WWE's most under-utilized wrestler?

Celtsfan1980 · Post #1 » by **Celtsfan1980** » Fri Dec 2, 2011 12:51 pm

They've obviously done a poor job with many in the past. Others could include Chavo, Taz, Bertha Faye(known as Monster Ripper, she's actually a very good wrestler in Japan when used properly), Shane Douglas, Chris Candido, Ricky Steamboat, and numerous cruiserweights(Ultimo Dragon and Psychosis come to mind first). I'm likely forgetting some as well.

whysoserious · Post #2 » by **whysoserious** » Fri Dec 2, 2011 1:37 pm

To me, it's always gonna be Ricky Steamboat. Hogan absolutely buried him after WM3 and with Hogan's stroke it killed him. He should have been a big star in WWE, take him and Savage's feud for the IC title and put that in to the World Title picture, omg, you could have had some great work. Then established, him going against Bret Hart, Hennig and the like would have been unbelievable.

Coach Smiley · Post #3 » by **Coach Smiley** » Fri Dec 2, 2011 2:23 pm

lol what did Hulk have to do with Steamboat? From Steamboat's shoot interview he says he wanted time off so he could be with his wife when she gave birth, Vince needed the IC champ on the road so he gave the belt to HTM, I think Vince was the one to blame for Steamboat's WWF run

whysoserious · Post #4 » by **whysoserious** » Fri Dec 2, 2011 3:23 pm

Coach Smiley wrote:lol what did Hulk have to do with Steamboat? From Steamboat's shoot interview he says he wanted time off so he could be with his wife when she gave birth, Vince needed the IC champ on the road so he gave the belt to HTM, I think Vince was the one to blame for Steamboat's WWF run

I could be wrong but I do remember reading a lot about Hogan being pissed off that Steamboat/Savage stole the show at Mania that year and is still so talked about. VKM was definitely to blame, he never really pushed guys Steamboats size back then beyond a certain level. But I think Hogan definitely had a role in it. Steamboat did want time off and Vince was pissed about requesting that right after putting the IC title on him and he got buried to the point of being pushed out of the company.

Starkiller · Post #5 » by **Starkiller** » Sat Dec 3, 2011 2:43 am

Tazz was horribly misused. Heyman booked him PERFECTLY in ECW and I've never seen a more over wrestler in my life.

Celtsfan1980 · Post #6 » by **Celtsfan1980** » Sun Dec 4, 2011 1:41 pm

whysoserious wrote:To me, it's always gonna be Ricky Steamboat. Hogan absolutely buried him after WM3 and with Hogan's stroke it killed him. He should have been a big star in WWE, take him and Savage's feud for the IC title and put that in to the World Title picture, omg, you could have had some great work. Then established, him going against Bret Hart, Hennig and the like would have been unbelievable.

At least Steamboat was given a great storyline vs. Savage and a push. Dusty Rhodes and Harley Race never were pushed to that point so that's why there were more under-utilized wrestlers IMO. Steamboat made a good Champion for the NWA but I don't think the WWF audience would have accepted him as Champion.

CapeCrusader · Post #7 » by **CapeCrusader** » Mon Dec 5, 2011 5:17 am

Starkiller wrote:Tazz was horribly misused. Heyman booked him PERFECTLY in ECW and I've never seen a more over wrestler in my life.

He had perfect momentum coming in and beating Angle and taking away his unbeaten streak. Fans would of supported him as world champ like they were pushing hard for RVD.

CapeCrusader · Post #8 » by **CapeCrusader** » Mon Dec 5, 2011 5:19 am

Also Perfect and Hall should of been world champs in the WWF(E). No need to explain that.

tugs · Post #9 » by **tugs** » Mon Dec 5, 2011 8:12 am

Shelton Benjamin has both technicality and athleticism. he was on his way feuding with Triple H but I don't know what happened there. mic skills were a little "meh" though.

William Regal could have been world champ if they continued with his Ruthless Roundtable stable from ECW.

whysoserious · Post #10 » by **whysoserious** » Mon Dec 5, 2011 1:08 pm

CapeCrusader wrote:Also Perfect and Hall should of been world champs in the WWF(E). No need to explain that.

Didn't Perfect get hurt which kind of killed him. I always thought Vince was behind but he had some injuries that held him back. Regardless he would have been a great heel and face champion. Along the same lines had he not got hurt, could see Rick Rude being a world champion too.

CapeCrusader · Post #11 » by **CapeCrusader** » Mon Dec 5, 2011 9:25 pm

whysoserious wrote:
CapeCrusader wrote:Also Perfect and Hall should of been world champs in the WWF(E). No need to explain that.

Didn't Perfect get hurt which kind of killed him. I always thought Vince was behind but he had some injuries that held him back. Regardless he would have been a great heel and face champion. Along the same lines had he not got hurt, could see Rick Rude being a world champion too.

Yeah I think Perfect did get hurt. I remember him commentating and managing for a bit.

Rick Rude for sure, totally forgot about him.

Post #12 » by **Stanford** » Mon Dec 5, 2011 10:24 pm

Celtsfan1980 wrote:At least Steamboat was given a great storyline vs. Savage and a push. Dusty Rhodes and Harley Race never were pushed to that point so that's why there were more under-utilized wrestlers IMO. Steamboat made a good Champion for the NWA but I don't think the WWF audience would have accepted him as Champion.

Well Race was 43 when he got to the 'F' and Rhodes was 44. You can't expect Vince to push them very hard, especially considering they came from rival companies. It's not a Steve Austin/Foley situation where the guy is entering his prime; both Rhodes and Race were past theirs.

Post #13 » by **kdawg32086** » Mon Dec 5, 2011 10:39 pm

What about Dustin Rhodes? He was pretty high up in WCW in the early 90s but only really got a push with Goldust in WWE.

Marc Mero is another one. He was over big time with the Johnny B. Badd gimmick in WCW but didn't do much in the WWF.

The Steiner Brothers were under-utilized in their WWF stint too.

whysoserious · Post #14 » by **whysoserious** » Tue Dec 6, 2011 1:00 am

kdawg32086 wrote:What about Dustin Rhodes? He was pretty high up in WCW in the early 90s but only really got a push with Goldust in WWE.

Marc Mero is another one. He was over big time with the Johnny B. Badd gimmick in WCW but didn't do much in the WWF.

The Steiner Brothers were under-utilized in their WWF stint too.

Never saw Golddust or Marc Mero being anything more than mid-carders. Runnels wasn't the best wrestlers. Besides, Golddust got a huge push coming in.

Marc Mero was solid but he never had that something that you could say he should have been a main evener but wasn't.

Agree with the above comments about Race/Dusty. They were well past their prime and Vince never likes to push guys that really established themselves somewhere else. There's been a few exceptions but it's one of the main reasons why Sting doesn't want to go work for him.

Owen Hart definitely was one. Had many runs as tag team and IC but never a main event push. He was starting to get a push as the Black Hart but apparently Shawn Michaels didn't want to work with him in the main event and that push was squashed and he passed away a short time later.

whysoserious · Post #15 » by **whysoserious** » Fri Dec 9, 2011 3:37 am

Thoughts on Jake the Snake? I've read/heard a few wrestlers mention that he could have been a main eventer. Ring work and charisma was very good to great. I think even Vince agreed. It was his demons that often held him back.

SpReEfOrAlL · Post #16 » by **SpReEfOrAlL** » Fri Dec 16, 2011 1:47 am

Out of that list, I would say Shelton Benjamin with ease.

DHK · Post #17 » by **DHK** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 4:18 pm

AJ Styles...
In his debut match at Metal..he immediately drew heat although being a no name at the time...against Hurricane. I still cannot believe WWE passed on him...MULTIPLE times.

ultimo dragon..he's a legend in his own class yet the WWE treated him like a mid to low carder...I guess you can make the argument he was old by the time he came to WWE but still...could have been used better..

Christian..Obvious reasons...
Big Show - This man should be just a class of his own...They had a good start when he debuted..but they played him COMPLETELY wrong. He should have been portrayed as an unstoppable giant, who takes incredible amount of effort, and dirty games to win..but his stint with the WWE, he just seemed so...vunerable and weak?
Rikishi - He was so over..but then they had to turn him heel and it was just over from that point..
DDP - Just everything and his whole stint with WWE was a giant WTF?

Cammo101 · Post #18 » by **Cammo101** » Sun Dec 18, 2011 9:24 am

RaptorFan_Drew wrote:Big Show - This man should be just a class of his own...They had a good start when he debuted..but they played him COMPLETELY wrong. He should have been portrayed as an unstoppable giant, who takes incredible amount of effort, and dirty games to win..but his stint with the WWE, he just seemed so...vunerable and weak?

Big Show's complete lack of charisma kills his ability to be a huge draw. Even as a heel he just bored everyone to tears. Though I do agree with the overarching problem the WWE has of trying to cram giants who are obvious heels down our throats as good guys. Big Show, Sheamus, Kane, and Mason Ryan are all recent examples of big guys who do not work at all as good guys and should be obvious heels.

DHK · Post #19 » by **DHK** » Sun Dec 18, 2011 4:48 pm

Cammo101 wrote:
RaptorFan_Drew wrote:Big Show - This man should be just a class of his own...They had a good start when he debuted..but they played him COMPLETELY wrong. He should have been portrayed as an unstoppable giant, who takes incredible amount of effort, and dirty games to win..but his stint with the WWE, he just seemed so...vunerable and weak?

Big Show's complete lack of charisma kills his ability to be a huge draw. Even as a heel he just bored everyone to tears. Though I do agree with the overarching problem the WWE has of trying to cram giants who are obvious heels down our throats as good guys. Big Show, Sheamus, Kane, and Mason Ryan are all recent examples of big guys who do not work at all as good guys and should be obvious heels.

That's the problem though. They're completely misused him and still are. The big show? I just imagine a highly corporate guy in his own league who has few words to say who lets his actions speak for himself. Sort of like Lesnar and look how well he turned out to be. The ideal personality for someone like Show should be someone who KNOWS he's straight out better and humble about it while being a corporate guy which I would think draw tons of real heat.

I like how you mentioned Mason Ryan because I just randomly though about how they have possibly the best big man since Brock Lesnar in this guy and they're making him FACE!? People mention about how he's the next Bautista...but this guy can wrestle and just use an arsenal of submission,power moves which cant help but be impressed by. The only legitament way Ryan can be face is becoming that Orton sort of guy who doesn't give a **** about what anyone thinks and just demolishing opponents left and right, heel or face, draw or no draw. SOrt of like what made kane so popular

skbucks1985 · Post #20 » by **skbucks1985** » Sun Dec 18, 2011 4:58 pm

The problem with Show is that his natural personality is much more suited to be a face. He's pretty funny and self-effacing and they'd like to capitalize on that. But he obviously looks like he should be a heel.

Drew, you must've seen Mason Ryan somewhere that I haven't because I see a guy that is green as goose you know what.

Who is the WWE's most under-utilized wrestler?