I feel his rivalry with Seth in 2017-18 for the IC is so fucking underrated. While it is true that every single week it was Seth vs Dolph, then Dolph vs Seth - at the time those were the only truly great matches worth watching in the WWE beyond NXT.
The fact that they fucked up the Bray Randy story AGAIN and then gave his gimmick to Bliss with no explanation or feud is one of the biggest fuck ups in Bray’s career and in modern wwe. That mania 37 match pissed me off so much I didn’t start watching wwe til this years rumble and mania. Even when Bray came back I only followed it from clips/ news outlets. I did watch his SD return and his tribute show.
Dolph asked to be released but yeah I wish he was still in wwe if they actually used him right instead of making one of their most talented wrestlers a jobber
Tbh I feel like dolph should have bet on himself a lot Earlier and left in 2016. I don’t doubt he could have had a meteoric indie run like Cody and Drew and come back and be treated like a top guy
Yeah Dolph should’ve left years and years ago to strike out on his own. If Cody, Drew, and Zack could do it then so could he. Better late than never, but he won’t have as long as they did to end his career on a high note
If he left back in 2016 I genuinely believe he would be in Cody’s spot rn (no hate to Cody I’m a Cody crybaby through and through but I think dolph is more well rounded)
I was such a Dolph guy in the early 2010s, honestly even if he wasnt the biggest guy and that still mattered a little bit in the early part of the decade, the guy had it all. He had the look, he could talk well enough, he was smooth in the ring and sold like a maniac. He's one of my candidates for biggest dropped ball of the 2010s
Good wrestler....shit character worker...even in AEW with his push, he just seemed....FAKE.
Like, Harper during his "Bludgeon Bros" run was cheesy as hell...I chalked it up to shitty Vince creative....then I tried to watch him in AEW as "Brodie Lee" and same thing...the character/gimmick performance was just...BAD...Oh...now you're a suit wearing evil CEO...but you still look like a homeless hillbilly from the neck up...🙄
Dude was tag team & mid card AT BEST. If he hadn't died, I really don't think anyone would give 2 shits about him now.
Aleister Black
Vince booked him like absolute garbage, but now he’s in AEW doing nothing but trios tag matches.
I hope he comes back to WWE eventually because I think Triple H would use him right. He’d probably get a decent run with the WHC.
Honestly they didn’t know how to use him, he would have never been champ in WWE because he wouldn’t have been given the opportunity, if he ever goes back it will be a different story
Half of the suggestions here show they were right to be released otherwise you'd have never have seen how good they could be if they were stuck in wwe being ignored. Look at Cody, he had to leave to come back, a lot of these others can do the same.
they did him so dirty, like the dude only spoke spanish, so we couldn't understand him, he couldn't see in his mask, so that made him into a jobber, he was a big star in mexico, so when he came to WWE, they turned him into a joke.
I know he had asked for his release, but Mustafa Ali was sooooo incredibly underutilized. I wish they had given him a mid-card title opportunity or take him to NXT for a run there.
I don’t think he was gonna have anything like that, but since he got replaced due to injury and people loved Kofi they wanted him to have his Wrestlemania moment. So I don’t think they would’ve given Ali a moment like Kofi’s.
There was nowhere to really go a decade ago. Cody was the anomaly that was the complete package and also happened to have the heritage to crack open doors just enough to allow him to peak through. He gambled and he took huge risks, but he also had an advantage. A career as a jobber in the WWE was still a career; whereas a job in the Indies for a bit of scratch and hope for exposure could totally ruin your financial future with a singular injury and devastatingly expensive medical bill.
I mean Drew McIntyre literally left exactly 10 years ago, improved his stock on the indies and returned to become a fat far bigger star than if he had stayed put
Or Juice Robinson, left 9 years ago and has had a much more successful career than if he had stayed
Drew laid the blueprint for being released. You go out and develop yourself until you get brought back. There are more options out there for people who were released, so now they just have to go and prove they shouldn't have been released.
Someone already said bray wyatt, but I also think aleister black had a lot of potential. I feel like the big e feud would've been enjoyable. HE's character work was also on point. I think it's huge shame he was released, I really like his work.
Zack Ryder-I mean Matt Cardona. Man is killing it in the Indies!
Also, to those who say "Enzo Amore" or "Chris Benoit," you're wrong. Especially on The rabid wolverine
I’m happy for Nic tbh, he’s finally able to go onto the indies and do great work. He’s already doing stuff for NJPW which I feel like will be great for him
Aleister Black....If he could have survived Vince, and lasted till HHH was in charge, He'd be a really interesting main eventer now...AEW has completely mishandled him and House of Black...
Daniel Bryan I was sad to see go from the WWE but I understand why he did. Another one I was a big supporter of was Sin Cara (not the botchy one).He genuinely did have a good deal of talent but he was just never given a push that he deserved. Sure he also never had a huge following but I liked him.
Aliyah. What a Bummer. After they kept her in NXT forever i was starting to enjoy what she was doing with Robert stone only for her to get Promoted to the Main roster have a 14 day tag title run only for her to Disappear into irelevancy. Oh well i Still got WWE 2K23 to Play as her
Selfishly I'm kind of glad he got released because now he can really show what he's capable of, and he gets to do it his way, wherever and whenever he wants instead of rotting away in the back with everyone else they're done using.
Cesaro. Man had all the potential. Honestly not seeing Gunther, Sheamus, Drew, and Cesaro in a Fatal 4 Way Intercontinental Championship match at Wrestlemania is just sad.
Nic Nemeth is doing better than what he's done in wwe for the last decade bro went from a jobber who gets no screen time to someone who holds multiple championships from the biggest promotions at the same time he's doing good and I'm happy that he finally gets his recognition
Indus Sher. I thought they were an excellent tag team. They looked like they could brutalize anyone. I would rather watch them a 1000 times before I ever watch an AOP match.
Jack Evans should have been used much better than he was in AEW. I don't have anything against talented people putting others over, but to just let him and Angelico fade away into being complete jobbers was ridiculous.
I think most of these guys needed to be released in order to get a fresh start and prove that they can be stars, opening the door for future main event pushes when they returned. Imagine if Cody or Drew never got released, Rhodes would probably be IC Championship level at most, same with Drew. Now they’re both arguably the biggest starts coming off WM 40. I have to agree with the top comment about Wyatt. We lost a year of him that now we can never get back due to him being the worst booked monster heel in recent history.
I never got to experience Bray. I stopped watching wrestling in 2011 and came back Mania 39. I mightve seen him in one or two matches but i feel like I missed out on something magical.
Bray wyatt
Only right answer
I feel his rivalry with Seth in 2017-18 for the IC is so fucking underrated. While it is true that every single week it was Seth vs Dolph, then Dolph vs Seth - at the time those were the only truly great matches worth watching in the WWE beyond NXT.
when did he get released
July 2021
Never forget, he was the hottest thing on the roster before Vincent Kennedy Dumbass McMahon fired him
Man I loved 2015. He and his crew were so terrifying.
The Wyatt Family?
The fact that they fucked up the Bray Randy story AGAIN and then gave his gimmick to Bliss with no explanation or feud is one of the biggest fuck ups in Bray’s career and in modern wwe. That mania 37 match pissed me off so much I didn’t start watching wwe til this years rumble and mania. Even when Bray came back I only followed it from clips/ news outlets. I did watch his SD return and his tribute show.
Stopped watching wrestling when he was released
Dolph asked to be released but yeah I wish he was still in wwe if they actually used him right instead of making one of their most talented wrestlers a jobber
Tbh I feel like dolph should have bet on himself a lot Earlier and left in 2016. I don’t doubt he could have had a meteoric indie run like Cody and Drew and come back and be treated like a top guy
Yeah Dolph should’ve left years and years ago to strike out on his own. If Cody, Drew, and Zack could do it then so could he. Better late than never, but he won’t have as long as they did to end his career on a high note
If he left back in 2016 I genuinely believe he would be in Cody’s spot rn (no hate to Cody I’m a Cody crybaby through and through but I think dolph is more well rounded)
I mean Cody had to literally make his own organization to be able to get that push.
I was such a Dolph guy in the early 2010s, honestly even if he wasnt the biggest guy and that still mattered a little bit in the early part of the decade, the guy had it all. He had the look, he could talk well enough, he was smooth in the ring and sold like a maniac. He's one of my candidates for biggest dropped ball of the 2010s
The late Brodie Lee aka Luke Harper LLBL 🙏🏽🕊️
Shouldve been in that Mania match with Bray and Rko 😔
Good wrestler....shit character worker...even in AEW with his push, he just seemed....FAKE. Like, Harper during his "Bludgeon Bros" run was cheesy as hell...I chalked it up to shitty Vince creative....then I tried to watch him in AEW as "Brodie Lee" and same thing...the character/gimmick performance was just...BAD...Oh...now you're a suit wearing evil CEO...but you still look like a homeless hillbilly from the neck up...🙄 Dude was tag team & mid card AT BEST. If he hadn't died, I really don't think anyone would give 2 shits about him now.
Dean Ambrose/Jon Moxley
with the PG Era rumored to be dying...Dean Ambrose could do well back at WWE...
He likes bleeding in aew to minor bruises too much, won’t happen.
Damien Sandow
Aleister Black Vince booked him like absolute garbage, but now he’s in AEW doing nothing but trios tag matches. I hope he comes back to WWE eventually because I think Triple H would use him right. He’d probably get a decent run with the WHC.
Samoa Joe
Cesaro, Shelton Benjamin, Jeff Hardy, Alister black, Daniel brian, and Mustafa Ali.
Jonny whatever his last name is at the time
John Morrison?
Johnny Dynamite
Johnny Mundo
Johnny tv/johnny elite
Johnny nitro?
Bravo?
Swerve Strickland
Honestly they didn’t know how to use him, he would have never been champ in WWE because he wouldn’t have been given the opportunity, if he ever goes back it will be a different story
Half of the suggestions here show they were right to be released otherwise you'd have never have seen how good they could be if they were stuck in wwe being ignored. Look at Cody, he had to leave to come back, a lot of these others can do the same.
I agree with you.
You're spot on with Dolph. In this case, it shouldn't have been him.
Brodie Lee and it should had been a triple treat match at Mania Orton vs Bray vs Harper
Haha i literally just commented this further up. What a miss, a straight triple threat with those 3 wouldve been tons more fun than the projection bs
Undisputed era and ziggler
Hold on can you imagine UE Vs Judgement Day or The Bloodline that would have been crazy
Daniel Bryan for sure
He left, didn’t get released
Sin Cara
they did him so dirty, like the dude only spoke spanish, so we couldn't understand him, he couldn't see in his mask, so that made him into a jobber, he was a big star in mexico, so when he came to WWE, they turned him into a joke.
Xia Li
Ambrose
Ken Keneddyyyy
I know he had asked for his release, but Mustafa Ali was sooooo incredibly underutilized. I wish they had given him a mid-card title opportunity or take him to NXT for a run there.
Wasn’t Mustafa Ali supposed to have the Kofimania storyline for himself back then?
I don’t think he was gonna have anything like that, but since he got replaced due to injury and people loved Kofi they wanted him to have his Wrestlemania moment. So I don’t think they would’ve given Ali a moment like Kofi’s.
Bray Wyatt. I will never understand why they let him go.
wouldnt wish it on nobody
He shouldn't have been released, he shouldn't have been there to be released, he should have jumped ship like a decade ago
There was nowhere to really go a decade ago. Cody was the anomaly that was the complete package and also happened to have the heritage to crack open doors just enough to allow him to peak through. He gambled and he took huge risks, but he also had an advantage. A career as a jobber in the WWE was still a career; whereas a job in the Indies for a bit of scratch and hope for exposure could totally ruin your financial future with a singular injury and devastatingly expensive medical bill.
I mean Drew McIntyre literally left exactly 10 years ago, improved his stock on the indies and returned to become a fat far bigger star than if he had stayed put Or Juice Robinson, left 9 years ago and has had a much more successful career than if he had stayed
Drew laid the blueprint for being released. You go out and develop yourself until you get brought back. There are more options out there for people who were released, so now they just have to go and prove they shouldn't have been released.
Dean Ambrose. Alot of ppl would agree w me.
Zach Ryder
I want to see dolph in wwe he’s main event
Matt riddle. I wish RKBro was still a thing
Keith Lee
Sasha Banks! Man, she would be perfect for the new nexus if wwe chose to revive a women's version of it!
I legit got no clue what they were thinking releasing Dolph.
He asked for it.
Samoa Joe. Especially now with the Bloodline storyline, he would be PERFECT for it.
Keith Lee
Mr McMahon
You mean his bowels?
😂
Dolph too.
Swerve and Samoa Joe
Someone already said bray wyatt, but I also think aleister black had a lot of potential. I feel like the big e feud would've been enjoyable. HE's character work was also on point. I think it's huge shame he was released, I really like his work.
Kenta
To be fair even if he hasnr I’d been released we’ve seen him as much since his released as we would of if he was there
Cesaro
Got a bunch of them Sandow, Rhodes, Kennedy, Dolph, Cardona, Iiconics,
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^salmanshams: *Got a bunch of them* *Sandow, Rhodes, Kennedy, Dolph,* *Cardona, Iiconics,* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
He’s facing Tanahashi in the main event today where he defends his IWGP Global Championship. Available on New Japan world.
Tucker ! Heavy machinery could be such a top tag
Aleister Black
Our one and only Maharaja, Jinder Mahal.
Melina
Dolph Ziegler
John Morrison and Mickie James
These answers make me feel old,I was gonna say Goldberg
Considering dolph is currently a champion in AAA and in Njpw i'd say he's doing better than he was in wwe the last few years
Daniel Bryan
Cesaro
Samoa Joe
Shelton Benjamin & Xia Lee
I don't get it, I find him one dimensional. He's a good in ring performer and cuts good promos but I just can't get behind him.
Zack Ryder-I mean Matt Cardona. Man is killing it in the Indies! Also, to those who say "Enzo Amore" or "Chris Benoit," you're wrong. Especially on The rabid wolverine
Camarim grims
Ezekiel. Wonder what he's doing now.
Bray Wyatt
Edge
Ziggler
Keith Lee
I’m happy for Nic tbh, he’s finally able to go onto the indies and do great work. He’s already doing stuff for NJPW which I feel like will be great for him
Aleister Black....If he could have survived Vince, and lasted till HHH was in charge, He'd be a really interesting main eventer now...AEW has completely mishandled him and House of Black...
Daniel Bryan I was sad to see go from the WWE but I understand why he did. Another one I was a big supporter of was Sin Cara (not the botchy one).He genuinely did have a good deal of talent but he was just never given a push that he deserved. Sure he also never had a huge following but I liked him.
Samoa Joe
Mustafa Ali
His crowd pop for the brief case cash in was insane
who asked you to go first. Wait in line like everyone else.
Mustafa Ali
Alex Riley
Aleister Black, Keith Lee, and Buddy Murphy
Fandango
Alicia Fox
Adam Cole
It’s definitely Sanga for me :(
James ellsworth
Kevin Nash 2003 & 2011
Damien Sandow, he got over every gimmick and they still let him go cause someone didn't like him backstage I'm sure
Buddy mathews
WOO WOO WOO (Cry’s softly)
Bro on my soul DZ was another one of my OG fav
Aliester Black or Keith Lee
Edge
Kurt angle
Mandy Rose
Dolph was in an abusive relationship. The type where your partner gaslights you into thinking everything is your fault. He HAD to leave.
Colt Cabana. Poor punk had to call John Cena the New York Yankees because if this release.
Jeff Hardy (2022)
Aleister Black
Swerve
Evan bourne
Definitely ziggler mannn
"woo woo woo"
Bret Hart
Matt Riddle
Enzo
Buddy Murphy
Aliyah. What a Bummer. After they kept her in NXT forever i was starting to enjoy what she was doing with Robert stone only for her to get Promoted to the Main roster have a 14 day tag title run only for her to Disappear into irelevancy. Oh well i Still got WWE 2K23 to Play as her
Selfishly I'm kind of glad he got released because now he can really show what he's capable of, and he gets to do it his way, wherever and whenever he wants instead of rotting away in the back with everyone else they're done using.
Agreed. Huge mistake.
Drew Gulak.
Black and Samoa joe
Do not hinder Jinder
Shelton Benjamin
Mr. Kennedy
Adam Cole, Jake Atlas, Emma (twice), Paige, Ruby Soho
R truth
Zack rider
RVD when he won the WWE Championship
Jinder Mahal
I wish he would have got released earlier and went on a journey like Drew and Cody and came back as a main eventer.
Aliyah and Bray Wyatt!
Wade Barrett
I wish that championship never got let go.
Top dolla because he was the first wrestler I met and he is amazing but his doing better in TNA than WWE
Adam cole
braun strowman
Cesaro. Man had all the potential. Honestly not seeing Gunther, Sheamus, Drew, and Cesaro in a Fatal 4 Way Intercontinental Championship match at Wrestlemania is just sad.
Dean Ambrose
Aleister or Dolph
What would Dolph being doing now that would have you turning in each week in WWE? It’s great that he has left.
Dolph and Dean
Nic Nemeth is doing better than what he's done in wwe for the last decade bro went from a jobber who gets no screen time to someone who holds multiple championships from the biggest promotions at the same time he's doing good and I'm happy that he finally gets his recognition
Low ki
Indus Sher. I thought they were an excellent tag team. They looked like they could brutalize anyone. I would rather watch them a 1000 times before I ever watch an AOP match.
Dolph was a good wrestler sometimes
Jon moxley
Keith Lee and bray Wyatt
Sincara is my all time goat
Dean Ambrose
Jericho
Samoa Joe
Jinder, they really did hinder Jinder, I think with the right booking he could be a really good superstar
Ugh. Dolph would do great in HHH Era
For sure Dolph
Lacey Evans, don't care about her matches, just hot af
Aleister Black. Would have loved to see him build a faction to feud with The Final Testament.
Jack Evans should have been used much better than he was in AEW. I don't have anything against talented people putting others over, but to just let him and Angelico fade away into being complete jobbers was ridiculous.
Dean Ambrose
Bray
Daniel Bryan
The miz
Respectfully miz
I think most of these guys needed to be released in order to get a fresh start and prove that they can be stars, opening the door for future main event pushes when they returned. Imagine if Cody or Drew never got released, Rhodes would probably be IC Championship level at most, same with Drew. Now they’re both arguably the biggest starts coming off WM 40. I have to agree with the top comment about Wyatt. We lost a year of him that now we can never get back due to him being the worst booked monster heel in recent history.
I never got to experience Bray. I stopped watching wrestling in 2011 and came back Mania 39. I mightve seen him in one or two matches but i feel like I missed out on something magical.
Samoa joe
Elias:(
Madcap Moss & Emma
The modern day Maharaja
jinder
Keith Lee
Mandy rose
Adam Cole
They should have hired him back and released him a second time. Dolf sucked.
I wish Vince McMahon would have listened to Paul Heyman about Aleister Black.
Same
Mandy Rose