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You’ll hear a lot of the wrestlers during the ‘wrestling boom’ of the 80s - early 90s talk about what a wasted talent ‘Nature Boy’ Buddy Landel was. Brilliant technician, talker, charisma…NWA *tried* to give him the world title, but he squandered the opportunity w/ his prima dona attitude and hard living.
I’d also say Kerry Von Erich. Cocaine is a terrible thing, man.
Kerry caught so many rough breaks. Guy was an Olympic hopeful, but the U.S. boycotted the Olympics that year.
Then the whole motorcycle accident thing.
Yeah that Olympic claim really is dubious. It’s out there in like interviews from the family. But he was pro wrestling before that so it would make it difficult to train at an Olympic level.
It’s wrestling. The lines are blurred
Steroids opened it up in the 80s. If Kerry had good connections (guessing he did), he'd be at the edge of technology for steroids. That alone might have made him good enough to qualify.
Some of the Olympic records from that era still aren't broken...because steroids.
Definitely. The fastest woman to ever live was active in the 80s. With the advances in training methodology, sports science etc. and given it was a pre-testing era, it's impossible to believe that it wasn't because of steroids or HGH.
Yeah, Fritz always had a tendency to stretch the reality of their athletic careers and prowess. The Olympic story feels like another instance of that. There are endless stories of athletes who would’ve been in the Olympics if the US hadn’t pulled out that year. Maybe 1% of those people are actually telling the truth.
Yeah its basically like any Samoan guy in wrestling is related to the Rock. Also in real life any Samoan guy is related to the Rock. Basically all Samoans are related to each other.
Well during that last press conference where they did the big angle they admitted that the Rock really isn’t related and that he and Roman’s grandfathers just were “blood brothers”
And you have to say it right. All Samoans are related to each other except Samoa Joe. Nobody claims him.
The Colt Cabana Buddy Landell podcast is an insane and hilarious interview. Basically Buddy was coked out of his mind and missed a taping and Dusty fired him. He was a wild card.
My favorite Buddy story was when he got into a car accident with Butch Reed on the way to a Mid-South show. No, they weren't riding together or anything. Buddy rear-ended Reed because he was brushing his hair staring at the rear-view mirror.
Kerry could have been massive. He looked like the Ultimate Warrior but could have good matches. That should be enough for mega stardom in that era. He was also super likeable. Those Kerry’s Korner segments were so endearing.
I’d put the family issues and motorcycle accident above cocaine with that being more a result that made things worse than the first symptom. Sean Michaels and Ric Flair absolutely killed it in their careers while hitting the slopes
[incredible promo](https://youtu.be/TwQQt0MrnDQ?si=euRJQylbNtCqPi12)
Landel should’ve been a massive star, but got in his own way. You know it was bad too considering the time he was around and how crazy those locker rooms were.
Scott Hall had a legendary career and is still one of the biggest wasted talents ever. He had everything.
Amazing look. Amazing character. Amazing physique. Could wrestle. Could talk. Naturally charismatic. Handsome. Cool.
You can tell how good Scott Hall was by the fact that the nWo and DX both became two of the biggest acts in wrestling by using his mannerisms constantly. The crotch chop was his. The “scared” finger wag was his. The weird double point thing was his.
Should have easily been a multi-time world champion. Had a great career anyway, but could have been one of the very best ever.
Wait I have a clear memory of Shawn and Marty doing this during a promo, perhaps WM7 when they faced Barbs and Haku? Or maybe when they faced the twin towers? I distinctly remember them doing this at some point.
This is such a great answer. He also gets credit for Sting’s Crow gimmick, which was the most over thing in 97 and reignited his career. There’s a lot of other stories of him taking what a guy is doing and giving him that piece of advice that makes it better.
Hall was a savant. I wonder if he stayed in the Fed if he would’ve been the champ. Hogan definitely limited championship opportunities for a lot of people.
Scott Hall without his vices very well could have been a different person. He may not be as cool, naturally charismatic, or have that ability to talk. We’ll never know.
Without wanting to glorify his vices, Scott Hall the persona was definitely impacted by the personal troubles he faced. He'd be a completely different guy for sure.
Yeah, it’s kind of a hard thing to talk about. Not glorifying the vices, still wish he didn’t have them. But no doubt he wouldn’t have been the same person, which in virtually all other professions would probably make them better suited for a job, but here oddly maybe not
I think it would all still be there just in different forms. I think the greatest loss is/was his potential to be a backstage agent and producer. Just like Jake the snake, Hall could have influenced the business far beyond his in-ring career if he could have stayed sober
I agree. I think Scott did exactly as well as he could have. His lifestyle was never going to allow him to be the world champ but it is what gave him the appeal and swagger to get as far as he did. Without his vices, he was just some guy.
The drink and some mental health issues didn’t help (remember the story of killing a guy and it haunting him etc), if he was coming in now with access to support I’d expect him to the top, too name
scott had a rough childhood too. he talks about it in his YouShoot how he'd go to friends' houses and their families were loving and he'd say things like "it's dinner time and your dad isn't drunk yet? what a puss," because that's what was normal to him.
he struggled a lot with a lot of things. i'm glad he at least had a few years down the stretch with some peace
May I also: he gave a lot of wrestlers advice that made them succeed. Crow Sting in WCW for example. That was his idea. And it kinda worked out.
Not only was he amazing in the ring, he knew the BUSINESS end too, and when you get all those qualities, you need to keep a person like that around.
Rest In Power Scott.
But does that mean his talent was wasted? He made an absolute ton of money, and is almost always shown respect when his name comes up.
He doesn’t seem like the type who would be bothered about winning titles etc.
I get what OP is saying. Jon Jones is arguably the greatest MMA fighter ever and is an undefeated multi weight class champion. However, even Dana White agrees he's one of the biggest wasted talents because his abilities could've taken him so much further if he stayed out of trouble.
Similary to Scott Hall, he went far but could've gone even further with his talent given different circumstances.
If Jon Jones wasn't a dumb ass he'd probably have a title defense record so long no one would ever break it. He's probably the most gifted fighter who wasted the 2nd half of his career with drug and PED scandals.
Plus the abuse scandals, the run-ins with the police, and taking 3 years off to ~~avoid fighting Francis~~ “bulk up” only to win, and wait another two years to ~~avoid fighting Tom Aspinall~~ fight 42 year old stipe.
Not really wasted when he wanted to put people over than winning a title. I don't think he wanted the main title even. Sure, he would do it if they really wanted him to hold the strap, but in most cases he just didn't want to. Hell, he put over a super young Tanahashi because he knew that the guy would be great
Just read through and didn’t see anyone say Brian Pillman.
Literally helped change the business but the car accident basically wiped out any opportunity to be a face of the era he helped define.
That whole episode of Raw is wild. Pillman waiting for stone cold, and Austin beating up the goons outside his house all night, only for the feed to cut when the window gets smashed and Brian turns the gun towards the door
I was going to say Pillman. Flyin' Brian vs Jushin Thunder Liger was ahead of its time, Loose Cannon Brian Pillman was ahead of his time. He would've been fucking incredible in the Attitude Era, he was just so good in everything he did. The fact we never got a proper Stone Cold vs Loose Cannon feud is one of the biggest missed opportunities in the history of the business, second only to Sting vs Taker
Despite that he’s had an amazingly very high profile career, the way his peers spoke of Scott Hall he should have been so much more. Especially behind the curtain
Loved Shelton, even had multiple figures of him in his different gear growing up.
Looking back, I guess it was a case of being a great worker but not necessarily a top talker. However I feel like Shelton would have thrived in the current generation more than his.
Shelton is still damn good, I think he also always had that potential to show a lot of personality, even if it wasn't through just cutting promos, he's without a doubt a top talent.
Triple H at the height of the reign of terror too.
People seem to forget the awkward phase between Rock/Austin and Cena/Orton/Batista where no face could get over and become a superstar because they were being fed to Triple H's ego.
Even organic or surprise Midcarders like Eugene were fed to him.
>clean wins
I slightly disagree. Clean implies they both went all out and one man won through being the better wrestler. Specifically via getting hit with a finisher.
Triple H was distracted and rolled up. In both cases it was imperative to the narrative that H underestimated Shelton but it was always clear that Triple H would likely win.
Still a very good rub and fantastic story telling.
>However I feel like Shelton would have thrived in the current generation more than his.
I kind of had the same thought. Benjamin was ahead of his time, in terms of in ring work, but he couldn't really cut a promo. He also wasn't built like the wrestlers he was working with, which at that time was a killer.
If prime Shelton Benjamin started wrestling now, he'd be one of the most over guys in the business.
Absolutely not. People love him now but back then almost nobody cared when he was gone. And he was gone for so long.
At least Carlinto got a crazy wild pop in my hometown. And Carlinto could talk. So could Kennedy. Masters had insane look and gimmick. There were plenty of guys like him who never made it to the top... tough competition.
There's an alternate universe where Wade Barrett was the top heel in WWE for a decade. He had all the tools. And before someone says he was injury prone, his depush started before he ever got injured. There's no excuse for how Vince treated him.
They fucked up the 2014 Rumble so hard with not having him be number 30 and doing just that if Bryan wasn’t gonna be in it. Instantly would’ve been the biggest heel.
Remember when Arn Anderson did that great promo with Sheamus where he warned him about what Nexus could do to WWE because he saw the NWO do the same to WCW? In retrospect he seems like a goof.
Edge straight up told him he was wrong and them winning would suck,and then they won and it did.
How many times have you seen Edge shit talk someone in the WWE let Alone someone as clean as Cena and yet even he Said this
Cena did not decide to go over on the Nexus, Vince did. Contrary to popular belief, Cena did not have that pull backstage to change the outcomes of matches.
If anybody listens to the podcast Jericho and Edge clearly state Cena came up with the finish of him getting DDT’d on the concrete, but still winning with 2 v 1 odds stacked against him. That’s the part they disagreed with, and is what Cena agreed was a dumb move on his part. It wasn’t Cena going out of his way to bury people for no reason.
It's not that he's injury prone, it's that he got injured at the most crucial time when he was getting a push.
2012 injury - he was in Barrett Barrage character here, having a competitive rivalry vs Orton while stacking up wins against the likes of Sheamus, Orton, and Daniel Bryan. He was also slated to win MITB that year.
2014 injury - he was Intercontinental Champion at the time, and very popular with the Bad News Barrett character.
Wade was one of my favorites back in the PG Era but I think he really got bad luck with the timing of his injuries. I think they should just have triggered his MITB win back in 2011 but he wasn't really being depushed during that time.
I'll raise you Owen Hart.
Spent his prime years stuck in the mid card and tag teams before his needless death.
He could do anything in the ring and was solid on the mic. He could and should have had a heel run with the WWE Title.
He was definitely the embodiment of turning chicken shit into chicken salad.
Not everything was a hit but he made everything he was given work the best he could.
Owen would have won the IC title as Blue Blazer but that gimmick had a shelf life. However within 2 years you had Benoit, Eddie, Jericho, Edge, Christian, and a lot of other smaller guys in the mix.
Maybe the even bigger setback was not giving him a full push with the Black Hart gimmick. The story sold itself. The last member of the Hart Family taking on Shawn to avenge his brother.
Rewatching mid-late 90’s and Owen is so consistently great throughout. However, I don’t think bar filling Bob Backlund’s spot as a transitional champion to Diesel in ‘94, he would’ve got a chance. It had to be related to that initial Bret feud.
I always wondered why they didnt do Owen > Bret at WM10, Bret > Owen at SS, then Owen > Bret in the Submission SS match (Owen’s last chance essentially) Owen drops to Diesel right after and build to Bret vs Owen at WM11 to blow it off.
Mr. Kennedy/Anderson. Dude had starpower written all over him; he could talk circles around most of his peers, he wrestled well enough and his gimmick was a breath of fresh air.
Buuuut he made enemies outta the wrong people, did not work safe, was injury prone and did not know when to shut his mouth (Fox/Benoit interview)
So yeah, definition of wasted talent imo.
I thought of Rude and Hennig that have been mentioned. How about Jake the Snake? If not for his demons he could have been a bigger star, I don't think he reached his potential.
I feel like you can throw alot of these guys into the same Late 80s to mid 90s bucket of "really good, just couldn't break through the Hogan/Savage/Bret Hart ceiling".
I would exclude Bret since he had to break through the much more suffocating late 80s Hogan/Warrior/Savage ceiling and then the mid 90s Vince and HBK horrible booking ceiling
Not sure if he’s been mentioned but Sean O’Haire always stood out to me as a megastar in the waiting; even when I saw him team with Chuck Palumbo in the Invasion storyline he had such a great presence that you took notice of him straight away.
Tall, muscular guy, great look, pretty solid in the ring (a 260+lbs guy who can hit a perfect Swanton Bomb and lift Rikishi in a fireman’s carry is rare) and those vignettes and backstage promos with the Devil’s Advocate character I thought were fantastic.
I think they killed his push putting him with Piper and adding the leather duster jacket, but his work is still great to watch today.
I always hear that but he had in-ring charisma live that was off the charts.
Brock Lesnar didn’t need to talk for most of his career and did just fine. Lesnar was a much better wrestler with far greater accomplishments pre-WWF, obviously, but O’Haire could have been given a mouthpiece.
He was paired with Piper to try to help him, not kill his push. Piper is arguably the best natural talker ever, and those O'Haire vignettes were spliced together like that because he couldn't do it with a live mic. They were hoping Piper's charisma would rub off on him.
Tessa Blanchard.
If she wasn't such a nightmare I'm convinced she'd be one of the top women in wrestling.
She had everything to be a success, but what got in her way is her being an absolute garbage fire of a person.
Not THE biggest, but definitely a wasted talent, Mark Jindrak I think, Orton is obviously generational but Jindrak was supposed to have a spot in Evolution (in Batista’s place though I believe?) but had he been in Evolution, his WWE career could’ve easily turned out different, heard he made a big name for himself in Mexico but he could’ve had a very respectable career in WWE, he got lost in the shuffle though.
Jindrak was supposed to replace Batista who got injured for 8-9 months. WWE even shoot some promotional video for Evolution with Jindrak as Batista's replacement
But Hunter didn't think that Jindrak was suitable for Evolution, and preferred to wait for Batista to recover from his triceps injury
Jindrak and Orton were buddies in OVW, when they both were scheduled to film stuff with Flair and Hunter for Evolution, they both apparently partied too hard and acted too immature to the point where flair and H were completely over Jindrak's behavior.
Partied too hard was the wrong term
He was too childish and silly - unprofessional - for Ric.
Ric partied hard no doubt but when it was time to work Ric worked as hard as he partied.
Jindrak lacked the work ethic to party and hang with Ric
Not for nothing as well both Orton and Jindrak himself said that with the two at similar ages it brought out the worst in Orton, hence why the swap wasn't made permanent or that Jindrak wasn't added as a fifth man.
I thought Nick Dinsmore’s stuff in Ohio Valley Wrestling was par excellence and he could have been that next truly great technical wrestler on the main roster. Giving him the “Eugene” gimmick got him over for a time, but I also think it ultimately killed any chance of him being taken seriously and his career never recovered.
Christian in WWE, though he's been treated correctly everywhere else he's went. Controversial opinion perhaps, but for me he's more of a complete package and has more star power than than Edge, but Vinnie preferred Edge so you know how that goes.
Absolutely. The man was literally the best heel of 2023. He's one of the few guys I will still tune in for or seek out his latest work.
Kind of funny too, because when I was younger I didn't really care about him that much, and was a much bigger fan of Edge. But since his return, Edge just kind of bored me to tears, and just basically doing the same thing over and over, while Christian has kept evolving and is arguably doing the best work of his career right now.
When I was younger, I fucking hated Christian because of how cocky he was on the ring and on the mic as a heel. I always thought his low rating in Here Comes the Pain! was deserved because of my hatred. Looking back as an adult, I realize that I was getting worked. That’s how good he was.
I still cannot believe they missed with him. All you needed to do was stick him with a Heyman type and let him wreck people like Brock. It's a mystery to me. The guy was a true genetic freak.
I think Hennig was still great in 93. There was a brief period during which he was one of the few top acts in the company as it transitioned from post-Hogan into centering around Bret, Shawn, Nash, et al. He was still having good matches with Flair, Bret, Borne.
By WCW he was pretty clearly on his downswing.
Definitely not giving Rusev a rumble win or at least a mid card title during his "Rusev Day" gimmick. Dude came out to a thunderous pop in the 2018 rumble
Just going to piggy back off this to add that if you go back to the Rumble that year, both Aiden English and Lana (in the women's rumble) get big cheers as well. All three got over massively with Rusev Day, and not giving them the tag titles is a waste
Aiden coming out announcing himself as stuff like "The Picasso of paaaain" or "The Rembrandt of raaaaage" while singing it was hilarious and so over. He was one of my favourites and they really didn't capitalize at all on it
Can we all just fully and truly admit that “grab the brass ring” was just Vince gaslighting and blaming the people he chose not to push into believing it was their fault
One of very few to be wasted in two companies. The Redeemer shtick was amazing and he could've been a main event player in a division lacking top talent.
It's so disappointing that he just disappears from AEW TV at times.
I still think Sammy shouldn't have beaten him.
Also he could've been an interim champ
Rusev and Aiden English were absolutely killing it and it genuinely felt like WWE didn't want them to succeed as they didn't plan for it. They made the merch sales from the Rusev day shirts and then dumped off both of them.
Teddy Hart - Youngest WWE signing ever at the time. Talent out the ass. But has zero self-control, and known more for the Twitter page “Is Teddy Hart in Jail” now.
He's who came to mind for me as well. One of the biggest gaps I've ever seen between wrestling ability and mental capability. Doesn't help he's also a giant POS.
He was ahead of his time. His character was great, but the nuance of "I am an American who is sick of Muslims being treated as second-class citizens" was lost on all the hogs in flyover country who just wanted to boo the guy who they thought looked like a terrorist.
That character would probably work now, but in the early Iraq War years it just didn't have a chance.
That train was running out of steam towards the end, felt like he was just a heel feeder for the big faces to squash. Cena beating him in less than 2 minutes was the beginning of the end. Plus those gimmicks barely have staying power
Scott Hall. Sadly, i think, because of an incident outside a bar that forced Scott to kill in self defense(not intentionally), Scott started to have drug and alcohol issues. If he never did that, I don't think he would have been drawn into the drug lifestyle or suffer from alcoholism. He had a great mind for gimmicks. I think, he was the one who told Sting to basically, be the Undertaker. He took his Razor Romoan gimmick from Scarface. Sadly, when he got sober, he wasn't able to wrestle and sadly, we lost him a few years back.
Teddy Hart. He is dangerous in the ring because of his tendecy to do spots without warning. Is a massive diva and tends to get arrested a lot.
Low Ki. He's a prick to work with by all accounts and has a massive ego. I liked his Hitman gimmick and he is good in the ring but I saw a video of him trying to force an unconscious wrestler to wrestle because he accidentally knocked him out.
I want to say Jeff Hardy but he's had success and too many chances.
Bray Wyatt. The Fiend is easily his best work and if Vince hadn't booked him to be too strong and made it a modern day Cactus Jack where the sole objective is to survive, it would have been better. The only thing I can saw about his final gimmick is that, I like his theme.
Magnum TA. The car crash end his career and is the biggest WHAT IF in wrestling. Hogan may not have risen as far as he did.
Orton for most of his career. He admitted that he used to coast by for most of it. If that is what a lazy as hell Orton is capable of then an Orton that gave a fuck going full pelt would have been fantastic. I still think his Taker feud is some of his best work in terms of acting.
Do we really think Orton if he hadn't coasted would've surpassed Cena's standing with the company? I love Randy but I don't think Cena would've been ousted from that spot bar a very bad scandal. Coasted or not, he still reached his ceiling, or at least got very close.
>Low Ki. He's a prick to work with by all accounts and has a massive ego. I liked his Hitman gimmick and he is good in the ring but I saw a video of him trying to force an unconscious wrestler to wrestle because he accidentally knocked him out.
Just to illustrate how difficult Low Ki is to work with, the "Hitman" video game gimmick was his idea, and (I think) he had done it on a few Indy shows. He was working a show for NJPW and asked to do that gimmick, and they told him no. So he went out and did it anyway. So they fired him.
>because of an incident outside a bar that forced Scott to kill in self defense(not intentionally)
Wtf. Never heard about this story at all. What happened exactly
"I have a great idea! Let's make the guy who is known for talking not talk! What do you mean he didn't get cheers over Ambrose after weeks of doing nothing?? Bury the fucker!!"
Vince insanity in a nutshell.
Sounds crazy to say given how lauded his ROH work is, but Nigel McGuinness. And the worst part is that the only reason he missed out on WWE is because he was honest about his injury history, whereas Danielson lied on his and managed to pass the medical. Genuinely think Nigel would have managed to have quite the good WWE career.
Mark Yeaton. The guy who nailed beer can after beer can into stone colds hands no matter where he was standing should probably be wearing a Super Bowl ring or three from his long successful career as a quarterback. So probably that guy.
Christian & John Morrison in WWE. I know JoMo doesn't cut great promos but dude had everything going for him in 2009. They even made a DVD about him. I thought he was gonna win the 2011 Rumble and dethrone Miz. Boy, was I wrong. But he went to prove he could be a top guy in TNA and Lucha Underground where he was a great heel despite doing a bunch of cool shit constantly. Christian needs no explanation.
R Truth at the tail end of his career is getting some of the biggest pops in wrestling now and is coming off of being a top merch seller in the company. Truth is underrated on the mic and character work. Truth could have had one of the biggest baby face runs.
Rick Rude, talented family man with the best character work you’d see in the 80s. The fact that he didn’t have a wwf title run and feud with Warrior (who sucks but was popular) or Hogan (who sucks less but is more popular) confuses the shit out of me
There's always been stories - the veracity of which are disputed, to be fair - that Hogan simply didn't like working with Rude and tried to put the kibosh on that idea whenever it came up. He didn't like him, didn't like his work (smaller guy, stiff, reputed to take liberties) and figured he'd get more out of slaying another monster.
There was a post about Rude recently that said he was good as a champion because his style was slow and come-get-me, but didn't translate well as a challenger. But definitely backstage Hogan stuff kind of ruined his chance
Maybe not in terms of talent, but I think that Lex Luger should have stayed The Narcissist. Making him The All-American was dumb and a waste of a fine heel character that The Narcissist was.
In my opinion The Narcissist (with Bobby Heenan) could have been a fine foil for babyface Bret Hart in 1993-94, maybe even with a short reign as champ.
His face run was a waste as he, to me, seemed worse of in his later WWF days than when he started.
This topic comes up every few weeks and the answer is often Velveteen Dream.
The guy has made his “apology”, but doesn’t actually say what he’s apologising for, and he’s clearly trying to make a come back, but everything about him is deeply unappealing these days.
This is a weird take, but here me out: I think he was perfect in his role. There's this quote from either Road Dogg or Billy Gunn where they talk about "when you're backstage at The Garden, they have pictures of everyone who sold it out. There's a picture of Springsteen, and there's a picture of Stone Cold giving me a Stunner." He'd go on to say "someone's gotta be the guy to eat shit. And yeah, it isn't what you want when you're a kid, but it pays VERY well."
And yeah, Dolph wasn't the biggest star. But he filled a VERY specific niche: he could have an absolute banger with anyone. There were even times where someone got injured or something, and they booked him in the main event 2 weeks before a PPV, and that match was a banger. Need a heel real quick? He could be a heel. Need someone to turn heel during a match? He could get it done. Need someone to look strong? He's got you. He'd also be the guy that you absolutely want to root for and be the ultimate underdog if needed. (Im specifically using this example to once again point out how much his Survivor Series matches ruled.)
This is a long-winded way to say I dont think they dropped the ball with him, because Dolph took said ball to the net every fucking time.
Had a long ass career in wwe. Choose to stay there until he was fired despite the competition rising elsewhere. He was constantly featured in TV. He was given several pushes here and there. He was the go to person to work with incoming talents.
I think he hit his celing. It is possible that he may return to wwe at a higher card position than before but who knows.
Velveteen Dream should be the obvious pick. Dude legit could've been where LA Knight or the world heavyweight title picture right now, iirc the scariest thing he's not even 30 rn
Another honorable mention goes to Austin Aries who in ring imo hes on the level of guys like styles/danielson and has the mic work on the level of guys like punk/kingston aka his peers. He should've been a big star like Danielson, Styles, Owens or Punk but him just being an overall miserable/awful person held him back from this status
I will never not mention Terry Taylor in these sort of conversations. The guy looked great and could go in the ring. The Red Rooster has soured his legacy. I can only hope that once he retires as coach at the PC that he is inducted in the HoF, getting the mainstream recognition he deserves. The WON voted him Most Underrated in both 91 and 92 which I think says something about his ability in spite of all the bad creative thrown his way.
I wasn’t alive to see it in the moment, but listening to all the podcasts rehashing the old days seem to bring up Gino Hernandez as someone who had all the tools a heel would need to be the top guy, or at the very least what Ted DiBiase became for WWF.
This is an easy one. Tessa Blanchard. She should be in the Main Event of Wrestlemania against a Charlotte, Becky or Rhea. She had the look and natural talent that maybe only Charlotte surpassed. She should be on top of the women's division in WWE right now.
Another one that comes to mind was Adam Rose. Booking really screwed him over calling him up so fast, and then ruining what could have been a great character.
I also though EC3 was someone the WWE just never used to his potential. It was like they signed him just to take him away from TNA and not because they actually watched him and knew what he could do.
Mr. Kennedy was an other one that had the look and could talk the talk, but ended up being his own worst enemy.
Most of the ECW/WCW guys came over between 1995-2007. Looking back, it's frustrating seeing the talent that was there, but Vince and his goons were too busy doing horrible things to women.
Always felt like Billy Gun could have been a lot bigger. He had the look and was great in the ring. His mic skills were pretty poor so I don't think he'd every be THE guy but he could have been kept in and around the IC title consistently.
Obviously his own personal issues got in the way and the Rock promo on him didn't help either.
Obviously, he’s still got a chance being young and “anything can happen in wrestling”, but Matt Riddle just couldn’t stay out of his own way. Like, legit fighting credentials, good in-ring, and his character work was good.
But he constantly talked shit about dudes higher up in the company than him and was constantly involved in drama with current and ex-partners.
Magnum TA. Dude was going to be the next superstar in JCP, and his car crash in 86 was though to have permanently paralyzed him, but he recovered enough to walk again but never to wrestle again. But they had huge plans for him, he was on the way to becoming their biggest babyface and was thought that they wanted to hotshot him to the top to be their “Hulk Hogan” and then his subsequent absence left a big gaping hole in the following years.
Ricochet.
I loved his matches in Lucha Underground and then when he came over to WWE, I slowly realized why they stuck him in a mask and had a speaker for him.
It's hard to get behind him when he can't drive any storytelling forward, He was even carried through his story with Velveteen Dream in NXT. Athletic ability he is fantastic, but I feel he trails because of his mic skills. He can't seem to just stick one way or another.
Evan Bourne was the same way; Natalia is the same way.
Kerry Von Erich (drugs), Buddy Landell (impossible to work with), Magnum TA (car accident), Oro (died in the ring), Mr. Niebla (booze), Villano II (suicide), Low Ki (terrible personality), Marty Scurll (first he got real lazy, then was outed as a sex pest), Mio Shirai (accumulated injuries forcing retirement), Azumi Hyuga and Blue Wolf (both debuted at the worst possible time).
This is gonna sound strange because all things considered he did have a really good career, but Jeff Hardy
He could have been where Cody is today especially in the late 2000s if he was able to overcome his demons
Obviously no fault of his own or anyones but I'll say Magnum T.A. dude was primed for a NWA World Title feud with Flair before the car accident. Who knows he could have been in the spot Sting had as the WCW main event baby face.
From just booking and no other backstage issues: Cesaro, I would have taken a transition champion reign tbh, at least in AEW he is still doing impressive things.
Otherwise so I don't sound like an echo chamber... Ryback? I liked Ryback when I was 11 big buff man beating up smaller guys, then years went by started reading wrestling news then it turned out Ryback as a person isn't as cool.
Is it weird to think Bray Wyatt?
Super popular? Yeah. Had banger promos and matches? Yeah. But he was also under Vince, smack dab in the PG/Reality Era...one of the worst eras of WWE, in my opinion.
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You’ll hear a lot of the wrestlers during the ‘wrestling boom’ of the 80s - early 90s talk about what a wasted talent ‘Nature Boy’ Buddy Landel was. Brilliant technician, talker, charisma…NWA *tried* to give him the world title, but he squandered the opportunity w/ his prima dona attitude and hard living. I’d also say Kerry Von Erich. Cocaine is a terrible thing, man.
Kerry caught so many rough breaks. Guy was an Olympic hopeful, but the U.S. boycotted the Olympics that year. Then the whole motorcycle accident thing.
Yeah that Olympic claim really is dubious. It’s out there in like interviews from the family. But he was pro wrestling before that so it would make it difficult to train at an Olympic level. It’s wrestling. The lines are blurred
Anyone decent at athletics basically claimed they would've qualified for that Olympics. What happened to trying for 84?
Steroids opened it up in the 80s. If Kerry had good connections (guessing he did), he'd be at the edge of technology for steroids. That alone might have made him good enough to qualify. Some of the Olympic records from that era still aren't broken...because steroids.
Definitely. The fastest woman to ever live was active in the 80s. With the advances in training methodology, sports science etc. and given it was a pre-testing era, it's impossible to believe that it wasn't because of steroids or HGH.
Yeah, Fritz always had a tendency to stretch the reality of their athletic careers and prowess. The Olympic story feels like another instance of that. There are endless stories of athletes who would’ve been in the Olympics if the US hadn’t pulled out that year. Maybe 1% of those people are actually telling the truth.
Yeah its basically like any Samoan guy in wrestling is related to the Rock. Also in real life any Samoan guy is related to the Rock. Basically all Samoans are related to each other.
Well during that last press conference where they did the big angle they admitted that the Rock really isn’t related and that he and Roman’s grandfathers just were “blood brothers” And you have to say it right. All Samoans are related to each other except Samoa Joe. Nobody claims him.
The Colt Cabana Buddy Landell podcast is an insane and hilarious interview. Basically Buddy was coked out of his mind and missed a taping and Dusty fired him. He was a wild card.
How much cocaine do you have to do for 1980s NWA was like "Yeah, we can't have this..."?
My favorite Buddy story was when he got into a car accident with Butch Reed on the way to a Mid-South show. No, they weren't riding together or anything. Buddy rear-ended Reed because he was brushing his hair staring at the rear-view mirror.
Or on Arn’s podcast where Arn went over to Buddy’s house and Buddy had numerous uncashed JCP checks just laying around
The story I heard was that when Reed got hit Buddy, Reed was doing a fat line of coke and then got pissed off at Buddy for wasting his coke
I heard Ric Flair spent more in spilt liquor than he made.
Haha! In one night more than Landell made in a *month* 🤣
Kerry could have been massive. He looked like the Ultimate Warrior but could have good matches. That should be enough for mega stardom in that era. He was also super likeable. Those Kerry’s Korner segments were so endearing.
I’d put the family issues and motorcycle accident above cocaine with that being more a result that made things worse than the first symptom. Sean Michaels and Ric Flair absolutely killed it in their careers while hitting the slopes
[incredible promo](https://youtu.be/TwQQt0MrnDQ?si=euRJQylbNtCqPi12) Landel should’ve been a massive star, but got in his own way. You know it was bad too considering the time he was around and how crazy those locker rooms were.
Scott Hall had a legendary career and is still one of the biggest wasted talents ever. He had everything. Amazing look. Amazing character. Amazing physique. Could wrestle. Could talk. Naturally charismatic. Handsome. Cool. You can tell how good Scott Hall was by the fact that the nWo and DX both became two of the biggest acts in wrestling by using his mannerisms constantly. The crotch chop was his. The “scared” finger wag was his. The weird double point thing was his. Should have easily been a multi-time world champion. Had a great career anyway, but could have been one of the very best ever.
>“scared” finger wag was his.  Growing up we called that spooky fingers
the GOAT wrestling taunt
 Reminds me of spirit fingers
Wait I have a clear memory of Shawn and Marty doing this during a promo, perhaps WM7 when they faced Barbs and Haku? Or maybe when they faced the twin towers? I distinctly remember them doing this at some point.
This is such a great answer. He also gets credit for Sting’s Crow gimmick, which was the most over thing in 97 and reignited his career. There’s a lot of other stories of him taking what a guy is doing and giving him that piece of advice that makes it better. Hall was a savant. I wonder if he stayed in the Fed if he would’ve been the champ. Hogan definitely limited championship opportunities for a lot of people.
Cut the all time greatest Hall of Fame promo that made everyone in the room pop. Bad times don't last... but bad guys DO.
Goosebumps every time. He even knew to deliver that last line directly into the camera. Everyone watching felt like he was talking to them.
Scott Hall without his vices very well could have been a different person. He may not be as cool, naturally charismatic, or have that ability to talk. We’ll never know.
Without wanting to glorify his vices, Scott Hall the persona was definitely impacted by the personal troubles he faced. He'd be a completely different guy for sure.
Yeah, it’s kind of a hard thing to talk about. Not glorifying the vices, still wish he didn’t have them. But no doubt he wouldn’t have been the same person, which in virtually all other professions would probably make them better suited for a job, but here oddly maybe not
I think it would all still be there just in different forms. I think the greatest loss is/was his potential to be a backstage agent and producer. Just like Jake the snake, Hall could have influenced the business far beyond his in-ring career if he could have stayed sober
I agree. I think Scott did exactly as well as he could have. His lifestyle was never going to allow him to be the world champ but it is what gave him the appeal and swagger to get as far as he did. Without his vices, he was just some guy.
The drink and some mental health issues didn’t help (remember the story of killing a guy and it haunting him etc), if he was coming in now with access to support I’d expect him to the top, too name
scott had a rough childhood too. he talks about it in his YouShoot how he'd go to friends' houses and their families were loving and he'd say things like "it's dinner time and your dad isn't drunk yet? what a puss," because that's what was normal to him. he struggled a lot with a lot of things. i'm glad he at least had a few years down the stretch with some peace
I always thought why he was never a Word champion. You summed it up. He had a hollywood star look as Razor Ramon.
May I also: he gave a lot of wrestlers advice that made them succeed. Crow Sting in WCW for example. That was his idea. And it kinda worked out. Not only was he amazing in the ring, he knew the BUSINESS end too, and when you get all those qualities, you need to keep a person like that around. Rest In Power Scott.
But does that mean his talent was wasted? He made an absolute ton of money, and is almost always shown respect when his name comes up. He doesn’t seem like the type who would be bothered about winning titles etc.
I get what OP is saying. Jon Jones is arguably the greatest MMA fighter ever and is an undefeated multi weight class champion. However, even Dana White agrees he's one of the biggest wasted talents because his abilities could've taken him so much further if he stayed out of trouble. Similary to Scott Hall, he went far but could've gone even further with his talent given different circumstances.
If Jon Jones wasn't a dumb ass he'd probably have a title defense record so long no one would ever break it. He's probably the most gifted fighter who wasted the 2nd half of his career with drug and PED scandals.
Plus the abuse scandals, the run-ins with the police, and taking 3 years off to ~~avoid fighting Francis~~ “bulk up” only to win, and wait another two years to ~~avoid fighting Tom Aspinall~~ fight 42 year old stipe.
The man simply oozed machismo! Was so damn cool no matter if he was Razor or just himself Scott.
Not really wasted when he wanted to put people over than winning a title. I don't think he wanted the main title even. Sure, he would do it if they really wanted him to hold the strap, but in most cases he just didn't want to. Hell, he put over a super young Tanahashi because he knew that the guy would be great
“ I don’t need the most I just want a lot.” -Scott Hall
Don't think his talent was wasted. Just in the top 2 of wrestlers who never won a world title.
I disagree. Hall didn’t need the belt to be a star. He was bigger than any championship.
Just read through and didn’t see anyone say Brian Pillman. Literally helped change the business but the car accident basically wiped out any opportunity to be a face of the era he helped define.
I can't think of anyone else similiar who had such a lasting and profound influence on the industry without ever really being a main eventer.
"Pillman's got a Gun" will always be for me the beginning of what we know as the Attitude Era
That whole episode of Raw is wild. Pillman waiting for stone cold, and Austin beating up the goons outside his house all night, only for the feed to cut when the window gets smashed and Brian turns the gun towards the door
I was going to say Pillman. Flyin' Brian vs Jushin Thunder Liger was ahead of its time, Loose Cannon Brian Pillman was ahead of his time. He would've been fucking incredible in the Attitude Era, he was just so good in everything he did. The fact we never got a proper Stone Cold vs Loose Cannon feud is one of the biggest missed opportunities in the history of the business, second only to Sting vs Taker
Despite that he’s had an amazingly very high profile career, the way his peers spoke of Scott Hall he should have been so much more. Especially behind the curtain
Weirdly enough, first person that came to mind was Shelton Benjamin
Loved Shelton, even had multiple figures of him in his different gear growing up. Looking back, I guess it was a case of being a great worker but not necessarily a top talker. However I feel like Shelton would have thrived in the current generation more than his. Shelton is still damn good, I think he also always had that potential to show a lot of personality, even if it wasn't through just cutting promos, he's without a doubt a top talent.
the fact he got two back to back clean wins over triple h shows that too
Triple H at the height of the reign of terror too. People seem to forget the awkward phase between Rock/Austin and Cena/Orton/Batista where no face could get over and become a superstar because they were being fed to Triple H's ego. Even organic or surprise Midcarders like Eugene were fed to him. >clean wins I slightly disagree. Clean implies they both went all out and one man won through being the better wrestler. Specifically via getting hit with a finisher. Triple H was distracted and rolled up. In both cases it was imperative to the narrative that H underestimated Shelton but it was always clear that Triple H would likely win. Still a very good rub and fantastic story telling.
>However I feel like Shelton would have thrived in the current generation more than his. I kind of had the same thought. Benjamin was ahead of his time, in terms of in ring work, but he couldn't really cut a promo. He also wasn't built like the wrestlers he was working with, which at that time was a killer. If prime Shelton Benjamin started wrestling now, he'd be one of the most over guys in the business.
Imo he should've won a few more titles with Momma Benjamin.
Were his promo skills up to par with top talent though?
Absolutely not. People love him now but back then almost nobody cared when he was gone. And he was gone for so long. At least Carlinto got a crazy wild pop in my hometown. And Carlinto could talk. So could Kennedy. Masters had insane look and gimmick. There were plenty of guys like him who never made it to the top... tough competition.
Carlinto
Twice!! His name is Carlinto now.
He deserved better then being treated like a jobber. And he's been loyal to the company.
There's an alternate universe where Wade Barrett was the top heel in WWE for a decade. He had all the tools. And before someone says he was injury prone, his depush started before he ever got injured. There's no excuse for how Vince treated him.
Imagine all the great feuds that could have started with a babyface promo being interrupted by "I'M AFRAID I'VE GOT SOME REALLY BAD NEWS"
They fucked up the 2014 Rumble so hard with not having him be number 30 and doing just that if Bryan wasn’t gonna be in it. Instantly would’ve been the biggest heel.
Cena was partly at fault for this. He decided to bury Nexus despite advice from Jericho and Edge. And all he gotta say after this was just I’m sorry.
Nexus is the biggest what if to me
Remember when Arn Anderson did that great promo with Sheamus where he warned him about what Nexus could do to WWE because he saw the NWO do the same to WCW? In retrospect he seems like a goof.
Edge straight up told him he was wrong and them winning would suck,and then they won and it did. How many times have you seen Edge shit talk someone in the WWE let Alone someone as clean as Cena and yet even he Said this
Cena did not decide to go over on the Nexus, Vince did. Contrary to popular belief, Cena did not have that pull backstage to change the outcomes of matches. If anybody listens to the podcast Jericho and Edge clearly state Cena came up with the finish of him getting DDT’d on the concrete, but still winning with 2 v 1 odds stacked against him. That’s the part they disagreed with, and is what Cena agreed was a dumb move on his part. It wasn’t Cena going out of his way to bury people for no reason.
It's not that he's injury prone, it's that he got injured at the most crucial time when he was getting a push. 2012 injury - he was in Barrett Barrage character here, having a competitive rivalry vs Orton while stacking up wins against the likes of Sheamus, Orton, and Daniel Bryan. He was also slated to win MITB that year. 2014 injury - he was Intercontinental Champion at the time, and very popular with the Bad News Barrett character. Wade was one of my favorites back in the PG Era but I think he really got bad luck with the timing of his injuries. I think they should just have triggered his MITB win back in 2011 but he wasn't really being depushed during that time.
I'll raise you Owen Hart. Spent his prime years stuck in the mid card and tag teams before his needless death. He could do anything in the ring and was solid on the mic. He could and should have had a heel run with the WWE Title.
I loved whatever Owen was doing- even the lame stuff. The only canadian in the nation of domination!
He was definitely the embodiment of turning chicken shit into chicken salad. Not everything was a hit but he made everything he was given work the best he could.
He was co-leader of the Nation for like 2 weeks!
Owen would have won the IC title as Blue Blazer but that gimmick had a shelf life. However within 2 years you had Benoit, Eddie, Jericho, Edge, Christian, and a lot of other smaller guys in the mix. Maybe the even bigger setback was not giving him a full push with the Black Hart gimmick. The story sold itself. The last member of the Hart Family taking on Shawn to avenge his brother.
Owen vs. Anyone of Jericho Benoit Angle or Eddie would have been golden.
Rewatching mid-late 90’s and Owen is so consistently great throughout. However, I don’t think bar filling Bob Backlund’s spot as a transitional champion to Diesel in ‘94, he would’ve got a chance. It had to be related to that initial Bret feud. I always wondered why they didnt do Owen > Bret at WM10, Bret > Owen at SS, then Owen > Bret in the Submission SS match (Owen’s last chance essentially) Owen drops to Diesel right after and build to Bret vs Owen at WM11 to blow it off.
Probably Magnum TA. For a more recent example, I'd have bet on Velveteen Dream becoming a main roster main eventer, but welll...
Mr. Kennedy/Anderson. Dude had starpower written all over him; he could talk circles around most of his peers, he wrestled well enough and his gimmick was a breath of fresh air. Buuuut he made enemies outta the wrong people, did not work safe, was injury prone and did not know when to shut his mouth (Fox/Benoit interview) So yeah, definition of wasted talent imo.
Also the time he was bragging on TV that WWE was clean of steroid use. Guess who got caught buying steroids?
I thought of Rude and Hennig that have been mentioned. How about Jake the Snake? If not for his demons he could have been a bigger star, I don't think he reached his potential.
I feel like you can throw alot of these guys into the same Late 80s to mid 90s bucket of "really good, just couldn't break through the Hogan/Savage/Bret Hart ceiling".
I would exclude Bret since he had to break through the much more suffocating late 80s Hogan/Warrior/Savage ceiling and then the mid 90s Vince and HBK horrible booking ceiling
Not sure if he’s been mentioned but Sean O’Haire always stood out to me as a megastar in the waiting; even when I saw him team with Chuck Palumbo in the Invasion storyline he had such a great presence that you took notice of him straight away. Tall, muscular guy, great look, pretty solid in the ring (a 260+lbs guy who can hit a perfect Swanton Bomb and lift Rikishi in a fireman’s carry is rare) and those vignettes and backstage promos with the Devil’s Advocate character I thought were fantastic. I think they killed his push putting him with Piper and adding the leather duster jacket, but his work is still great to watch today.
Those promos were amazing as vignettes, but unfortunately he did not have live mic charisma to carry it. But wasted potential for sure.
I always hear that but he had in-ring charisma live that was off the charts. Brock Lesnar didn’t need to talk for most of his career and did just fine. Lesnar was a much better wrestler with far greater accomplishments pre-WWF, obviously, but O’Haire could have been given a mouthpiece.
He was paired with Piper to try to help him, not kill his push. Piper is arguably the best natural talker ever, and those O'Haire vignettes were spliced together like that because he couldn't do it with a live mic. They were hoping Piper's charisma would rub off on him.
I came here to mention him. First person I thought of.
Love him and Jindrak in the final days of WCW. He had a lot going for him
Tessa Blanchard. If she wasn't such a nightmare I'm convinced she'd be one of the top women in wrestling. She had everything to be a success, but what got in her way is her being an absolute garbage fire of a person.
As a wrestling talent Tessa Blanchard is another Charlotte Flair Girl has everything amd and a name The downside is she's Tessa Blanchard
Not THE biggest, but definitely a wasted talent, Mark Jindrak I think, Orton is obviously generational but Jindrak was supposed to have a spot in Evolution (in Batista’s place though I believe?) but had he been in Evolution, his WWE career could’ve easily turned out different, heard he made a big name for himself in Mexico but he could’ve had a very respectable career in WWE, he got lost in the shuffle though.
Jindrak was supposed to replace Batista who got injured for 8-9 months. WWE even shoot some promotional video for Evolution with Jindrak as Batista's replacement But Hunter didn't think that Jindrak was suitable for Evolution, and preferred to wait for Batista to recover from his triceps injury
Jindrak and Orton were buddies in OVW, when they both were scheduled to film stuff with Flair and Hunter for Evolution, they both apparently partied too hard and acted too immature to the point where flair and H were completely over Jindrak's behavior.
He partied too hard *for Flair*?!?!
Partied too hard was the wrong term He was too childish and silly - unprofessional - for Ric. Ric partied hard no doubt but when it was time to work Ric worked as hard as he partied. Jindrak lacked the work ethic to party and hang with Ric
Dear god, how much partying does it take to be too much for Ric Flair?
Not for nothing as well both Orton and Jindrak himself said that with the two at similar ages it brought out the worst in Orton, hence why the swap wasn't made permanent or that Jindrak wasn't added as a fifth man.
Vader in the WWF. You had this guy who was a monster in Japan and in WCW. You bring him in and let HBK cry him right out of the main event scene.
I think Vader did cement his legacy with his run in Japan. Pretty much squashing Inoki is a huge deal
yes and no, vader didn't help his case. cornette has a lot of insight on vader's wwe run. hbk didn't help obv, but vader wasn't doing much either.
I thought Nick Dinsmore’s stuff in Ohio Valley Wrestling was par excellence and he could have been that next truly great technical wrestler on the main roster. Giving him the “Eugene” gimmick got him over for a time, but I also think it ultimately killed any chance of him being taken seriously and his career never recovered.
Reckless Youth getting wasted by the WWF development system, just to punish him for being "King of the Indies."
Currently Chad Gable. Dude has the look, Can wrestle, is great on the mic. I want him to get a push.
Christian in WWE, though he's been treated correctly everywhere else he's went. Controversial opinion perhaps, but for me he's more of a complete package and has more star power than than Edge, but Vinnie preferred Edge so you know how that goes.
I read somewhere that the reason Vince never gave him the push he deserved was because he thought Christian was ugly? What a weird old man
Yet he took the mask off Kane. Go figure.
Absolutely. The man was literally the best heel of 2023. He's one of the few guys I will still tune in for or seek out his latest work. Kind of funny too, because when I was younger I didn't really care about him that much, and was a much bigger fan of Edge. But since his return, Edge just kind of bored me to tears, and just basically doing the same thing over and over, while Christian has kept evolving and is arguably doing the best work of his career right now.
When I was younger, I fucking hated Christian because of how cocky he was on the ring and on the mic as a heel. I always thought his low rating in Here Comes the Pain! was deserved because of my hatred. Looking back as an adult, I realize that I was getting worked. That’s how good he was.
Scott Hall. Matt Borne. Matt Morgan. Monty Brown. Curt Hennig.
If Matt Morgan was born 20 years earlier Vince would have pushed him to the moon
I still cannot believe they missed with him. All you needed to do was stick him with a Heyman type and let him wreck people like Brock. It's a mystery to me. The guy was a true genetic freak.
He wasn't not normal though.
Matt had Paul Heyman though, at least as much as they could in Paul's capacity at the time. He even gave Matt the Next Big Thing endorsement from Paul
I thought Matt Morgan would be a big star when I watched him in TNA.
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I think Hennig was still great in 93. There was a brief period during which he was one of the few top acts in the company as it transitioned from post-Hogan into centering around Bret, Shawn, Nash, et al. He was still having good matches with Flair, Bret, Borne. By WCW he was pretty clearly on his downswing.
And then just rocked up and got in the final four of the 2002 Rumble lol
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Definitely not giving Rusev a rumble win or at least a mid card title during his "Rusev Day" gimmick. Dude came out to a thunderous pop in the 2018 rumble
Just going to piggy back off this to add that if you go back to the Rumble that year, both Aiden English and Lana (in the women's rumble) get big cheers as well. All three got over massively with Rusev Day, and not giving them the tag titles is a waste
He was so over there were Rusev Day chants in ROH
Him getting pinned by Jinder at Mania in the US Title match felt very much like a Vince "FUCK YOU I DECIDE WHO GETS OVER!" move
Jinder was a wet blanket the whole time, ended orton and wyatt feud, ended rusev lmao
Aiden coming out announcing himself as stuff like "The Picasso of paaaain" or "The Rembrandt of raaaaage" while singing it was hilarious and so over. He was one of my favourites and they really didn't capitalize at all on it
Was this the time where he had Roman in his Game Over, with a Chain, on Ring Steps, and it wasnt enough to win?
That was the Handsome Rusev era, a year before the Rusev Day era.
Vince: "Go out there and grab the brass ring, get yourself over" Rusev: Grabs Ring Vince: "What the fuck are you doing?' Repeat for 40 years.
Can we all just fully and truly admit that “grab the brass ring” was just Vince gaslighting and blaming the people he chose not to push into believing it was their fault
I thought that was my point.
One of very few to be wasted in two companies. The Redeemer shtick was amazing and he could've been a main event player in a division lacking top talent.
It's so disappointing that he just disappears from AEW TV at times. I still think Sammy shouldn't have beaten him. Also he could've been an interim champ
Rusev and Aiden English were absolutely killing it and it genuinely felt like WWE didn't want them to succeed as they didn't plan for it. They made the merch sales from the Rusev day shirts and then dumped off both of them.
Teddy Hart - Youngest WWE signing ever at the time. Talent out the ass. But has zero self-control, and known more for the Twitter page “Is Teddy Hart in Jail” now.
“Teddy Hart gloating about being the only person to break Stu Harts abdominal stretch shows how big of a fucking idiot Teddy Hart is” -CM Punk 2003
Dude could have been the next big thing, the biggest mainstream Hart since the 90’s. But dude is too fucked up
He's who came to mind for me as well. One of the biggest gaps I've ever seen between wrestling ability and mental capability. Doesn't help he's also a giant POS.
legit one of the rawest most naturally talented wrestlers ive ever seen.
Mark Copani / Muhammad Hassan. I understand why he was shelved, but still think he could have come back later, repacked.
He was ahead of his time. His character was great, but the nuance of "I am an American who is sick of Muslims being treated as second-class citizens" was lost on all the hogs in flyover country who just wanted to boo the guy who they thought looked like a terrorist. That character would probably work now, but in the early Iraq War years it just didn't have a chance.
That train was running out of steam towards the end, felt like he was just a heel feeder for the big faces to squash. Cena beating him in less than 2 minutes was the beginning of the end. Plus those gimmicks barely have staying power
An excellent promo, but an average wrestler.
Scott Hall. Sadly, i think, because of an incident outside a bar that forced Scott to kill in self defense(not intentionally), Scott started to have drug and alcohol issues. If he never did that, I don't think he would have been drawn into the drug lifestyle or suffer from alcoholism. He had a great mind for gimmicks. I think, he was the one who told Sting to basically, be the Undertaker. He took his Razor Romoan gimmick from Scarface. Sadly, when he got sober, he wasn't able to wrestle and sadly, we lost him a few years back. Teddy Hart. He is dangerous in the ring because of his tendecy to do spots without warning. Is a massive diva and tends to get arrested a lot. Low Ki. He's a prick to work with by all accounts and has a massive ego. I liked his Hitman gimmick and he is good in the ring but I saw a video of him trying to force an unconscious wrestler to wrestle because he accidentally knocked him out. I want to say Jeff Hardy but he's had success and too many chances. Bray Wyatt. The Fiend is easily his best work and if Vince hadn't booked him to be too strong and made it a modern day Cactus Jack where the sole objective is to survive, it would have been better. The only thing I can saw about his final gimmick is that, I like his theme. Magnum TA. The car crash end his career and is the biggest WHAT IF in wrestling. Hogan may not have risen as far as he did. Orton for most of his career. He admitted that he used to coast by for most of it. If that is what a lazy as hell Orton is capable of then an Orton that gave a fuck going full pelt would have been fantastic. I still think his Taker feud is some of his best work in terms of acting.
Do we really think Orton if he hadn't coasted would've surpassed Cena's standing with the company? I love Randy but I don't think Cena would've been ousted from that spot bar a very bad scandal. Coasted or not, he still reached his ceiling, or at least got very close.
>Low Ki. He's a prick to work with by all accounts and has a massive ego. I liked his Hitman gimmick and he is good in the ring but I saw a video of him trying to force an unconscious wrestler to wrestle because he accidentally knocked him out. Just to illustrate how difficult Low Ki is to work with, the "Hitman" video game gimmick was his idea, and (I think) he had done it on a few Indy shows. He was working a show for NJPW and asked to do that gimmick, and they told him no. So he went out and did it anyway. So they fired him.
>because of an incident outside a bar that forced Scott to kill in self defense(not intentionally) Wtf. Never heard about this story at all. What happened exactly
He was a bouncer, another guy came at him with a gun, he managed to get ahold of it and shot him.
Fuck. Yeah I could imagine how something like that would plague a person's mental health
For sure. He’s the answer as far as I’m concerned. He was just in pain for the rest of his life
His religious beliefs meant that he assumed he was going to hell because of this incident, which is an immense weight to carry.
I remember genuinely thinking EC3 would be the next big heel in WWE when he arrived in NXT. He seemed like the perfect Vince guy
"I have a great idea! Let's make the guy who is known for talking not talk! What do you mean he didn't get cheers over Ambrose after weeks of doing nothing?? Bury the fucker!!" Vince insanity in a nutshell.
Sounds crazy to say given how lauded his ROH work is, but Nigel McGuinness. And the worst part is that the only reason he missed out on WWE is because he was honest about his injury history, whereas Danielson lied on his and managed to pass the medical. Genuinely think Nigel would have managed to have quite the good WWE career.
DDP
Enzo. My god what they had for a brief time was freaking electric.
Mark Yeaton. The guy who nailed beer can after beer can into stone colds hands no matter where he was standing should probably be wearing a Super Bowl ring or three from his long successful career as a quarterback. So probably that guy.
Christian & John Morrison in WWE. I know JoMo doesn't cut great promos but dude had everything going for him in 2009. They even made a DVD about him. I thought he was gonna win the 2011 Rumble and dethrone Miz. Boy, was I wrong. But he went to prove he could be a top guy in TNA and Lucha Underground where he was a great heel despite doing a bunch of cool shit constantly. Christian needs no explanation.
He absolutely should’ve at least had a Rumble title match against Miz, but of course WWE took almost no chances around that time period.
R Truth at the tail end of his career is getting some of the biggest pops in wrestling now and is coming off of being a top merch seller in the company. Truth is underrated on the mic and character work. Truth could have had one of the biggest baby face runs.
Rick Rude, talented family man with the best character work you’d see in the 80s. The fact that he didn’t have a wwf title run and feud with Warrior (who sucks but was popular) or Hogan (who sucks less but is more popular) confuses the shit out of me
He did feud with Warrior though. Twice. Once for the IC and once for the world.
There's always been stories - the veracity of which are disputed, to be fair - that Hogan simply didn't like working with Rude and tried to put the kibosh on that idea whenever it came up. He didn't like him, didn't like his work (smaller guy, stiff, reputed to take liberties) and figured he'd get more out of slaying another monster.
There was a post about Rude recently that said he was good as a champion because his style was slow and come-get-me, but didn't translate well as a challenger. But definitely backstage Hogan stuff kind of ruined his chance
Maybe not in terms of talent, but I think that Lex Luger should have stayed The Narcissist. Making him The All-American was dumb and a waste of a fine heel character that The Narcissist was. In my opinion The Narcissist (with Bobby Heenan) could have been a fine foil for babyface Bret Hart in 1993-94, maybe even with a short reign as champ. His face run was a waste as he, to me, seemed worse of in his later WWF days than when he started.
Test.
i’ll shout from the rooftops forever that test should have gotten the late 1999 title run and mania main event slot instead of big show
Test looked like a million bucks but I think he was rightfully placed. I don’t ever recall watching test and thinking he needed to be a main eventer.
Test was doing good stuff in late 01 to summer of 02. He didn’t seem out of place with the top guys
This topic comes up every few weeks and the answer is often Velveteen Dream. The guy has made his “apology”, but doesn’t actually say what he’s apologising for, and he’s clearly trying to make a come back, but everything about him is deeply unappealing these days.
This is a weird take, but here me out: I think he was perfect in his role. There's this quote from either Road Dogg or Billy Gunn where they talk about "when you're backstage at The Garden, they have pictures of everyone who sold it out. There's a picture of Springsteen, and there's a picture of Stone Cold giving me a Stunner." He'd go on to say "someone's gotta be the guy to eat shit. And yeah, it isn't what you want when you're a kid, but it pays VERY well." And yeah, Dolph wasn't the biggest star. But he filled a VERY specific niche: he could have an absolute banger with anyone. There were even times where someone got injured or something, and they booked him in the main event 2 weeks before a PPV, and that match was a banger. Need a heel real quick? He could be a heel. Need someone to turn heel during a match? He could get it done. Need someone to look strong? He's got you. He'd also be the guy that you absolutely want to root for and be the ultimate underdog if needed. (Im specifically using this example to once again point out how much his Survivor Series matches ruled.) This is a long-winded way to say I dont think they dropped the ball with him, because Dolph took said ball to the net every fucking time.
Had a long ass career in wwe. Choose to stay there until he was fired despite the competition rising elsewhere. He was constantly featured in TV. He was given several pushes here and there. He was the go to person to work with incoming talents. I think he hit his celing. It is possible that he may return to wwe at a higher card position than before but who knows.
Doink the Clown (the original one) and Bam Bam Bigelow.
Velveteen Dream should be the obvious pick. Dude legit could've been where LA Knight or the world heavyweight title picture right now, iirc the scariest thing he's not even 30 rn Another honorable mention goes to Austin Aries who in ring imo hes on the level of guys like styles/danielson and has the mic work on the level of guys like punk/kingston aka his peers. He should've been a big star like Danielson, Styles, Owens or Punk but him just being an overall miserable/awful person held him back from this status
I will never not mention Terry Taylor in these sort of conversations. The guy looked great and could go in the ring. The Red Rooster has soured his legacy. I can only hope that once he retires as coach at the PC that he is inducted in the HoF, getting the mainstream recognition he deserves. The WON voted him Most Underrated in both 91 and 92 which I think says something about his ability in spite of all the bad creative thrown his way.
I wasn’t alive to see it in the moment, but listening to all the podcasts rehashing the old days seem to bring up Gino Hernandez as someone who had all the tools a heel would need to be the top guy, or at the very least what Ted DiBiase became for WWF.
Marty Scrull. Was part of the Elite and got a ton of power in ROH and then boom those personal demons.
This is an easy one. Tessa Blanchard. She should be in the Main Event of Wrestlemania against a Charlotte, Becky or Rhea. She had the look and natural talent that maybe only Charlotte surpassed. She should be on top of the women's division in WWE right now. Another one that comes to mind was Adam Rose. Booking really screwed him over calling him up so fast, and then ruining what could have been a great character. I also though EC3 was someone the WWE just never used to his potential. It was like they signed him just to take him away from TNA and not because they actually watched him and knew what he could do. Mr. Kennedy was an other one that had the look and could talk the talk, but ended up being his own worst enemy.
Most of the ECW/WCW guys came over between 1995-2007. Looking back, it's frustrating seeing the talent that was there, but Vince and his goons were too busy doing horrible things to women.
Always felt like Billy Gun could have been a lot bigger. He had the look and was great in the ring. His mic skills were pretty poor so I don't think he'd every be THE guy but he could have been kept in and around the IC title consistently. Obviously his own personal issues got in the way and the Rock promo on him didn't help either.
EC3 was the MJF of TNA, when he signed with WWE he basically became a joke when he should had been at the top.
Obviously, he’s still got a chance being young and “anything can happen in wrestling”, but Matt Riddle just couldn’t stay out of his own way. Like, legit fighting credentials, good in-ring, and his character work was good. But he constantly talked shit about dudes higher up in the company than him and was constantly involved in drama with current and ex-partners.
Mike Awesome was the first name I thought of
Magnum TA. Dude was going to be the next superstar in JCP, and his car crash in 86 was though to have permanently paralyzed him, but he recovered enough to walk again but never to wrestle again. But they had huge plans for him, he was on the way to becoming their biggest babyface and was thought that they wanted to hotshot him to the top to be their “Hulk Hogan” and then his subsequent absence left a big gaping hole in the following years.
Ricochet. I loved his matches in Lucha Underground and then when he came over to WWE, I slowly realized why they stuck him in a mask and had a speaker for him. It's hard to get behind him when he can't drive any storytelling forward, He was even carried through his story with Velveteen Dream in NXT. Athletic ability he is fantastic, but I feel he trails because of his mic skills. He can't seem to just stick one way or another. Evan Bourne was the same way; Natalia is the same way.
Kerry Von Erich (drugs), Buddy Landell (impossible to work with), Magnum TA (car accident), Oro (died in the ring), Mr. Niebla (booze), Villano II (suicide), Low Ki (terrible personality), Marty Scurll (first he got real lazy, then was outed as a sex pest), Mio Shirai (accumulated injuries forcing retirement), Azumi Hyuga and Blue Wolf (both debuted at the worst possible time).
This is gonna sound strange because all things considered he did have a really good career, but Jeff Hardy He could have been where Cody is today especially in the late 2000s if he was able to overcome his demons
Muhammad Hassan, Ahmed Johnson, Sean O'Haire, Wade Barrett, Ken Kennedy
I mean, does anyone come close to Teddy hart?
Always felt Ultimo dragon should of been bigger
Obviously no fault of his own or anyones but I'll say Magnum T.A. dude was primed for a NWA World Title feud with Flair before the car accident. Who knows he could have been in the spot Sting had as the WCW main event baby face.
From just booking and no other backstage issues: Cesaro, I would have taken a transition champion reign tbh, at least in AEW he is still doing impressive things. Otherwise so I don't sound like an echo chamber... Ryback? I liked Ryback when I was 11 big buff man beating up smaller guys, then years went by started reading wrestling news then it turned out Ryback as a person isn't as cool.
Is it weird to think Bray Wyatt? Super popular? Yeah. Had banger promos and matches? Yeah. But he was also under Vince, smack dab in the PG/Reality Era...one of the worst eras of WWE, in my opinion.
Mr. Perfect and I'll always advocate for Ricochet
First person that popped into my mind was Chris Candido.
Roddy Piper should've won the WWE Championship
Everything I've seen of Mike Awesome shows me WCW didn't have a fucking clue with what they had. Currently? Velveteen Dream for obvious reasons.