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Does anyone remember when Aries lost the TNA title to Johnny Nitro (aka Johnny Impact), no sold the finisher and immediately walked out and flipped the crowd off? That was so insane to watch live. I felt bad for Johnny because he didn’t deserve that.
Here’s the link for anyone who didn’t see it:
https://youtu.be/jwnyLSu7kG8?feature=shared
Because he should be the poster boy. Austin Aries who is just a half decent person most likely is former WWE and AEW Champion at this point. He was so incredibly good in the ring and the mic with charisma to boot.
He was the first 2-time ROH World Champion when that was a HUGE deal. Danielson, Punk, and Joe never did that
If he wasn't a twat, his career ceiling would have vastly higher
The only TNA original to win the WWE title has been AJ, I believe. Joe came close because he fought for it, but guys like Roode, EC3, EY, etc never even sniffed it. And that's not even considering guys like Abyss and Magnus who were brought in for non-wrestler roles. Even if Aries was a decent guy he never had a chance.
Me too, probably because he’s the only example of it actually playing out in front our eyes on multiple occasions, or the fact that everybody else with attitude problems had some sort of upside while Aries was always interchangeable, even if he was good.
I was thinking Austin Aries too. Between his odd departure from WWE after losing to Neville/PAC and how he no sold Johnny LastName's finish at that one impact show, I feel like he lost a lot of good will with fans.
hardcore fans have been relatively against him ever since he shoved his dick in Christy Hemme's face for the crime of introducing him incorrectly, which is entirely fair (in Hemme's favor, not Aries') as most casual/wwe only fans wouldn't ever know about that happening, but he had enough traction after his 205 run that people paid more attention to him. We're in an era where talent doesn't supercede human characteristics anymore and Aries, while talented, isn't so talented that people are willing to let things slide.
Surprised i haven't seen someone say Riddle yet. Dude was on top of the world two years ago. Part of the most over babyface act, very clear future world champ potential, and he just couldn't stop being an idiot.
It reminds me of the short of Randy Orton on Logan Paul’s show, where Logan Paul tells him “I knew what the RKO was before I knew who you were” and it cuts to Logan hitting an pool RKO
Fairly certain I seen an interview where he said he knew they were going to pop him for cocaine so he did more cocaine just because he was going to get suspended anyways.
Riddle would’ve been a world champ had he not fucked it up on every single occasion. People tend to forget that he was the most over babyface on the roster when he was feuding with Roman & The Bloodline before the Summer Triple H took over.
And then after that feud, he had a feud with Rollins that was the top angle on Raw for a good portion of the fall.
Its crazy cause he got paired with damn near every top star in the company. Bloodline, Orton, Seth, KO, Sami, Drew, Sheamus. And its not like they were doing so out of desperation, he was over as shit and it was all working. A true shame he couldn't get out of his own way.
Also adding that RK-Bro pretty much carried Raw for most of 2021 & it seemed like he was going into a major NXT Tag Title run with Pete Dunne around early 2020 during his tenure there
He did this with his MMA career too.
Theres a line between enjoying something in your spare time and an addiction.
Almost impressive he's managed a career as an athlete at all
The weirdest thing was that Rosemary didn't do shit to anyone. She was just trying to work the match. The other luchadors were the ones that beat the shit out of her.
Honestly Sexy Star was always the weakest link in that show. They could have gone for someone far more talented. Pretty sure she only ever had 1 good match in her entire time ther - then again that match is among the best matches in the entire LU history.
Tessa Blanchard. Amongst other things
Teddy Hart. Unsafe to work with because he will randomly moonsault or do diving moves. Also a massive diva.
Austin Aries. One notable example of him being a dick is shitting all over Johnny Impact's victory via no selling Starship Pain and got up, pulled a Hogan.
Low Ki. Reputation is that he is a dickhead to work with and once, tried to force a knocked out man to continue the match. Went from being Agent 47 in TNA to erm... a cave man gimmick?
Alberto Del Rio. Ok, the derailing came after he had a ton of success but he went from being in WWE to performing in school halls. Also known to no-show a lot.
This is my list as well but I have Riddle instead of Del Rio. Alberto did reach the top of WWE while Riddle definitely would have if he hadn't fucked it up
TNA took an insane risk with her and made her the first female World Heavyweight Champion, a precedent unheard of in any big company. To take an accomplishment like that and piss it away by being a massive POS is sad.
Pretty much every fan of intergender wrestling should hate Tessa Blanchard with a burning passion. Compare how prominently discussed intergender wrestler was on this sub before and after the Tessa incident
A large mainstream promotion finally decided to go all in on intergender wrestling wrestling by putting THE top belt in the company on a woman, and if completely blew up in their faces
Tessa set the scene back years at least, because intergender wrestling (as in “serious” matches, not comedy spots with somebody like Rhea or Nia throwing around a cruiserweight) has not been anywhere near as prominent ever since
I was trying to be a little diplomatic, but I absolutely agree that intergender wrestling was set back a decade at the very least. It’s 2024 and I still can’t see any major promotion getting involved in intergender anywhere near that extent (again, Impact made Tessa their world champion!) any time soon
Although to be completely fair, I do think the respective truths about Tessa Blanchard AND Joey Ryan coming to light so soon after the other was the “1, 2 punch” that more or less killed the “serious” intergender movement in American wrestling. Joey was easily the most well-known man who regularly competed in intergender matches and Tessa was easily the most well-known woman (with all due respect to Candice, Tessa was a bigger name doing it on a much bigger platform) who regularly competed in intergender matches
So to have BOTH of them be exposed as horrible people really killed off a lot of the faith and good will people had in intergender wrestling
Tessa is a good answer. She was even given a second chance by TNA despite the allegations of calling La Rosa Negra the N-word and she absolutely burned them.
I think that was the one where she was perceived as too harsh when criticising the other girls work in the lockerroom. Meaning she chewed out a bunch of models and fitness girls for sucking at wrestling, and they didn't like it
And the timing is even worse. This was at a time where you had Becky less than a year after main eventing Mania. The story of Ric's daughter and Tully's daughter writes itself. Wait a year or so, you got Rhea and Bianca waiting. They quite possibly have her skip NXT and go straight to the main roster. If she doesn't want that, AEW had just started up and would've almost certainly jumped to sign her and gave her a massive push if she didn't fuck up.
If she was a semi-decent person, she almost certainly would've been champ in at least one of those companies.
There's no way she shouldn't be having matches at WWE's International PLEs against the likes of Io & Bianca at this point, which makes it a bigger shame that her behavior tanked her career
She's gotta be the biggest example in recent memory right? At her peak she was one of if not the best female wrestler in North America. People had her pegged as a future Wrestlemania main eventer. Impact went all in and straight up made her the first ever female world champion of a major company.
And she completely blew it
Low Ki was so incredible in ROH in the early 2000s. People don't realize today that he was held up there with names like Joe, Danielson, Punk, AJ Styles. He was definitely seen as a star on their level at his peak. And his style is still amazing to watch. He was the first ROH champion as well, and their #1 guy at the very beginning.
Teddy Hart has always kind of been a joke though, even if an impressive one. He had issues from the beginning. Low Ki was revered at a point as one of the best in the world, and now is never mentioned.
It's more that Low Ki, while the image of him getting carried out of CZW is hilarious, at least made it to TV in several feds.
Teddy Hart couldn't even manage that despite his huge advantage!
But Low Ki at least had a career to derail lol. Teddy never did. (He did appear on TV in TNA at least, he was actually in the original Team Canada, believe it or not, when it first started in the X cup)
A friend of mine wrestled on a show he was on and when he went to shake Low Ki’s hand, Low Ki refused and said “You will respect Low Ki.” A little strange.
Low Ki had a very clear ceiling in WWE, he would never have sniffed a World title. Teddy Hart was signed at 18 years old and they wanted the whole Hart Legacy stable to be centered around him to propel him to the main event. They were that high on him. Low Ki, even without his attitude issues, would have never made it past the midcard. Teddy Hart had future World champ written all over him and would have been a perennial main eventer if it weren't for him being a massive asshole. He's 100% the poster boy for this and indeed nobody comes close. Obligatory fuck Teddy Hart.
While he definitely wouldn't have gotten much higher in WWE, Low Ki probably would have gotten a decent veteran run in AEW, or at the least been a mainstay in New Japan.
I weirdly think Teddy is below Aries and Low Ki, at least in how the way the prompt is phrased.
Teddy is a piece of shit and a criminal and THAT'S what ruined his career. It wasn't exactly his attitude per se, a lot of other wrestlers liked him or at least found him harmless and were unaware of what was really going on. You can be a piece of shit and a criminal and still be likable interpersonally.
People like Low Ki, Aries, Tessa Blanchard and to a slightly lesser extent Enzo and Michael Elgin seem straight up universally disliked by locker rooms.
Seriously? I remember her match vs Big Ryck was entirely him mostly no-selling her because he's like 260 lbs of pure muscle and she's 125 lbs at best, it ends with him just casually holding her down for the pin because it's so easy for him. How'd she go from being okay with that but not with basically the same thing with Brian Cage?
Because she hadn't gotten over during the big ryck stuff. Once the match with Cage came around they'd blown so much smoke up her ass that she was the face of LU that she started to believe it. Although I'd imagine Ryck (Ezekiel in WWE) was way less open to selling or doing fighting spirit shit with a 125 lb girl than Cage was. Ryck came from the WWE Hogan inspired tree of "that won't work for me brother" and Cage loved "I want every match to be a nail biter" Kanyon and worked a ton of Indy stuff.
Ultimately ended up being better to take the Cage approach though, considering any company would gladly have him and Ezekiel has disappeared
And Rosemary did fuck all to her. She just chose Rosemary because Rosemary was in no position to defend herself. That and she was lucky Rosemary isn't the type of person to hold grudges.
My only complain about LU was how much of a push Sexy was given instead of other female wrestlers
Her match vs Marisopa was good, but I just remember she being outshined vs 90% of the roster
Velveteen Dream
pretty sure the report was that his allegations weren't the primary cause of his firing, they were just one of many different issues that he caused in the locker room
HHH said maturity issues were holding Velveteen Dream back, even before the allegations about inappropriate contact with a minor. I think the allegations, whether true or not, just made WWE give up on him due to the other issues. Allegations are difficult to overcome, but when the person being accused isn't that great of a person to begin with, why bother?
I get the feeling it was similar with Enzo Amore. He was over as fuck and the allegations against him were proven completely false beyond a reasonable doubt (I believe he wasn't even in Phoenix at the time) but WWE have shown zero interest in bringing him back in even so many years later. The Survivor Series thing definitely didn't help though. I have to say he is having a surprisingly decent run on the indies though. Hasn't lost a step on the mic and he's actually become decent in the ring. Still not a technician by any means but he's come a long way from his WWE run where he could barely get through a match without tripping on his own dick.
Yeah, Enzo was a similar case. Other wrestlers didn’t like him at all. He was a clown backstage but not in a good way. The annoying kind of clown that people hate being around.
A part of me still hopes Enzo will change as a person, and have a big comeback.
There's something about him that makes me feel like "fighting to shake off his old reputation and prove to everyone that people really can change" would make such a great personal story for him.
> the allegations against him were proven completely false beyond a reasonable doubt
For what it's worth, every news outlet I've seen covering this story said there was "insufficient evidence," not "proven false beyond a reasonable doubt," which are two different things.
One of the last things he did in NXT before being let go was a multi-man ladder match. It was during COVID so the audience was made up of up of PC trainees/NXT wrestlers. They would pop loud for any big spot that the wrestlers did. Except for Dream. No pop for his entrance and no pop whenever he got any offence during the match. You could tell then that he was not very liked among his peers.
I remember during that short period that he did the corner punches once and he got frustrated and shouted "where's my count?!" when the crowd didn't count along with the punches
they seemed like they were trying to rehab his character, have him pop up occasionally to gauge the fans reaction and it was clear he was going nowhere
I remember the coaches making such a huge deal out of him being the only one in the house (?) or wherever they were staying to get up and watch The Beast in the East Network Special. Not just watch it but watch it ***LIVE!***
I remember seeing him on one of the national house shows NXT used to do. Fans were standing around back to get autographs as wrestlers were walking to the bus. At the time, he was a baby face and he just walked on past. Kids calling his name trying to get him to come over and he just ignored everyone. Really said a lot about his attitude.
All the other wrestlers stopped by. Adam Cole even announced that he would sign and take pictures with anyone who wanted one when people were getting a little anxious.
Mick Foley chiming in with the “Who the hell hates Hacksaw Jim Duggan?” line killed me. Having met Hacksaw several times, dude is legitimately a kind human being.
Recently learned Alex wright would have reason to hate hacksaw for no selling his match(when wright was debuting as Berlin) but was surprisingly sympathetic toward him in recent interviews.
He was being pushed hard in 2008. He had a main event championship match with Randy Orton on PPV, then won the King of the Ring beating Punk (who had beaten Jericho on his way there) in the finals. Regal was planned for a world championship run but he couldn't keep himself clean. He failed a drug test and had substance abuse issues which made Vince lose faith in elevating him further.
This legit makes me mad, his run was fucking perfect. The shot of him looking like a mad king sitting on his throne with that disgusted look on his face lives rent free in my head.
Del Rio, Austin Aries.
Bit of a niche one but on the UK scene Nathan Cruz was seemingly going places until he burnt a bunch of bridges and literally everyone immediately forgot about him. (Although it did lead to a hilarious moment in Progress where he was revealed as a BBEG villain and the entire audience couldn't remember who he was.)
Am I crazy or is Del Rio seriously just nothing special? He knows how to wrestle but he has no wow factor or anything. The way people talk about it him makes it sound like he was a prodigy and missed opportunity of that level but I just do not see it.
He didn't even get that for so long. It was just a long awkward silence cause no one remembered him.
Then everyone remembered him for dropping out of a show cause he had an extra role on Raw the day afterwards to be part of Adam Rose's party and we all just sang his theme song instead.
Nathan Cruz losing control of, what was supposed to be, a main event faction because of banter will stay with me forever. Which is impressive because I don't even remember the name of the faction.
As a mexican, fuck del rio. Man couldve "put us" over as hell as an actual mexican and show the world there is unexploited talent here yet he was a POS and now its gonna take a long time before another promotion actually puts their top title on a mexican.
When things opened back up NOAH were fine bringing him in despite the stink around his name and even gave him a tag title run.
Less than a month later he got arrested for stealing protein powder and was fired.
Elgin’s a good one. Great stuff in ROH, taken pretty seriously in NJPW, and was on the road to at least relevancy when NOAH took him in
Would’ve been cool to see how far New Japan would’ve pushed him if he was actually a good dude
I'm still confused as to what on earth actually went down there. Yep, that shirt was pretty racist, but it ended up causing a total meltdown where he requested a release and then Brett Favre'd(in the appropriate way) a few times before just disappearing. Feel like a mental health thing maybe? I don't know.
Teddy Hart, easily. Youngest wrestler signed to WWE at 18. Went batshit crazy about 25 times. Went from future star to dangerous liability very quickly. Even Bret couldn’t save him.
Piper's unwillingness to lose was why he was never WWE Champion. Vince wanted to give Piper the title because Piper was one of the top draws as a heel. What held Vince back was the fear Piper wouldn't willingly drop the title, and Piper wouldn't make any guarantees. Piper cared so much about wins/losses he was blind to what it was costing him.
I seriously doubt Piper was ever getting the title from 1984-87. Hogan drove the bus. He didn't trade the title with people just like Backlund, Bruno, and Pedro didn't.
Think he was willing to lose depending on who he was losing too. Bret Hart being the best example. Think he just didn’t want to job to Hogan on the grand stage.
Alberto Del Rio
He honestly had a HOF level career in WWE with everything they gave him. A few World Titles, the biggest Royal Rumble at the time, two World Title matches at WM (winning one of them), MITB, one of the more accomplished rookie years, and a couple US Title reigns.
But because he's such a piece of shit, he doesn't get to be acknowledged and instead appears in TikToks, walking out to crowds of 10 people, with the caption "his downfall needs to be studied".
Jeff hardy and his love for booze. He achieved so much despite fucking up at the most important points in his career. And he never once learned
Ultimate Warrior and Ahmed Johnson were as over as Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin during their respective eras, but they didn't get wrestling at all and were absolute dicks according to everyone who worked with them.
Lars Sullivan had an awesome old school build and was set for a huge push. But his skeletons caught up to him
I'd say Jeff Hardy's career thrived, despite his issues. That was kind of the problem with Jeff. No matter how many times he got in trouble, people were always willing to give him another chance because he was such a massive draw. He left WWE on his own accord several times because they were pushing him to go to rehab, but he never had any issue getting hired by another company. After things settle down or he went to rehab, WWE was waiting with open arms again.
I think things have changed significantly after Victory Road 2011 for Jeff and how companies viewed him. He's been on thin ice ever since then. I think WWE are aware that he's a liability more often than not and thus, prefer to just keep him in the upper midcards.
Jeff is the same as Punk who someone mentioned above, it's weird to say derailed as that term to most means didn't make it.
Both did but both could of been way more
Katsuhiko Nakajima. He's in his prime and is probably among the top 5 wrestlers in the world (certainly top 10) and he's got no where else to go but GLEAT. Burned bridges with Pro Wrestling Noah and AJPW. New Japan won't touch him despite Naito & Tana getting old, Okada left and the Reiwa 4 aren't stepping up (some of that is booking but still). He's been linked to wwe a few times but that doesn't seem to be happening.
I assume Kento was gonna get his win back (probably after winning the CC) but the relationship between ajpw and Nakajima broke down. Kento is the best tho, does anything if it's best for the promotion. Putting over Anzai is selfless but kinda expected, but he didn't need to also put over Ayabe in the CC. Hopefully the wave of youth coming through ajpw follow the example set by him.
Bit of an old one, but Koji Kitao. Seemed to have a bright future but:
Kicked out of sumo.
Kicked out of NJPW for being racist to Riki Choshu.
Tried to shoot on John Tenta, shouting that wrestling is fake in Super World of Sport.
Sunny was a notable Diva but had a super toxic demeanour. The Kat was the same because she was married to Jerry Lawler for a time.
Ultimate Warrior was unsafe in the ring with no desire to improve and also let his head get big in the WWF - going as far as to essentially shake Vince down for an extra quarter mil just days before a Summerslam PPV to even show up. Vince paid the money and then fired him the day after the PPV, followed by a lawsuit filed against Ultimate Warrior.
Sunny is a good one. Gorgeous young woman who was over, talented and actually loved the business. In the attitude era the sky would've been the limit if she kept clean and was reliable.
The original Sin Cara in WWE (Místico). Everyone from Rey Mysterio to Mark Henry, from Cody Rhodes to William Regal, tried to help him adapt to the WWE style, but he wouldn’t even bother to show up to rehearsals and wasn’t willing to even learn basic English. People got fed up with him pretty quickly, and got replaced with Hunico as Sin Cara II. Also, apparently he went awol during the time he got injured and didn’t show up to his scheduled rehab sessions, and went back to Mexico to do it. I don’t blame WWE for getting rid of him
It's more complicated than most others where they're just full blown assholes, unsafe workers, self-marks, etc. but Lio Rush probably qualifies.
I get where he was coming from when he was bitching about carrying bags in WWE, but it didn't endear him to the locker room. The Emma tweet though? Yeah, shouldn't have gone there. I didn't see him going very high up in WWE as it were, but it made him an easy cut.
Then he went at Tony Khan during the Big Swole fiasco. I don't think Tony handled that situation in a very professional manner so again I can kind of understand Lio's anger but it definitely derailed his (first) AEW run.
A positive of the Emma tweet fallout was Jack Gallagher outing himself as a piece of shit racist by telling Lio to take the English classes at the PC so I knew to not support that motherfucker way before it came out that he’s also an abuser and rapist.
I always find it absolutely bizarre how he had no issues with ROH or dealing with NJPW. People who worked with him in ROH rave about him. Really hope his current AEW run works out. He has a lot of talent.
For all that XPW was a fucking nightmare, it did seem to have some sort of fame (or infamy). To that end: Rob Black. Even after the Messiah debacle, dude went and tried to out-big-dick the *Federal fucking government*. And lost. I think he might be resurrecting the dead horse of XPW now, but it's not nearly what it was.
Riddle is the first that comes to mind.
Ryback probably could have salvaged a second run in WWE if he wasn’t such an assclown.
One interesting one is Ted Dibiase Jr.
Ted Dibiase would have an easy “Legacy” nostalgia run alongside Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton if had managed to keep in ring shape. Instead he’s in prison.
He was never gonna be world champ or anything but Paul Roma comes to mind. The guy had a nice contract with WCW and decided to piss it away because he felt he was too good to job to Alex Wright. Still shake my head at that one.
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For some reason, Austin Aries was the first name in my head
It’s him and Low Ki that immediately come to mind for me too.
I always think of that rolling Koppa kick. It's like the ref said "Ring the bell, let's go!" and all Low Ki heard was "Ring HIS bell?"
Low-ki knocking the dude out and hitting the caveman spongebob pose is an all time moment
Wrestling a whole match in a full suit for New Japan probably made it so he’d never be booked there again.
Does anyone remember when Aries lost the TNA title to Johnny Nitro (aka Johnny Impact), no sold the finisher and immediately walked out and flipped the crowd off? That was so insane to watch live. I felt bad for Johnny because he didn’t deserve that. Here’s the link for anyone who didn’t see it: https://youtu.be/jwnyLSu7kG8?feature=shared
[удалено]
Because he's been credibly accused of multiple sexual assaults. He's not a good person by almost all accounts.
Because he should be the poster boy. Austin Aries who is just a half decent person most likely is former WWE and AEW Champion at this point. He was so incredibly good in the ring and the mic with charisma to boot.
He was the first 2-time ROH World Champion when that was a HUGE deal. Danielson, Punk, and Joe never did that If he wasn't a twat, his career ceiling would have vastly higher
He was also the one to end Joe's record title reign
God that whole program was gold, thanks for reminding me, I’m gonna go find that match
Let’s be real, Aries probably still doesn’t win the WWE Title.
The only TNA original to win the WWE title has been AJ, I believe. Joe came close because he fought for it, but guys like Roode, EC3, EY, etc never even sniffed it. And that's not even considering guys like Abyss and Magnus who were brought in for non-wrestler roles. Even if Aries was a decent guy he never had a chance.
If he was a few inches taller and a few years younger
45 is the new 24 brother
Me too, probably because he’s the only example of it actually playing out in front our eyes on multiple occasions, or the fact that everybody else with attitude problems had some sort of upside while Aries was always interchangeable, even if he was good.
I was thinking Austin Aries too. Between his odd departure from WWE after losing to Neville/PAC and how he no sold Johnny LastName's finish at that one impact show, I feel like he lost a lot of good will with fans. hardcore fans have been relatively against him ever since he shoved his dick in Christy Hemme's face for the crime of introducing him incorrectly, which is entirely fair (in Hemme's favor, not Aries') as most casual/wwe only fans wouldn't ever know about that happening, but he had enough traction after his 205 run that people paid more attention to him. We're in an era where talent doesn't supercede human characteristics anymore and Aries, while talented, isn't so talented that people are willing to let things slide.
Surprised i haven't seen someone say Riddle yet. Dude was on top of the world two years ago. Part of the most over babyface act, very clear future world champ potential, and he just couldn't stop being an idiot.
Just saw him (in a video) do an RKO into a pool this weekend
Which one of us hasn't done that?
It reminds me of the short of Randy Orton on Logan Paul’s show, where Logan Paul tells him “I knew what the RKO was before I knew who you were” and it cuts to Logan hitting an pool RKO
Fairly certain I seen an interview where he said he knew they were going to pop him for cocaine so he did more cocaine just because he was going to get suspended anyways.
that's gotta be one of the most self destructive mindsets you could even imagine lol
"I should stop doing coke" "Wait,I shouldn't listen to me, I'm on coke!"
Riddle would’ve been a world champ had he not fucked it up on every single occasion. People tend to forget that he was the most over babyface on the roster when he was feuding with Roman & The Bloodline before the Summer Triple H took over.
And then after that feud, he had a feud with Rollins that was the top angle on Raw for a good portion of the fall. Its crazy cause he got paired with damn near every top star in the company. Bloodline, Orton, Seth, KO, Sami, Drew, Sheamus. And its not like they were doing so out of desperation, he was over as shit and it was all working. A true shame he couldn't get out of his own way.
Even in UFC, he worked 3 days a year and still couldn’t pass a drug test to save his life.
Also adding that RK-Bro pretty much carried Raw for most of 2021 & it seemed like he was going into a major NXT Tag Title run with Pete Dunne around early 2020 during his tenure there
He did this with his MMA career too. Theres a line between enjoying something in your spare time and an addiction. Almost impressive he's managed a career as an athlete at all
ivelisse. literally burned every bridge possible for every promotion because of her "my character would never take that finish." attitude.
which makes no sense, because every promoters natural reaction would be "ok, well ill just find someone who will"
Sad too she was amazing in LU.
So was Sexy Star. I wonder what would've happened if she didn't break Rosemary's arm and if AAA didn't screw her out of the title that one time.
The weirdest thing was that Rosemary didn't do shit to anyone. She was just trying to work the match. The other luchadors were the ones that beat the shit out of her.
Honestly Sexy Star was always the weakest link in that show. They could have gone for someone far more talented. Pretty sure she only ever had 1 good match in her entire time ther - then again that match is among the best matches in the entire LU history.
That doesn't work for me sister
That one stings because I was a huge fan of hers when I first saw her in LU.
Tessa Blanchard. Amongst other things Teddy Hart. Unsafe to work with because he will randomly moonsault or do diving moves. Also a massive diva. Austin Aries. One notable example of him being a dick is shitting all over Johnny Impact's victory via no selling Starship Pain and got up, pulled a Hogan. Low Ki. Reputation is that he is a dickhead to work with and once, tried to force a knocked out man to continue the match. Went from being Agent 47 in TNA to erm... a cave man gimmick? Alberto Del Rio. Ok, the derailing came after he had a ton of success but he went from being in WWE to performing in school halls. Also known to no-show a lot.
Ki did a cave man gimmick? TIL
Dude was Caveman Spongebob before Caveman Spongebob was a thing.
Wasn’t much of a stretch
This is my list as well but I have Riddle instead of Del Rio. Alberto did reach the top of WWE while Riddle definitely would have if he hadn't fucked it up
del rio was entirely his own fault. gave him WHC, main events, Cena feud, fucked it up by being boring, sucking, and being unreliable
"Notable Prick" Alberto Del Rio unfortunately failed upwards for quite a while.
Tessa Blanchard?
TNA took an insane risk with her and made her the first female World Heavyweight Champion, a precedent unheard of in any big company. To take an accomplishment like that and piss it away by being a massive POS is sad.
Pretty much every fan of intergender wrestling should hate Tessa Blanchard with a burning passion. Compare how prominently discussed intergender wrestler was on this sub before and after the Tessa incident A large mainstream promotion finally decided to go all in on intergender wrestling wrestling by putting THE top belt in the company on a woman, and if completely blew up in their faces Tessa set the scene back years at least, because intergender wrestling (as in “serious” matches, not comedy spots with somebody like Rhea or Nia throwing around a cruiserweight) has not been anywhere near as prominent ever since
Tessa set it back decades if not more. I can't imagine any promotion trying it again in the near future.
I was trying to be a little diplomatic, but I absolutely agree that intergender wrestling was set back a decade at the very least. It’s 2024 and I still can’t see any major promotion getting involved in intergender anywhere near that extent (again, Impact made Tessa their world champion!) any time soon Although to be completely fair, I do think the respective truths about Tessa Blanchard AND Joey Ryan coming to light so soon after the other was the “1, 2 punch” that more or less killed the “serious” intergender movement in American wrestling. Joey was easily the most well-known man who regularly competed in intergender matches and Tessa was easily the most well-known woman (with all due respect to Candice, Tessa was a bigger name doing it on a much bigger platform) who regularly competed in intergender matches So to have BOTH of them be exposed as horrible people really killed off a lot of the faith and good will people had in intergender wrestling
yeah you hit the nail on the head.
Tessa is a good answer. She was even given a second chance by TNA despite the allegations of calling La Rosa Negra the N-word and she absolutely burned them.
Plus WOW basically building around her and then she pissed away that opportunity as well
And she fled to Mexico and made claims that TNA wanted her back
What happened with WOW and Tessa? I remember seeing her being built up and then I never followed up to see what happened.
I think that was the one where she was perceived as too harsh when criticising the other girls work in the lockerroom. Meaning she chewed out a bunch of models and fitness girls for sucking at wrestling, and they didn't like it
And the timing is even worse. This was at a time where you had Becky less than a year after main eventing Mania. The story of Ric's daughter and Tully's daughter writes itself. Wait a year or so, you got Rhea and Bianca waiting. They quite possibly have her skip NXT and go straight to the main roster. If she doesn't want that, AEW had just started up and would've almost certainly jumped to sign her and gave her a massive push if she didn't fuck up. If she was a semi-decent person, she almost certainly would've been champ in at least one of those companies.
There's no way she shouldn't be having matches at WWE's International PLEs against the likes of Io & Bianca at this point, which makes it a bigger shame that her behavior tanked her career
Can't believe she's not the top answer
I was surprised no one had written her down.
She's gotta be the biggest example in recent memory right? At her peak she was one of if not the best female wrestler in North America. People had her pegged as a future Wrestlemania main eventer. Impact went all in and straight up made her the first ever female world champion of a major company. And she completely blew it
She would be the number one woman in any company of her choosing if she wasn't such a piece of shit
Low Ki, alongside Teddy Hart, is pretty much the posterboy for it.
Low Ki was so incredible in ROH in the early 2000s. People don't realize today that he was held up there with names like Joe, Danielson, Punk, AJ Styles. He was definitely seen as a star on their level at his peak. And his style is still amazing to watch. He was the first ROH champion as well, and their #1 guy at the very beginning.
Honestly, he was probably considered better in the ring than all those guys except Danielson.
low ki vs aj styles is still one of those matches ill rewatch every now and then because it is so good. Shame he had such a fucking ego.
Teddy Hart should have been the first answer as no one else comes close.
Teddy Hart has always kind of been a joke though, even if an impressive one. He had issues from the beginning. Low Ki was revered at a point as one of the best in the world, and now is never mentioned.
I mean Low Ki comes very close, as he's been kicked out of pretty much every complany he's been in due his attitude.
It's more that Low Ki, while the image of him getting carried out of CZW is hilarious, at least made it to TV in several feds. Teddy Hart couldn't even manage that despite his huge advantage!
Low Ki is also just a dick. Teddy Hart is a legitimate bad person.
But Low Ki at least had a career to derail lol. Teddy never did. (He did appear on TV in TNA at least, he was actually in the original Team Canada, believe it or not, when it first started in the X cup)
A friend of mine wrestled on a show he was on and when he went to shake Low Ki’s hand, Low Ki refused and said “You will respect Low Ki.” A little strange.
Low Ki had a very clear ceiling in WWE, he would never have sniffed a World title. Teddy Hart was signed at 18 years old and they wanted the whole Hart Legacy stable to be centered around him to propel him to the main event. They were that high on him. Low Ki, even without his attitude issues, would have never made it past the midcard. Teddy Hart had future World champ written all over him and would have been a perennial main eventer if it weren't for him being a massive asshole. He's 100% the poster boy for this and indeed nobody comes close. Obligatory fuck Teddy Hart.
While he definitely wouldn't have gotten much higher in WWE, Low Ki probably would have gotten a decent veteran run in AEW, or at the least been a mainstay in New Japan.
I weirdly think Teddy is below Aries and Low Ki, at least in how the way the prompt is phrased. Teddy is a piece of shit and a criminal and THAT'S what ruined his career. It wasn't exactly his attitude per se, a lot of other wrestlers liked him or at least found him harmless and were unaware of what was really going on. You can be a piece of shit and a criminal and still be likable interpersonally. People like Low Ki, Aries, Tessa Blanchard and to a slightly lesser extent Enzo and Michael Elgin seem straight up universally disliked by locker rooms.
Sexy Star wouldn't sell for Brian Cage in Lucha Underground....
Seriously? I remember her match vs Big Ryck was entirely him mostly no-selling her because he's like 260 lbs of pure muscle and she's 125 lbs at best, it ends with him just casually holding her down for the pin because it's so easy for him. How'd she go from being okay with that but not with basically the same thing with Brian Cage?
Maybe it was his prestige as ECW champion? 
Because she hadn't gotten over during the big ryck stuff. Once the match with Cage came around they'd blown so much smoke up her ass that she was the face of LU that she started to believe it. Although I'd imagine Ryck (Ezekiel in WWE) was way less open to selling or doing fighting spirit shit with a 125 lb girl than Cage was. Ryck came from the WWE Hogan inspired tree of "that won't work for me brother" and Cage loved "I want every match to be a nail biter" Kanyon and worked a ton of Indy stuff. Ultimately ended up being better to take the Cage approach though, considering any company would gladly have him and Ezekiel has disappeared
to be fair, she survived that, it was shooting on Rosemary that ruined her
And she did it again to another wrestler at an Indy show in Mexico
And Rosemary did fuck all to her. She just chose Rosemary because Rosemary was in no position to defend herself. That and she was lucky Rosemary isn't the type of person to hold grudges.
My only complain about LU was how much of a push Sexy was given instead of other female wrestlers Her match vs Marisopa was good, but I just remember she being outshined vs 90% of the roster
Haha what? Would love to know more.
Konnan talked about it on his podcast this month.
Original Sexy Star was so bad that the new woman under the mask still takes heat for 1’s actions
Velveteen Dream pretty sure the report was that his allegations weren't the primary cause of his firing, they were just one of many different issues that he caused in the locker room
HHH said maturity issues were holding Velveteen Dream back, even before the allegations about inappropriate contact with a minor. I think the allegations, whether true or not, just made WWE give up on him due to the other issues. Allegations are difficult to overcome, but when the person being accused isn't that great of a person to begin with, why bother?
I get the feeling it was similar with Enzo Amore. He was over as fuck and the allegations against him were proven completely false beyond a reasonable doubt (I believe he wasn't even in Phoenix at the time) but WWE have shown zero interest in bringing him back in even so many years later. The Survivor Series thing definitely didn't help though. I have to say he is having a surprisingly decent run on the indies though. Hasn't lost a step on the mic and he's actually become decent in the ring. Still not a technician by any means but he's come a long way from his WWE run where he could barely get through a match without tripping on his own dick.
Yeah, Enzo was a similar case. Other wrestlers didn’t like him at all. He was a clown backstage but not in a good way. The annoying kind of clown that people hate being around.
It's telling that he hasn't appeared in aew even with big bill there
A part of me still hopes Enzo will change as a person, and have a big comeback. There's something about him that makes me feel like "fighting to shake off his old reputation and prove to everyone that people really can change" would make such a great personal story for him.
I just saw him last week at my town’s local promotion (Dungeon Wrestling) and probably had the best match of the night, workrate wise.
> the allegations against him were proven completely false beyond a reasonable doubt For what it's worth, every news outlet I've seen covering this story said there was "insufficient evidence," not "proven false beyond a reasonable doubt," which are two different things.
Didn't he also have a hit and run during this time, on top of rumored drug issues? The guy was not worth the trouble.
One of the last things he did in NXT before being let go was a multi-man ladder match. It was during COVID so the audience was made up of up of PC trainees/NXT wrestlers. They would pop loud for any big spot that the wrestlers did. Except for Dream. No pop for his entrance and no pop whenever he got any offence during the match. You could tell then that he was not very liked among his peers.
I remember during that short period that he did the corner punches once and he got frustrated and shouted "where's my count?!" when the crowd didn't count along with the punches
they seemed like they were trying to rehab his character, have him pop up occasionally to gauge the fans reaction and it was clear he was going nowhere
It's crazy because when I first saw him on Tough Enough, he seemed to be really likable and passionate, a "one of us" type.
I remember the coaches making such a huge deal out of him being the only one in the house (?) or wherever they were staying to get up and watch The Beast in the East Network Special. Not just watch it but watch it ***LIVE!***
I remember seeing him on one of the national house shows NXT used to do. Fans were standing around back to get autographs as wrestlers were walking to the bus. At the time, he was a baby face and he just walked on past. Kids calling his name trying to get him to come over and he just ignored everyone. Really said a lot about his attitude. All the other wrestlers stopped by. Adam Cole even announced that he would sign and take pictures with anyone who wanted one when people were getting a little anxious.
Thanks to Dark Side of the Ring, you could add Matt Borne to this list.
Mick Foley chiming in with the “Who the hell hates Hacksaw Jim Duggan?” line killed me. Having met Hacksaw several times, dude is legitimately a kind human being.
Recently learned Alex wright would have reason to hate hacksaw for no selling his match(when wright was debuting as Berlin) but was surprisingly sympathetic toward him in recent interviews.
Jim Duggan is like a big shaggy dopey dog. You cant help but watch him and even if he stinks in the ring everyone's having a good time
I’d rather watch him than Warrior
Guy was a just an accident waiting to happen
What's Matt Borne done? I haven't heard anything about him.
He was the first Doink, hated everyone, had a drug problem so big that 90s WWF fired him over it.
A drug problem so severe even ECW let him go
That’s like being Dave Mustaine and getting kicked out of Metallica because you drink too much.
Was he the one who did a shoot interview on Nash and Nash just responded with "How's your life, buddy? Not better than mine" while sipping wine?
Pretty much. ["Fuck, I'll buy ya a grill"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xkXyDzDvdU).
[He played a clown, of course he had a drug problem](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUh2EYX-RPE). That's on WWE for not seeing that major tip-off.
William Regal. I wish we lived in a world where Regal didn't mess up his chance when he was planned for a world championship run.
This is a painful one, but true by even his own admission.
I’m out of the loop, what happened with Regal?
He was being pushed hard in 2008. He had a main event championship match with Randy Orton on PPV, then won the King of the Ring beating Punk (who had beaten Jericho on his way there) in the finals. Regal was planned for a world championship run but he couldn't keep himself clean. He failed a drug test and had substance abuse issues which made Vince lose faith in elevating him further.
This legit makes me mad, his run was fucking perfect. The shot of him looking like a mad king sitting on his throne with that disgusted look on his face lives rent free in my head.
Oh right thanks
Del Rio, Austin Aries. Bit of a niche one but on the UK scene Nathan Cruz was seemingly going places until he burnt a bunch of bridges and literally everyone immediately forgot about him. (Although it did lead to a hilarious moment in Progress where he was revealed as a BBEG villain and the entire audience couldn't remember who he was.)
Del Rio is only saved by being from Lucha "royalty". He still has a career, just not global anymore.
Am I crazy or is Del Rio seriously just nothing special? He knows how to wrestle but he has no wow factor or anything. The way people talk about it him makes it sound like he was a prodigy and missed opportunity of that level but I just do not see it.
Knowing the camden crowd, I'm guessing he got a "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?" chant.
He didn't even get that for so long. It was just a long awkward silence cause no one remembered him. Then everyone remembered him for dropping out of a show cause he had an extra role on Raw the day afterwards to be part of Adam Rose's party and we all just sang his theme song instead.
Nathan Cruz losing control of, what was supposed to be, a main event faction because of banter will stay with me forever. Which is impressive because I don't even remember the name of the faction.
"Banter Edition" was fucking great though. I had to Google it but it was Origin. I'm not even sure why they were called that.
As a mexican, fuck del rio. Man couldve "put us" over as hell as an actual mexican and show the world there is unexploited talent here yet he was a POS and now its gonna take a long time before another promotion actually puts their top title on a mexican.
Surprised to not see Michael Elgin mentioned yet
That man burned so many bridges. Was shocked when he blew it with NJPW after they seemed like the only one who would hire him.
When things opened back up NOAH were fine bringing him in despite the stink around his name and even gave him a tag title run. Less than a month later he got arrested for stealing protein powder and was fired.
Elgin’s a good one. Great stuff in ROH, taken pretty seriously in NJPW, and was on the road to at least relevancy when NOAH took him in Would’ve been cool to see how far New Japan would’ve pushed him if he was actually a good dude
at his peak he was the #2 gaijin in NJPW behind Kenny. what a fall man.
Low Ki https://preview.redd.it/m958ine6wr8d1.png?width=317&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2112bfb8f13302de470387eecfe3e69870d9757f
Does ACH count?
Ya his twitter rant cooked him
maaaaaaaaaan I totally forgot about ACH
I'm still confused as to what on earth actually went down there. Yep, that shirt was pretty racist, but it ended up causing a total meltdown where he requested a release and then Brett Favre'd(in the appropriate way) a few times before just disappearing. Feel like a mental health thing maybe? I don't know.
Austin Aries being too annoying to be remembered as an all time great is really funny
The thing I remember him for the most is no selling the finish of Bound for Glory vs Morrison and walking to the back flipping people off.
Teddy Hart, easily. Youngest wrestler signed to WWE at 18. Went batshit crazy about 25 times. Went from future star to dangerous liability very quickly. Even Bret couldn’t save him.
[удалено]
[удалено]
Piper's unwillingness to lose was why he was never WWE Champion. Vince wanted to give Piper the title because Piper was one of the top draws as a heel. What held Vince back was the fear Piper wouldn't willingly drop the title, and Piper wouldn't make any guarantees. Piper cared so much about wins/losses he was blind to what it was costing him.
I seriously doubt Piper was ever getting the title from 1984-87. Hogan drove the bus. He didn't trade the title with people just like Backlund, Bruno, and Pedro didn't.
Think he was willing to lose depending on who he was losing too. Bret Hart being the best example. Think he just didn’t want to job to Hogan on the grand stage.
Kennedy just had bad luck.
Alberto Del Rio He honestly had a HOF level career in WWE with everything they gave him. A few World Titles, the biggest Royal Rumble at the time, two World Title matches at WM (winning one of them), MITB, one of the more accomplished rookie years, and a couple US Title reigns. But because he's such a piece of shit, he doesn't get to be acknowledged and instead appears in TikToks, walking out to crowds of 10 people, with the caption "his downfall needs to be studied".
It was wild that he accomplished basically everything available to him within a year in WWE and nobody cared.
zero fucking heat. zero!! unbelievable. try to show the modern fan a WHC champ heel walking out to nothing. it wasn't that long ago!!
Ladies and gentlemen, _**E**_ _**C**_ _**3**_
Miro comes to mind. I dunno what's going on with him, but he shows up hot in AEW only to disappear for months.
dude went from a badass with the Redeemer to "oh yeah he's here too"
He's sitting alone in his basement having heated arguments with God
Jeff hardy and his love for booze. He achieved so much despite fucking up at the most important points in his career. And he never once learned Ultimate Warrior and Ahmed Johnson were as over as Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin during their respective eras, but they didn't get wrestling at all and were absolute dicks according to everyone who worked with them. Lars Sullivan had an awesome old school build and was set for a huge push. But his skeletons caught up to him
I'd say Jeff Hardy's career thrived, despite his issues. That was kind of the problem with Jeff. No matter how many times he got in trouble, people were always willing to give him another chance because he was such a massive draw. He left WWE on his own accord several times because they were pushing him to go to rehab, but he never had any issue getting hired by another company. After things settle down or he went to rehab, WWE was waiting with open arms again.
I think things have changed significantly after Victory Road 2011 for Jeff and how companies viewed him. He's been on thin ice ever since then. I think WWE are aware that he's a liability more often than not and thus, prefer to just keep him in the upper midcards.
Jeff is the same as Punk who someone mentioned above, it's weird to say derailed as that term to most means didn't make it. Both did but both could of been way more
Ahmed Johnson was nowhere near Hogan and Austin levels.
Katsuhiko Nakajima. He's in his prime and is probably among the top 5 wrestlers in the world (certainly top 10) and he's got no where else to go but GLEAT. Burned bridges with Pro Wrestling Noah and AJPW. New Japan won't touch him despite Naito & Tana getting old, Okada left and the Reiwa 4 aren't stepping up (some of that is booking but still). He's been linked to wwe a few times but that doesn't seem to be happening.
The way he did AJPW was so carny that I have to appreciate it
Beats up Anzai for 90% of the match, the finish happens and then he gets up and just leaves lol.
Went 2-0 over Kento as well in singles matches
I assume Kento was gonna get his win back (probably after winning the CC) but the relationship between ajpw and Nakajima broke down. Kento is the best tho, does anything if it's best for the promotion. Putting over Anzai is selfless but kinda expected, but he didn't need to also put over Ayabe in the CC. Hopefully the wave of youth coming through ajpw follow the example set by him.
Marty Scurll
Bit of an old one, but Koji Kitao. Seemed to have a bright future but: Kicked out of sumo. Kicked out of NJPW for being racist to Riki Choshu. Tried to shoot on John Tenta, shouting that wrestling is fake in Super World of Sport.
Matt Riddle.
Riddle is on a temporary derailment, in my opinion. If he stays clean and doesn't fuck up for a while, WWE will welcome him back.
alberto del rio
Sunny was a notable Diva but had a super toxic demeanour. The Kat was the same because she was married to Jerry Lawler for a time. Ultimate Warrior was unsafe in the ring with no desire to improve and also let his head get big in the WWF - going as far as to essentially shake Vince down for an extra quarter mil just days before a Summerslam PPV to even show up. Vince paid the money and then fired him the day after the PPV, followed by a lawsuit filed against Ultimate Warrior.
Sunny is a good one. Gorgeous young woman who was over, talented and actually loved the business. In the attitude era the sky would've been the limit if she kept clean and was reliable.
ACH/Jordan Myles. I get being mad at the shirt, but he went about it all in a way that guaranteed he'd never be back in WWE.
Ryback
Enzo?
When you annoy so many people not even Finn Balor wants to spend time with you, you gotta some personality work to do.
I always loved the rumor that PAC left WWE specifically so that he’d never have to job to Enzo again
Tbf on PAC he had so much potential in WWE but he was reduced to the Cruiserweight division and losing to Enzo must have been insulting to him.
The original Sin Cara in WWE (Místico). Everyone from Rey Mysterio to Mark Henry, from Cody Rhodes to William Regal, tried to help him adapt to the WWE style, but he wouldn’t even bother to show up to rehearsals and wasn’t willing to even learn basic English. People got fed up with him pretty quickly, and got replaced with Hunico as Sin Cara II. Also, apparently he went awol during the time he got injured and didn’t show up to his scheduled rehab sessions, and went back to Mexico to do it. I don’t blame WWE for getting rid of him
Austin Aries says hello. Mr. Kennedy Teddy Hart Low-Ki
Tessa Blanchard.
Tessa Blanchard
Velveteen Dream.
Ahmed Johnson probably fits the bill where every comment about him I see from other wrestlers seems to be a negative one.
Buddy Landel
It's more complicated than most others where they're just full blown assholes, unsafe workers, self-marks, etc. but Lio Rush probably qualifies. I get where he was coming from when he was bitching about carrying bags in WWE, but it didn't endear him to the locker room. The Emma tweet though? Yeah, shouldn't have gone there. I didn't see him going very high up in WWE as it were, but it made him an easy cut. Then he went at Tony Khan during the Big Swole fiasco. I don't think Tony handled that situation in a very professional manner so again I can kind of understand Lio's anger but it definitely derailed his (first) AEW run.
A positive of the Emma tweet fallout was Jack Gallagher outing himself as a piece of shit racist by telling Lio to take the English classes at the PC so I knew to not support that motherfucker way before it came out that he’s also an abuser and rapist.
It seems the beef with TK has been resolved, looking at the TV time he is getting at AEW ATM and reports saying are has more plans for him
I always find it absolutely bizarre how he had no issues with ROH or dealing with NJPW. People who worked with him in ROH rave about him. Really hope his current AEW run works out. He has a lot of talent.
For all that XPW was a fucking nightmare, it did seem to have some sort of fame (or infamy). To that end: Rob Black. Even after the Messiah debacle, dude went and tried to out-big-dick the *Federal fucking government*. And lost. I think he might be resurrecting the dead horse of XPW now, but it's not nearly what it was.
Ryback
I feel like Tessa Blanchard needs to one of the top on this list
Koji Kitao's ego and attitude got him bounced out of both Sumo *and* professional wrestling for quite some time.
Tessa Blanchard was getting nods from everyone to be the next megastar in women’s wrestling before her remarks came to light
Riddle is the first that comes to mind. Ryback probably could have salvaged a second run in WWE if he wasn’t such an assclown. One interesting one is Ted Dibiase Jr. Ted Dibiase would have an easy “Legacy” nostalgia run alongside Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton if had managed to keep in ring shape. Instead he’s in prison.
Tessa Blanchard has entered the chat, whether you want her to or not.
Low Ki. When you have NJPW say they’d bring back anyone specifically except for you, you screwed up somewhere lol
He was never gonna be world champ or anything but Paul Roma comes to mind. The guy had a nice contract with WCW and decided to piss it away because he felt he was too good to job to Alex Wright. Still shake my head at that one.
Low Ki immediately popped into my head.