Guys who you thought would be huge stars but weren't

[skbucks1985]

Whether it be politics, injuries, inability to handle the spotlight, just not having the stuff there were guys who seemed to you like they would be in store for big careers but it never materialized. Magnum TA is probably the clearest example of such a guy. TA was perhaps a little undersized but not enough that he couldn't overcome it and in every other way had the total package. So here are some guys on my list, before I get the names I should mention as someone in his late 20's my list is primarily guys who have been in the spotlight over the last 15 years because prior to that I didn't really understand the backstage component, who was or wasn't a good worker etc.

Raven: Former ECW and TNA Champ, WCW US Champ, a high profile feud with CM Punk early in his career that really helped put Punk on the map and a few other impressive accolades makes his inclusion on a list like this somewhat unusual. But man, Raven had it all. He was a really good worker, he was an elite talker, he had a unique character that he played to perfection. He really could've had a money feud with those top guys in WCW and even when he was brought in to WWE I don't think he was too far gone that they couldn't have done big things with him.

Samoa Joe: Like Raven perhaps his inclusion on this list is not warranted. He's got a lot of accolades from ROH and TNA. But, I went to an ROH show in 2005 and Joe, Nigel McGuiness, Punk and Bryan were all on the card and I really didn't know a whole lot about any of them prior to attending the show and I clearly remember thinking Joe would be the biggest star of them. I also clearly remember telling my friend on the way home that Joe would be the Stone Cold Steve Austin of this generation. He and Punk left ROH at the same time and both had WWE developmental deals and I don't think Punk had a TNA offer due to his previous stint not ending well. Punk made the right decision, I don't know if Joe made the wrong one because even with his up-and-down stint in TNA he probably makes a pretty good living and unlike Punk has a family so who knows if he would've been able to do a WWE schedule. And just because he and Punk were together in ROH certainly doesn't guarantee they would've achieved a similar level of success in WWE. But just because I can't fault him for the decision he's made I still think, a few things transpire differently and Samoa Joe might be the biggest star in wrestling today.

MVP: He was improving as a worker and was a great talker. The story apparently is that he was a prick to a drug test collector which landed him in the doghouse and he started the losing streak gimmick, which has worked maybe once in history. Once that gimmick ended they gave him a renewed push as a face but that didn't work out and he treaded water for a while after that until his release.

Muhammad Hassan: I don't really need to explain why it didn't work out for him.

Jay Lethal: This is admittedly premature as Lethal is younger than almost every wrestler on the main roster and is younger than a lot of the top NXT guys as well. So for all I know Lethal may sign a WWE developmental deal within a year, debut on the roster within 2-3 years and have a long, successful career in WWE. None of that is out of the realm of possibility. But the reason I put him on this list is primarily because of Consequences Creed/Xavier Woods. Lethal and Creed/Woods were a tag team in TNA and I don't think anyone who saw there work thought Creed was the better of the two. Yet Creed was signed to a developmental deal less than 4 months after TNA released him which accounting for the 90 day non-compete clause meant WWE signed him about as quickly as they possibly could. And I just don't understand what made Creed this top prospect that they sign literally two weeks after they were legally allowed to but don't seem to have interest in his, by most people's accounts, more talented tag team partner. And having read a couple interviews with Lethal its clear he has interest in WWE.

Carlito: There were a lot of guys in the mid-2000's who seemed like they were at one time or another pegged for stardom. Hassan, MVP, Elijah Burke, Shelton Benjamin, John Morrison, Mr. Kennedy and Carlito. Of all those guys I thought Carlito had the most staying power. Hassan, while still having a lot of mileage left on his character was a one-note character and I don't know how he would've done once that character had to evolve. MVP and Elijah Burke weren't great wrestlers, Benjamin and Morrison couldn't talk and Kennedy was sloppy. But Carlito really had the total package. He wasn't always the greatest wrestler but that was more about laziness than ability and he was just gold on the mic. When he debuted he beat Cena his first night and then about 6 months later Cena beat JBL for the title and Carlito had a promo that night with Stone Cold and Roddy Piper. At some point in the next few months I thought Cena and Carlito would main event Wrestlemanias (plural) together. But laziness plus being kind of a prick derailed what could've been a very promising career.

[Stanford]

Paul Burchill.

[2009NBAChamps]

Great topic, and list. I don't have the time to write as detailed a response as is justified to your post, but of those names Muhammad Hassan definitely stands out to me. His character and heat he drew (for obvious reasons) was amazing.

I don't have quite the knowledge as you do about the backgrounds, but I would have to add AJ Styles to my list, in a similar fashion to how you described Joe. I remember when I first watched TNA way back and they had the Daniels/Joe/Styles matches which were unreal. I thought then Styles along with Joe would be at the top of this industry for years. Sadly, being stuck in TNA (whether it's his decision or not) really didn't get him there.

Another guy, that comes to mind, and you touched on it briefly is Kennedy. I think his issues were with drugs, but man what a character and talent. Loved his gimmick for the time he had it in WWE, and it's a shame he couldn't continue it.

[loserX]

Paul Burchill.

Not gonna lie, I marked the out for that ridiculous pirate thing. (And I also second safi's nomination of Carlito. He spat in the face of people who didn't want to be cool!)

More recently, I will say Jack Swagger. When he and Ziggler showed up as essentially the same arrogant blonde, I thought Swagger was going to turn out to be the more interesting of the two.

...nope.

[skbucks1985]

Swagger had a match with the Big Show during his brief title run that I thought was the best match Show has had since he came back in 2008 which includes matches with much better workers like Bryan and Punk. This along with his lack of great matches with other guys leads me to believe that Swagger's biggest issue is that he's listed at 6'7 275 and even if that is exaggerated he's still probably the 3rd biggest guy on the roster (excluding Taker). And he doesn't look like a big man and really doesn't know how to work like a big man. And when you can't work like a big man but are bigger than 99% of the roster its a problem.

[Dunthreevy]

Sean O'Haire's gimmick where he played devil's advocate to everything. The vignettes were awesome, but then they didn't do anything with him.


Crush as the 3rd member of Demolition. They could have continued that team (one of my top 3 tag teams of all time) much longer had they not started tinkering with Crush and eventually turned him into some completely separate entity in neon spandex.

Those are a couple that come to mind without thinking too hard.

[skbucks1985]

Great topic, and list. I don't have the time to write as detailed a response as is justified to your post, but of those names Muhammad Hassan definitely stands out to me. His character and heat he drew (for obvious reasons) was amazing.

I don't have quite the knowledge as you do about the backgrounds, but I would have to add AJ Styles to my list, in a similar fashion to how you described Joe. I remember when I first watched TNA way back and they had the Daniels/Joe/Styles matches which were unreal. I thought then Styles along with Joe would be at the top of this industry for years. Sadly, being stuck in TNA (whether it's his decision or not) really didn't get him there.

Another guy, that comes to mind, and you touched on it briefly is Kennedy. I think his issues were with drugs, but man what a character and talent. Loved his gimmick for the time he had it in WWE, and it's a shame he couldn't continue it.

I think the issue with Styles is that I think its really hard to book a pretty normal guy. He's southern but he doesn't really fit into a lot of the stereotypes about southern culture ala The Briscoes or even James Storm so you can't really make that a lynchpin of his character. He doesn't drink but he's never tried to make it a major part of his character ala CM Punk. He's not a hot head like Samoa Joe or Punk or played one on TV like Bryan did. He's just a pretty normal, fairly religious family man. Makes for a good neighbor but makes it difficult to formulate a compelling wrestling character with him.

[kdawg32086]

1) Christian

2) William Regal

[jr lucosa]

I definitely agree with Carlito, I remember that debut win and the promo you mentioned like it was yesterday. It's a shame that his WWE career ended the way it did, rumors were that he purposely failed a drug testand then refused to go to rehab because he wanted out of the company and was not happy with the direction of his character.

I thought early on in his career Heidenreich could become something special.

To go back earlier than that, I always thought D'Lo Brown was a damn good wrestler, he was extremely charismatic and he was very much over with the fans, had it not been for the Droz incident I think we would've seen D'Lo do bigger things in the WWE.

[tugs]

no love for Mordecai?

[pduh01]

Good thread...

Tully Blanchard I always thought in his prime he is a good wrestler, and good on the mic who play a very good heel who I think he can be a top star. In his time he was a good tag team wrestler with Arn which by the way one of my favorites tag teams back in the days, and was a good television champion. I always thought he will be much of a bigger star shame about his drug and alcohol abuse back then.

Scott Hall he was over, in his prime he was very good in the ring if it weren't for his demons he will be much of a major player in fact I think he will be a world champion in two major companies.

Matt Morgan he have a nice size, I always think he is good on the mic if he is given the opportunity, don't get me wrong I don't think he is the best on the mic but I think he is good enough on the mic, and his in-ring ability isn't bad either. I think he will have been a big major player not his fault I think that TNA drop the ball on it when they have the opportunity to turn him to a major player but they drop the ball. Hopefully WWE or maybe he'll go to Japan become a major player. I see load of potential in him

Christopher Daniel the guy have been x-division and tag champion. Very good on the mic and very good in the ring I feel it's time for him to run the table and let him shine and see what he can do which I believe he can do it. Right now I feel they are holding him down.

Jake The Snake Robert same like Scott Hall.

Bam Bam Bigelow for the man of his size he can move in the ring, he is hell of a worker, and I thought he was given a nice opportunity in ECW, and when he jump to WCW I was hoping he'll get a huge push, and become that big time star that he should have been.

Dustin Rhodes he was such a good worker wasn't he? In his WCW days I enjoy his feuds, and his matches he was work with or against. He have a very good feud in WCW with guys like Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Barry Window(I thought it was a solid feud not good as the first two names I have mention.), and then come to the WWE using the Goldust gimmick character he was awesome with that character. Was way over, and I thought maybe this was his big break of course at the same time when I was young I still thought wrestling was real I thought with that gimmick maybe will take him to the top, and become that big time player but that didn't happen.

That is all the names I can think of at the moment...

[loserX]

Not to sidetrack too much, but I figure this is as good a thread as any, and you guys are the bunch to ask.

In the most recent wrestling article in Grantland, the writer described Matt Hardy as "possibly the most reviled mainstream wrestler of his generation".

Now, while I'm sure this is probably at least a *little* hyperbolic, my own following of wrestling has been off and on since he and Jeff first arrived in the WWE. So if Matt really is that widely reviled, I don't know the backstory. What made everyone turn on him?

[tugs]

Matt is a narcissist and has drug issues. was a fan of him back then.

[tugs]

what was the black Goldust gimmick again? thought that was promising.

[WRau1]

Ron Waterman.

I remember going to a house show and he cut an amazing promo on Marc Mero then beat the crap out of him. I don't ever remember seeing him on TV but my friends and I thought he was going to be huge.

[CapeCrusader]

Would say Styles/Joe/Daniels. Just on the matches they had together alone. Daniels I could understand why they didn't push him cause of his age (which is still dumb). But Styles was there guy from the begining, mic skills aren't the best. But had all the in ring tools to still be a top guy in any organization. Joe had everything...but the body. Which is something WWE wouldn't approve of (at least Vince, maybe be different with Trips).

Never understood why they didn't do anything with Joe. Pretty much had that killer instinct (like Taz) and a great feud with Angle. Then did nothing else, of course its never too late to do something with him. But he should be a big player with Styles in TNA.

Shelton Benjamin was a guy that I was (and still am) a big fan of. Just on what he did in the MITB matches alone. They had that small push, putting him over Triple H and stuff, but nothing after that.

[sunshinekids99]

Would say Styles/Joe/Daniels. Just on the matches they had together alone. Daniels I could understand why they didn't push him cause of his age (which is still dumb). But Styles was there guy from the begining, mic skills aren't the best. But had all the in ring tools to still be a top guy in any organization. Joe had everything...but the body. Which is something WWE wouldn't approve of (at least Vince, maybe be different with Trips).

Never understood why they didn't do anything with Joe. Pretty much had that killer instinct (like Taz) and a great feud with Angle. Then did nothing else, of course its never too late to do something with him. But he should be a big player with Styles in TNA.

Shelton Benjamin was a guy that I was (and still am) a big fan of. Just on what he did in the MITB matches alone. They had that small push, putting him over Triple H and stuff, but nothing after that.

Agree 100% on this one. I always thought of it as when will Benjamin take off.

[jr lucosa]

what was the black Goldust gimmick again? thought that was promising.

Black Reign?

[Parts Unknown]

I always thought John Morrison would've taken the RVD road to stardom. Although he has zero ability on the mic, I thought his aesthetically-pleasing in-ring performances would build his push and get him more over than it did. I recall a No DQ match he and the Miz had when the Miz became WWE champion, and knew he could put on really good matches with people who aren't the best workers (which he isn't either, obviously) because of how effortless his moves were.

Also, I'd put Owen Hart in this category. Just seeing how he went from putting on the best opening match in Wrestlemania history (and going over his brother) to being subjected to the Blue Blazer character that took his life, I always shake my head at the waste of talent.

[Sebastian]

I always thought Mr. Perfect would have a run as world champ in WWE or WCW. Same with Scott Hall. Nevertheless I still think it's fair to say that they were huge stars, especially Hall b/c of his role in the Monday Night Wars.

I've never been high on the recent "blue-chippers" in WWE like DiBiase, Drew Mac, Burchill, MVP, Swagger. Bland is bland. So I wasn't surprised when they flopped.

On the current roster Cesaro is a guy that I think will eventually force his way into the main event. I'd be surprised if he didn't have at least a couple of WHC runs. And I think it goes w/o saying that every member of The Shield is poised for huge singles success. At least one of them will be a future WWE champ, and I wouldn't be shocked if either Ambrose or Reigns main events a Mania or two in their careers.