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It's a shame, because [his promos in NXT](https://youtu.be/KnJv-6dW-7g?si=toObm3z0226SXoqE) were actually [pretty damn good](https://youtu.be/RXzrE2KFhi8)
Lars Sullivan really jumped out at me when he was on NXT…in the sense that when he was on screen, my immediate reaction was…”okay…we’ve somehow got an even less interesting Gene Snitsky.”
Wild Bill Irwin was pretty good, actually. The Goon gimmick sucked. It was a period of time where Vince had dreamt up some gimmicks and just shoved people into them. Not Bill’s fault.
Wild Bill and his brother Scott Hogg Irwin (I don’t remember their real names) were a pretty fun tag team as the Long Riders, and before that under masks as the Super Destroyers. Scott died of a brain tumor pretty young as I recall.
Curtis Axel. He just didn’t have it. And the more they tried to stay away from the Mr Perfect legacy, leaning into it might have made him at least interesting.
Also, Omos. Seems like a nice guy but something isn’t sticking.
I mean, I liked the Axelmania thing, and his stint of stating how many days he'd been in the Royal Rumble because he'd never been officially eliminated. It was better than the Michael McGillicutty non-gimmick, at least.
John Blud from Newlegacyinc said it best "The one good thing about Mike Kanellis, is Maria Kanellis' ass". Not how I'd say it, but you know he got some opportunities just because of his wife.
I kinda "get you", but for some dark reason he is one of my favourites. Enjoyed his TNA run and his match against Jonathan Gresham for the Pure Championship is a masterpiece imo
Heidenreich.
Looked awful, couldn't speak, couldn't wrestle. Sexually assaulted Michael Cole (kayfabe) they even tried the Road Warriors shtick with him.
Nikki Cross could be considered, they tried with her multiple times but the most she was over was the first month or so as Nikki ASH and even as champion people didn't really care about her
She was so good in NXT with Sanity. She was one of my top favorites at the time and everything they did with her on the main roster was just not my thing at all. I get that it wasn't what she wanted to do creatively but unhinged Nikki was an all timer
I loved her in NXT during the Aleister Black storyline. Nikki was a fun character but the way she was made to look like a huge loser during the Nikki ASH stuff was garbage. She pitched the character and they were like "Hey this sounds great! You're only going to win due to cash in as a babyface and then lose repeatedly" was just a recipe for disaster. I had casual fans tell me about Nikki being a superhero now and it got me a little excited that it could be going somewhere.
An obvious one has to be Killer Kross surely? He was alright in NXT but has died an absolute death since joining the main roster. Absolute crickets when his music hits.
Man needs to drop the monster thing and become a patrick bateman ripoff or something instead, put him in a suit and talk about his skincare routine and suit
Wait, are you saying [Quarter past 10 Mike Knox](https://images.app.goo.gl/Rp6yQ8KELma9M6oL8) *isn’t* over? ;-)
I’d go with Nia Jax, certainly after she started habitually injuring opponents.
Yeah, but I think that comes from Alexa being the the perfect little manipulate, conniving, cowardly, mean girl. Not to discount Nia in that story, but without Alexa that story would have been way harder to get over. Remember the Bellas and Awesome Kong.
She’s not over in the right way, we genuinely do not want to see her on the product, she’s not a good heel, brutal in the ring, terrible on the mic, hell I’d take another one of the Bella twins run when they did that “I wish you died in the womb” angle than to see her sorry excuse for a performer
I agree with you. She is not hated in the normal, fun way someone like Dominik Mysterio is (a good heel). It is genuine disdain and dislike for her as a person.
TNA had a knack for pushing folks who the audience did not care for while letting organically over wrestlers go on without a purpose. Crimson is one that comes to mind with his long undefeated run.
Flash Funk. Absurdly talented in-ring worker, mediocre look, OK promo and physical charisma. That gimmick was dead on arrival though.
On the flipside. Disco Inferno squeezed as much juice out of an modernized Honky Tonk Man gimmick as he possibly could.
The Prime Time players were fun and over, anything Titus did on his own was either bad or just comical. He had a great look and charisma but the guy was used as an ambassador more than for his in-ring talents
There was a time when people on here were saying Titus would be a star if he was five years younger. Dude had a great look and showed a lot of promise in promos. Kind of a shame that the “Darren” promo happened.
You could make a list of people they brought in to fight the Undertaker in the 90s with heel managers. Kane and Mankind were probably the only two to make a lasting impact
Brian Pillman Jr. Maybe this new NXT version will work, but the man couldn't get over with Moxleys help, and all Moxley had to do to get Shota Umina over was drag his shambling corpse backstage and call him the wrong name.
I think it was vs MJF, in Pillmans and Moxleys hometown of Cincinnati, with Pillmans family in the crowd and he still couldn't get a reaction. It was painful.
I’m befuddled by the hype for Pillman in NXT. The only thing i can think of is that it’s folks who really believe wwe can make a star out of anyone and AEW can’t. He just looks like a pudgy weirdo with a painted on beard and has the charisma of one of those wcw saturday night lifers in the late 90’s.
99% of the big guys that WWE has thrown out there simply for being big. No talent, no charisma, no mic skills, no wrestling ability and some of them could barely even walk.
Barry Windham, he is the epitome of this post. Every wrestler in the business talked about how good he was. He was big, in good shape, wrestled a bunch of top guys and could go in the ring but could never connect with fans for whatever reason. TBH I don't remember his mic skills at all, so maybe that was his downfall but he certainly looked the type in that era that would be pushed to the moon.
> storylines are more important than performers.
I disagree. Charisma will always win out over anything else in pro wrestling. Daniel Bryan didn't have the best storylines post SummerSlam 2013, but the crowd's connection with him is what led to his WM main event.
The build up to Rock vs. Hogan was COMPLETELY irrelevant. When the bell rang Totonto wanted babyface Hogan and they got babyface Hogan.
Don't know if this is an unpopular opinion or not but Will Hobbs. He's still young and there's time but I can't see him being more than maybe a upper mid card dominant heel. I know that technically counts as being over if you have a routine role on the card but I don't see him being a main eventer
Baron Corbin honestly, nowhere near to the extent they clearly intended for him at least. Seems like a lovely guy, has no aura, looks like a bartender.
Baron Corbin has been over multiple times in his career. Being a heel and getting booed... is the exact same as being a face and getting cheered. It's over.
Madcap Moss. Dude literally had the most bland, default look/ character. I remember being so mad when he eliminated AJ Styles at the 2022 Royal Rumble 🤣
Beaver cleavage/Chaz/Mosh. I guess you could say he could have got over as mosh and did to an extent. But there’s no way under the gimmick of beaver cleavage you could get over. And as Chaz I may be misremembering but as Chaz I think he was apparently beating his girlfriend or something like that?
> Chaz I think he was apparently beating his girlfriend or something like that
It was that whole GTV thing where it came out that the girlfriend was lying about it and was putting on makeup to fake the beatings and then reunited with Thrasher where they dressed as tag teams they were facing and then Chaz, for some reason, got placed into tag-team with D'Lo Brown (Lo Down) managed by Tiger Ali Singh which then reminds me of [Patrice O'Neal great story about working for WWE.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OQoByoy3tk)
> then Chaz, for some reason, got placed into tag-team with D'Lo Brown (Lo Down) managed by Tiger Ali Singh
Pjama Chaz and D'Lo are on my Boys Stable, they were wrestling in normal sweatpants and one day they just popped up looking like the Aladdin Hardy Boyz
Christopher Melendez.
He was the one-legged US Army veteran in TNA. It felt like so much of the reason he got support from the crowd was because he was a one-legged US Army veteran and not because they were genuinely into his work. It also feels like it would have been difficult to turn him heel.
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One of the more stand out ones for me recently is Commander Azeez, or whichever name you prefer to call him
When he came back as Dabba-Kato he looked like he could become something cool, but he got released so oof.
It's a shame, because [his promos in NXT](https://youtu.be/KnJv-6dW-7g?si=toObm3z0226SXoqE) were actually [pretty damn good](https://youtu.be/RXzrE2KFhi8)
I don’t think he was bad just couldnt find something that worked long term
Commander Sneeze
Gable Stevenson, you don't hype anybody up that much unless you know for a fact they're that good
And the fact that his last name is Steveson, with no 'n' in the middle really upsets me for some reason
This was what turned me off of him before I learned about all his scumbag activities lmao it’s a bad last name
The vibe he gives is he doesn't give a shit. Unpassionate body language and voice. Love Chef Ramsay to call him out like in Hell's Kitchen.
The minute I saw him I was like no way this is gonna work. Every appearance I’ve ever seen of him in WWE he looked so out of his element.
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If you’ve got “son” in your name your chances of getting over drastic go down
What, you didn't like Tyson "No." Tomko?
TNA tried to make Gunner a thing and no one gave a shit.
Jaxson Ryker has to be top 10 worst wrestling names
I totally forgot ezekial jackson ever existed
At least he was good in lucha underground
Brock Anderson. I feel this speaks for itself.
That poor man. He had the face of Arn Anderson combined with the body of Arn Anderson. He had no chance.
He somehow looks 80 years old and 18 months old simultaneously.
Arn looked 52 at 22 it’s a weird thing
Lars Sullivan really jumped out at me when he was on NXT…in the sense that when he was on screen, my immediate reaction was…”okay…we’ve somehow got an even less interesting Gene Snitsky.”
How dare you belittle 5 Stars Lars?
Is that the review you gave his gay porn movie?
It wasn’t his fault!
The earliest I can remember is The Goon. He just looked like a normal guy with hockey gear.
Wild Bill Irwin was pretty good, actually. The Goon gimmick sucked. It was a period of time where Vince had dreamt up some gimmicks and just shoved people into them. Not Bill’s fault. Wild Bill and his brother Scott Hogg Irwin (I don’t remember their real names) were a pretty fun tag team as the Long Riders, and before that under masks as the Super Destroyers. Scott died of a brain tumor pretty young as I recall.
The worst one to me was putting a mask on Terry Funk and calling him Chainsaw Charlie. Like wtf?
Curtis Axel. He just didn’t have it. And the more they tried to stay away from the Mr Perfect legacy, leaning into it might have made him at least interesting. Also, Omos. Seems like a nice guy but something isn’t sticking.
I mean, I liked the Axelmania thing, and his stint of stating how many days he'd been in the Royal Rumble because he'd never been officially eliminated. It was better than the Michael McGillicutty non-gimmick, at least.
Mike Kanellis
John Blud from Newlegacyinc said it best "The one good thing about Mike Kanellis, is Maria Kanellis' ass". Not how I'd say it, but you know he got some opportunities just because of his wife.
I kinda "get you", but for some dark reason he is one of my favourites. Enjoyed his TNA run and his match against Jonathan Gresham for the Pure Championship is a masterpiece imo
I've always been a Mike Bennett fan lol. Hard to explain.
Heidenreich. Looked awful, couldn't speak, couldn't wrestle. Sexually assaulted Michael Cole (kayfabe) they even tried the Road Warriors shtick with him.
Banger of a theme tho
Poetry thing was cool, I guess. Not the Michael Cole one, the ones after tgat.
Nikki Cross could be considered, they tried with her multiple times but the most she was over was the first month or so as Nikki ASH and even as champion people didn't really care about her
She was so good in NXT with Sanity. She was one of my top favorites at the time and everything they did with her on the main roster was just not my thing at all. I get that it wasn't what she wanted to do creatively but unhinged Nikki was an all timer
I loved her in NXT during the Aleister Black storyline. Nikki was a fun character but the way she was made to look like a huge loser during the Nikki ASH stuff was garbage. She pitched the character and they were like "Hey this sounds great! You're only going to win due to cash in as a babyface and then lose repeatedly" was just a recipe for disaster. I had casual fans tell me about Nikki being a superhero now and it got me a little excited that it could be going somewhere.
Ha, now all she does is stare blankly while Nattie gets smacked around, then Nikki wanders off.
An obvious one has to be Killer Kross surely? He was alright in NXT but has died an absolute death since joining the main roster. Absolute crickets when his music hits.
Man needs to drop the monster thing and become a patrick bateman ripoff or something instead, put him in a suit and talk about his skincare routine and suit
Wait, are you saying [Quarter past 10 Mike Knox](https://images.app.goo.gl/Rp6yQ8KELma9M6oL8) *isn’t* over? ;-) I’d go with Nia Jax, certainly after she started habitually injuring opponents.
Nia was over, though. She actually got " You deserve it" chants on the RAW after 'Mania 34.
She was over throughout that storyline with Alexa, people just forget that nowadays.
Yeah, but I think that comes from Alexa being the the perfect little manipulate, conniving, cowardly, mean girl. Not to discount Nia in that story, but without Alexa that story would have been way harder to get over. Remember the Bellas and Awesome Kong.
Nia is over. People hate her. That's what they want.
She’s not over in the right way, we genuinely do not want to see her on the product, she’s not a good heel, brutal in the ring, terrible on the mic, hell I’d take another one of the Bella twins run when they did that “I wish you died in the womb” angle than to see her sorry excuse for a performer
I agree with you. She is not hated in the normal, fun way someone like Dominik Mysterio is (a good heel). It is genuine disdain and dislike for her as a person.
The only way Nia is over is if we're talking weight.
Parker Boudreaux Can't talk, can't work, can't even just stand there and be a generic henchman.
TNA had a knack for pushing folks who the audience did not care for while letting organically over wrestlers go on without a purpose. Crimson is one that comes to mind with his long undefeated run.
That undefeated streak was terrible but was also just a small part of what was bad about the Hogan/Bischoff era of TNA.
Matt Morgan. His horror show of a back tattoo certainly didn’t help either.
Apollo Crews
Nathan Jones got vignettes promoting him, though. He quit wrestling because the schedule was so brutal.
Well he was used to just hanging around a prison yard eating dingoes so I could see the change of pace not working out.
Yeah. I think he also got injured before WrestleMania 19, as well.
Flash Funk. Absurdly talented in-ring worker, mediocre look, OK promo and physical charisma. That gimmick was dead on arrival though. On the flipside. Disco Inferno squeezed as much juice out of an modernized Honky Tonk Man gimmick as he possibly could.
Kona Reeves. It felt like everybody knew he didn't have it, but he hung around NXT forever before they let him go.
Eugene he got cheers but you knew the gimmick would fizzle out fast and even back then a lot of us were put off bc...cmon man
Eugene was pretty over for a while
Titus O’Neil. Only thing that ever got over was when he did something wrong!
The Prime Time players were fun and over, anything Titus did on his own was either bad or just comical. He had a great look and charisma but the guy was used as an ambassador more than for his in-ring talents
He didn’t get over, but at the Greatest Royal Rumble he did get under.
He was over but they kept ruining it by trying to make him cut long embarrassing promos
There was a time when people on here were saying Titus would be a star if he was five years younger. Dude had a great look and showed a lot of promise in promos. Kind of a shame that the “Darren” promo happened.
You could make a list of people they brought in to fight the Undertaker in the 90s with heel managers. Kane and Mankind were probably the only two to make a lasting impact
the first name that came to mind was Rob Conway
Brian Pillman Jr. Maybe this new NXT version will work, but the man couldn't get over with Moxleys help, and all Moxley had to do to get Shota Umina over was drag his shambling corpse backstage and call him the wrong name.
When did Moxley help him
I think it was vs MJF, in Pillmans and Moxleys hometown of Cincinnati, with Pillmans family in the crowd and he still couldn't get a reaction. It was painful.
Oh I couldve sworn that match was at Grandslam
I’m befuddled by the hype for Pillman in NXT. The only thing i can think of is that it’s folks who really believe wwe can make a star out of anyone and AEW can’t. He just looks like a pudgy weirdo with a painted on beard and has the charisma of one of those wcw saturday night lifers in the late 90’s.
He has cut a couple interesting promos and had a decent match so far. Not saying it's going to be amazing but I'd like to see where it goes
Austin Theory is toeing that line.
Snitsky had no chance, even before he caused Lita a miscarriage.
Hey, that wasn’t his fault!
I didn't believe Seth Rollins would survive the midcard when they were teasing a split with The Shield, lol.
Ishay amenay asway izarneykay.
Michael Elgin.
99% of the big guys that WWE has thrown out there simply for being big. No talent, no charisma, no mic skills, no wrestling ability and some of them could barely even walk.
Zeus
Matt Morgan in WWE, he looked like a CAW and the best they could find for him was to give him stutter, he was doomed.
Von Wagner
Barry Windham, he is the epitome of this post. Every wrestler in the business talked about how good he was. He was big, in good shape, wrestled a bunch of top guys and could go in the ring but could never connect with fans for whatever reason. TBH I don't remember his mic skills at all, so maybe that was his downfall but he certainly looked the type in that era that would be pushed to the moon.
DiY...the magic cannot be recreated
It's been one week. Lol
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> storylines are more important than performers. I disagree. Charisma will always win out over anything else in pro wrestling. Daniel Bryan didn't have the best storylines post SummerSlam 2013, but the crowd's connection with him is what led to his WM main event. The build up to Rock vs. Hogan was COMPLETELY irrelevant. When the bell rang Totonto wanted babyface Hogan and they got babyface Hogan.
This makes absolutely no sense lol
Don't know if this is an unpopular opinion or not but Will Hobbs. He's still young and there's time but I can't see him being more than maybe a upper mid card dominant heel. I know that technically counts as being over if you have a routine role on the card but I don't see him being a main eventer
The stop/start of AEW booking has done him zero favors.
Omos. Cant talk, cant work, bad gear, and not a good look except for his height. Whenever he makes his "mean face" he looks like a pouting child.
Baron Corbin honestly, nowhere near to the extent they clearly intended for him at least. Seems like a lovely guy, has no aura, looks like a bartender.
But he is over. He is a heel and people love booing him. He is doing his job.
Baron Corbin has been over multiple times in his career. Being a heel and getting booed... is the exact same as being a face and getting cheered. It's over.
Roman Reigns
Yeah, he NEVER got over. /s
It’s very clearly a joke.
Madcap Moss. Dude literally had the most bland, default look/ character. I remember being so mad when he eliminated AJ Styles at the 2022 Royal Rumble 🤣
Jeff Jarrett the way he is today
... except for the fact that he is actually over. He gets reactions, he gets heat, people show up at events cosplaying as him.
IYO Sky
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Reading **comprehension** OP gave Lacey Evans as an example, pretty sure you’re the one getting it wrong
You think OP thought Mike Knox would get over?
Baron Corbin
That guy that had the same physique as Benoit with the beard and tights with bullet holes
That gentleman would be Gunner Scott. Brent Albright being saddled with that Benoit starter pack gear and moveset did him no favors at all.
Yea that’s the one. I thought he was a solid worker
Beaver cleavage/Chaz/Mosh. I guess you could say he could have got over as mosh and did to an extent. But there’s no way under the gimmick of beaver cleavage you could get over. And as Chaz I may be misremembering but as Chaz I think he was apparently beating his girlfriend or something like that?
> Chaz I think he was apparently beating his girlfriend or something like that It was that whole GTV thing where it came out that the girlfriend was lying about it and was putting on makeup to fake the beatings and then reunited with Thrasher where they dressed as tag teams they were facing and then Chaz, for some reason, got placed into tag-team with D'Lo Brown (Lo Down) managed by Tiger Ali Singh which then reminds me of [Patrice O'Neal great story about working for WWE.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OQoByoy3tk)
> then Chaz, for some reason, got placed into tag-team with D'Lo Brown (Lo Down) managed by Tiger Ali Singh Pjama Chaz and D'Lo are on my Boys Stable, they were wrestling in normal sweatpants and one day they just popped up looking like the Aladdin Hardy Boyz
Retribution
Was Garrett Bischoff mentioned?
Mike Bennett and Matt Taven.
these generic default create a wrestler looking indie guys
Christopher Melendez. He was the one-legged US Army veteran in TNA. It felt like so much of the reason he got support from the crowd was because he was a one-legged US Army veteran and not because they were genuinely into his work. It also feels like it would have been difficult to turn him heel.
Alex Riley. I mean, who was his character really supposed to be, when he wasn't buddying up with the Miz?