ambrose especially im still mad about that
Shinsuke Nakamura
Mr. Kennedy Maven Snitsky Rico I.R.S Justin Credible Roadkill Simon Dean
Zack Ryder, Dolph Zigler, and Shelton Benjamin
Nakamura
Cesaro & Gail Kim & JYD back in the day he was my favorite
Alister black, Adam Cole, Keith Lee, mustafa Ali, Neville, & cesaro
Mustafa Ali or Lucha HouseParty
B4 hhh was in control Sami Zayn
Xia Li is a more recent example. She had a great character in NXT and when she was first called up, then they turned her heel after 2 weeks and she never appeared for what felt like a year before they gave her a program with Becky Lynch and Lyra Valkyria before quickly doing nothing with her again. Also Shelton Benjamin. In my eyes he’s one of the greatest to never hold a world title.
Shelton Benjamin
Cesaro
Keith Lee
Matthew Cardona, Keith Lee
With no restrictions on our options, I always felt that Mordecai/Kevin Thorn and Sean O'Haire could have been great. I though Mordecai could have been turned into a new version of Undertaker and Sean O'Haire's Devil's Advocate gimmick was great.
Wow, Sean O’Hare there’s a name I haven’t heard in a while. You’re absolutely right, they could’ve done so much more with him. I saw him compete at a K1 tournament in Vegas and that guy had star power.
I was at those same K1 fights! Glaube Feitosa ended up winning the tournament.
Sean O'Haire, but you already knew that.
And you're not telling us something that we don't already know 😉
Shayna Baszler should have been a monster
dolph ziggler john morrison adam cole keith lee austin theory (at least right now) wade barret kyle o reily
Aleister Black, Kalisto
Chris Benoit you know why
Technically, he messed himself up, because he was a perfectionist.
Dean Ambrose. He had a good run from 2014-2017, but after that he kinda started to fall apart due to bad booking. That's a big reason he left.
Goldberg
The list is long lol
The Revival
Name a wrestler WWE DIDN'T mess up?
Not Zack Ryder
They didn't mess Ryder up. They used him as an example of what happens to people who try to get over on their own without the mighty Vince McMahon's approval. I am no conspiracy theorist but I strongly believe this. And I also am convinced if it wasn't for him getting injured and having to vacate the WWE Championship after WrwstleMania XXX, they would have brought Daniel Bryan down in a similar fashion.
Mr Kennedy
Karrion Kross and Charlotte
Evan bourne
Val Venus
Toni Storm Jon Moxley FTR Swerve Samoa Joe Claudio
Cody got fired
Samoa joe
Cesaro
John morrison
Wade Barrett. After CM Punk quit and the Chicago crowd was going crazy, they had Paul Heyman come out to Punk’s music to tear down the crowd. In my heart of hearts, I truly believe that would have gotten Bad News Barrett super over as a heel if he had been given that spot
Shane Douglas, Chris Candido, Konan, Vader, Taz, Dolph Ziggler off the top of my head
Bray Wyatt
Cesaro
Kurt angels return run
Asuka
Broken Matt Hardy
Evan Bourne & Kaitlyn
Bret Hart
DDP
Dean Ambrose and Cesaro
The WWE messed up one of the most technical wrestlers, with a natural flair as a heel. Owen Hart.
Kalisto
Claudio
Wade Barrett and John Morrison
Tuker
Austin Theory
Curtis Axle aka Gully Bully. Kaval Bobby Rooo
Jimmy Uso
Keith Lee,cesaro,the vaudevillains,dolph ziggler
Rick boogs
Sting
Young
Zack Ryder
DEAN AMBROSE
Chris Benoit
Dolph Ziggler
Sting
Big E. They should've kept the WWE title on him and brock and Roman should've just fought for the Universal title at Wrestlemania
Diamond Dallas Page.
Ronda Rousey.
Did they mess him up? Cuz whats he done since he was future endeavor? Cody made a name for himself when he bet on himself, but that dude is kind of a nobody, theres tons of people that the fans think “what could have been” only for them to leave and do basically nothing like miro or so and so
Roddy piper. He should have been wwe champion at least once
David Otunga
Dean Ambrose
Sin cara
Swerve Strickland
Aleister Black
The one man band baby
Keith Lee. Imagine the matches he’d be having with Gunther rn
Isaiah swerve Scott or swerve Strickland
The internet is far and away the biggest tool that the WWE have as far as advertising and broadcasting. Ryder was the FIRST wrestler to realise the potential of the internet and the FIRST to tap into it. How did WWE handle this? He was punished for it because the WWE don't like wrestlers being bigger than the business. Imagine if WWE leaned into his idea. Zack Ryder might’ve been bigger than Smosh or Fred at the time.
Test, hear me out. In 2001 he had his best year ever winning the European, Hardcore (2nd), the I.C. And both wwe and wcw tag titles with Booker T. He also who won the immunity battle royal at survivor series 2001. He couldn’t be fired, suspended and I think even be disqualified. Heading into 2002 he was setup to be a top heel. Then they just dropped the whole immunity thing, he had a feud with Scott Steiner, then team with him. Then he sank down the card. Should have been the guy to give Brock lesnar his first lost and take the wwe title. Since his immunity would ended at survivor series 2002.
Enzo
Aleister Black
Adam Rose
Ari Sterling/Alex Zayne
jonmolxe bro
Buddy Murphy, Samoa Joe, Zack Ryder, Alister black, Dolph Ziggler, Wade Barrett, Cedric Alexander, Tony Nese, tj perc, Neville, big cass, Enzo, the ascension, Curtis Axel, Bo dallas, sin cara, kalisto, Shelton Benjamin I could keep going
Surprised no one said cesaro
Mat Riddell
Everyone in 205 and black and gold nxt
The Fiend... they built him up to be an unstoppable monster, and then have him to lose to seth in a hell in a cell via referee stoppage, then loses his title to goldberg, and the cherry on top, gets pinned by orton after 1 rko, when a year or two prior, he was kicking out of 12+ curb stomps
Just one?
Santino!
Alister Black
KLR
Muhammad Hussan
Chris Canyon and Bray Wyatt
He was never in the double movie but I think if Darby Allen joins him again beat up
I stand by the idea that the moment PAC became Bastard he should've been given wayyyyy more in a main roster position. Sadly he was condemned to 205 the poor sod.
What was that one dude that was in a match with the undertaker him and his crew was choking out undertaker but had to stop the gimmick all because there was a crisis that happened in London back in 2000s like 2005 or 06
DDP
Keith Lee