Did WWE Drop the ball with DDP, Scott Steiner and Sean O'Haire?

[quink987]

ok Lets Start Off with DDP.........
this guy was one of the biggest stars in WCW and when he arrived and started that feud with The Undertaker how interesting was that, when he took that mask off for the first time, the pop he got from the crowd was awesome. and then after that feud that put him in the stupid mid-card with the europen title, think about what WWE could of done with this guy feuds with Austin, Rock, Triple H and so on what do you think?

Scott Steiner.......
the build up for his return was great ok fair do's his match with Triple H didnt go down well but that was because HHH didnt want to job to him and put him over, just think if he returned at Wrestlemania 19, the match they had would of ment more to the fan's and both men would of tryed more to put on a classic, and think of Big Poppa Pump vs John Cena, Undertaker, Batista( when he was World Champion) Chris Jericho and so on some big money matches could of been made what do you think?

Sean O'Haire.........
this guy had the look, he was a big guy, could fly around the ring he had a pretty cool gimmick which could of worked in a feud with the Undertaker and if built up proberly could of had some awesome feuds with the likes of John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista, Chris Jericho, Triple H shit me even Mr Kenndey this guy could of been as big as Randy Orton( where he is now) what do you guys think?

 

[FiveTymeWCWChamp]

DDP's intro to the WWE was great. If they would have let him beat the Undertaker at least once to make the feud relevant.

Steiner was working terrible matches with HHH.

Sean O'Haire is the key. He was young. Had a unique look. Good on the mic. He is what they call in baseball a five tool player. Somehow he was never allow to get himself over. When he was getting a tiny push, bam! He was off tv. I think he could be main eventing right now if he was pushed right.

 

[Tattooed Jesus]

There are always plenty of woulda, coulda, shoulda's in the world of wrestling, the what if's and what might have been will scramble your brains!

Yeah WWE probably wasted a big opportunity with DDP and Steiner having the built in fan base, but I think DDP being so old already at the time and Steiner being very injury prone and huge pain in the ass backstage led to them being used the way they were used.

I think O'Haire unfortunately was a casualty of the Hogan, Piper, McMahon feud IRL at the time as he was paired with Piper for a big push when Piper just up and quit. I loved the guy and think he could have potentially been a main even player some day but I think he suffered from the same attitude problem a lot of the guys had back then and that ultimately led to his release.

 

[brochester8]

You know I often wonder the same thing about all 3 of these guys. DDP was one of the top guys in WCW and to me the stalker gimmick was a big suprise but a liked it a lot and saw alot of possibilites they could do with them. Then they gave him that goofy gimmick where's he was smiling all the time and he was gone. Steiner is one of my all time favorites but at the same time many people know how he is and I feel he would have eventually been let go do to steroids anyways. However, I liked his feud with HHH and thought they could have done more. I wish they would have kept him longer and had him feud with someone other than Test. An Undertaker, Batista, Cena feud would of all been great. He did and still has a great character that can draw money. Atleast in my opinion but maybe i'm biased as a huge Steiner fan. Then with O'Haire, I also agree he just had a great look. Definitely when he was doing his thing with piper. I thought they'd make something of him. Not sure what happened, but I do wish it would have progressed. From what I've seen he's MMA now and got a little fat so I guess we'll never find out.

 

[BobbyDigital]

They must have thought highly of DDP putting him in with Taker to start but that whole stalker thing was stupid. Then they tried to re-invent him into some kind of motivational speaker. That was stupid too.

I'm a huge Big Poppa Pump fan but I think the WWE didn't screw that up as much as he just wasn't as cool after WCW. He was more of a loose cannon there and that unpredictability is what made him awesome. The E tried to push that but they had a leash on him if you know what I mean.

Sean O'Haire just sucked. The vignettes were cool but thats about it. He just had the look and thats about it.

 

[Deexter Jorgan]

There are always plenty of woulda, coulda, shoulda's in the world of wrestling, the what if's and what might have been will scramble your brains!

Agreed, i may also add that DDP was the one who wanted out, he didnt want to compete constantly and knew with his limited time in the company he would never get moved up the ladder quickly, all wcw guys had to prove themselves and he was just too old to do that in the latter stage of his career.

Yeah WWE probably wasted a big opportunity with DDP and Steiner having the built in fan base, but I think DDP being so old already at the time and Steiner being very injury prone and huge pain in the ass backstage led to them being used the way they were used.

Steiner was just terrible on the mic, in the ring and was in pretty bad shape, still is under tna's limited schedule, but the fact still remains he couldnt rise to prominance the way he did prior in wcw.

I think O'Haire unfortunately was a casualty of the Hogan, Piper, McMahon feud IRL at the time as he was paired with Piper for a big push when Piper just up and quit. I loved the guy and think he could have potentially been a main even player some day but I think he suffered from the same attitude problem a lot of the guys had back then and that ultimately led to his release.

Piper never quit, seriously the short memory some members seem to have, Piper was fired over a comment he made about the WWE at the time, he went on live television and bashed them, he apologised and they managed to develop another working relationship with him, but due to his actions O'hare was punished eventually being released.

 

[ray kidman]

i feel they did stiener and ddp were world champions and o' hare was a rising star but we know how the wwe feel about wrestling

 

[themusicman]

For me the answer is DDP - yes Steiner - Kind of and O'Haire - No.

When DDP arrived in the WWE he was already on the way down physically, he had competed in WCW for a long time and the feeling is his last run as champ was meant to be a kind of 'Thank You' for all his work. I dont think he could have worked effectively on the M.E. scene anymore but he would have certainly still been an upper mid card asset. The mistake was putting him in a programme with Taker where he didnt only job to him, but got destroyed by him (including getting pinned by Takers wife!) and this pretty much ruined any credibility he had, after that he was given his 'smile' gimmick, which was just plain awful. Maybe if they had made him a role as a leader of a faction with some younger guys or a lighter scheduel so he could have made special appearances then maybe he could have stuck around longer.

Steiner - I have never been a big fan so maybe I am biased little bit, but throwing him into a storyline with HHH was a mistake, it was a step too far for him. Again if he had been built up a little bit with a couple of quick programmes with 'lesser' talent first then he may have seemed a bit more credible in an organisation that he hadnt performed for in years. Added to this is the fact that, by all accounts, at this point in his life Steiner was not really the easiest character to work with and combined with some less that great in ring performances led to him falling out of favour.

O'Haire - Yes the guy had a good look and showed some good skills in the ring, but he was totally horrible on the mic, maybe he could have picked this up as time went on but he was there at the same time as The Rock, SCSA, HHH, Foley, Taker to name a few and there was no way he was ever going to top them or get the TV time to push his character. Maybe in modern WWE he would make more of an impact but at that time he simply didnt cut it

 

[yur_momma]

you guys really need to look up sean ohaires arrest record and you will see very quickly why this asshole had no future in this business or any other. his venture into mma was pathetic too...and getting knocked the fuck out at a bar in a fight you started and demanded be taken outside is icing on the cake. the guy was a complete loser with only himself to blame.

steiner has been shit since like 1997. he has the maneuverability of a picnic table. embarrassingly bad on the mic and another asshole.

ddp only got big because he was best friends and neighbors with bischoff. thats probably why he got a shot in wwe to begin with but once the wcw sugar caoting was washed off of him it was easy to see how extremely limited he was.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

I was always kind of got the feeling that DDP and Scott Steiner had some backstage issues during their WWE and hence never really got pushed. I guess for Scott its obvious he was really bad in the ring for DDP ... eh who knows maybe it was because he coudlnt fit the culture? or perhaps because he was too old already?

Some people say it's Vince not wanting to push WCW guys but then we have The Big Show, Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Booker T, and Finlay having good runs with the company. So it could not be soley based on that.

 

[TUFFY54]

DDP - Hell No. DDP was in his mid forties when he came to the WWE. He got a huge push feuding with Taker and then with Taker and Kane for the tag titles. Then he got hurt two months in. While he was off TV HE THOUGHT UP THE SELF HELP GIMMICK. The WWE let him use it and put the European belt on him. He won his only Wrestlemania match and was injured again. Doctors advised him to retire and he did. The WWE offered him a job as the Smackdown announcer but he turned it down and left the company. I don't really see how the WWE dropped the ball on anything.

Steiner - Not Really. Steiner was total shit in the ring when he came to the WWE. Again, he was in his 40's and just wasn't mobile due to the years of injuries. He had to terrible matches with Triple H then became a solid mid carder. Maybe he could have done more, but not a whole lot.

O'Haire - Maybe. He was building steam when Piper, his manager, pissed off Vince and got fired. Bad luck for O'Haire, but he's had a ton of personal problems that probably would have screwed him over anyway.

 

[Tech N9ne]

I'm gonna say no. Though I do like each of those 3 guys, it didn't hurt the WWE and they each went on to really do nothing. Sure, Steiner and DDP were in TNA for a minute, but they really had no "impact".

So, I would say they didn't drop the ball because none of them really had too much to offer. I do agree that O'Haire was skilled but if he was that bad ass, he would have made a name for himself somehow, elsewhere.

As much as I respect them, I don't think they were any kind of a loss to WWE, and more importantly, to the business in general.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

I have always been partial to O'haire's gimmick. He had something in the ring, and he had the look that just made the gimmick feel real. But he was overshadowed. That was his downfall. To put down his microphone work is redundant when the guy was simply overshadowed. How can a rookie look good on the mic when Roddy Piper and Hulk Hogan are the ones talking all of the time? He barely got a word in, and barely proved he was a "Devil's Advocate" character besides telling certain superstars to strip in front of the audience. The guy was also undefeated in the WWE for the record, so they had ,some reason, built him up just to dump him the second Roddy Piper quit. Criminal records mean shit in the WWE by the way, otherwise guys like Austin and Orton wouldn't be on the top of their game.

As for the former WCW stars, Steiner debuts as "the guy both brands want" and he gets a feud with Triple H for the gold. How was that not a major push? Yeah he gets booted out supposedly because he was on the juice, but he still had a run that pales in comparison to "Yo It's Me! It's Me! It's DDP!".

And DDP was old even in WCW, so I understand that WWE didn't have much faith in him after a short feud with Undertaker.

I would say they dropped the ball on O'haire, but since a few years later WWE would go PG, there really was nothing to it. So any way you look at it WWE was unaffected so I'd say no they didn't drop the ball in the long run.

 

[byrnside]

Oh, boy..

First and foremost, for the most part, Vince doesn't like the big stars from other companies. I think that's been established many times. That doesn't leave a lot of room to work with two of WCW's biggest stars in DDP and Scott Steiner. Personally, I never thought much of either one. I loved the Steiner Bros. as a tag team. Until Taz and Kurt Angle came along, no one threw a suplex like Scotty Steiner. However, once Scott became "Big Poppa Pump," I think he just became too egotistical and difficult to work with. That combined with Vince's dislike for another company's star was just a recipe for failure.

As for DDP, I still really haven't seen what a lot of other people see as a huge star. Don't get me wrong, I didn't dislike DDP in his hay day with WCW, but as far as I was concerned, he was just a Stone Cold rip off.. He was a loaner that ran through the crowd in jeans and sleeveless tee and could hit the Diamond Cutter out of nowhere.. I just didn't buy it. I'll admit that I am biased. Growing up I was a WWE fan. Period. I watched WCW but only when the WWE wasn't on. For me, it was another attempt to rip off something good that the WWE had. I'm sure Vince got his jollies by watching Faulkenberg be humiliated. Not to mention, DDP was pretty old when the WWE acquired his contract.

As for Sean O'Haire, I honestly don't remember much about his career. I remember a couple of variations of tag teams he was a part of as well as being Piper's protoge.. As far as I can recall, it was pretty cool when he did the swanton bomb, being that he was such a big guy. But, I don't really miss him. So I think my answer is, no. I don't think the WWE dropped the ball by letting him go.

 

[jaceynightheat]

Scott Steiner possibly. It was a shame to bring him in to just lose to Triple H.

O'Haire - Nah.

DDP - Yes. Age is nothing but a number. The Stalker gimmick was awesome. I still love The Diamond Cutter as a finisher. I think he should've had a WWE World Title run ( either belt ) and then moved to do commentary. I do think his age & getting hurt messed him up.

---

As for Vince hating WCW guys, I don't think that's the case. A lot of them have been treated well. Yeah the Invasion angle sucked by that wasn't so much Vince's fault as he didn't have guys that were "WCW". The only big WCW guy he had then was Booker T. It needed more guys like Sting, Flair, The Outsiders, Luger, Scott Steiner, Rey at the time.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I think DDP should have been used better than he was. Page had a decent feud with Undertaker, but after that did barely anything apart from a European Title reign. I know he was pretty old already, but I think his name value at the time should have led him to something bigger than what he received. He was a big name in wrestling at the time and the WWE should have used that to their advantage, although there were alot of other new stars entering the WWE at around the same period, so maybe DDP got lost in the shuffle a bit. He wouldnt have been around for a long time, but for a year or 2 he could have been useful.

Scott Steiner was given a shot at the main event, working a few matches with HHH but he absolutely sucked. He is far better in TNA now than he was 10 years ago with Vince. For some reason he just did not seem on the ball at all, and it wasnt a shock at all when he failed to win the belt and was the dropped down the card.

Now, Sean O'Haire is the one who could have been a megastar in the WWE. He had an amazing look, a cool gimmick and a great moveset. He was a huge guy who could fly, brawl and he was an accomplished martial artist. I was always a huge fan of his as I have said many times on these forums. I loved the "Devil's Advocate" gimmick, I really thought it was his ticket to the top and aligning him with Piper was a masterstroke, but once Roddy left O'Haire was gone soon after, for reasons noone seems to know

I think WWE really blew it with O'Haire, he had all the tools to be at the level of a Randy Orton or John Cena now. If I had to pick any ex-WWE talent who never made it who should have, I would always say Sean O'Haire

 

[The Crock]

Not particularly. While Vince didn't go out of his way to make them succeed, they just never really did a great job with what they were given. DDP's debut was awesome, he debuted against the freaking Undertaker, he couldn't have gotten a cushier gig. He didn't have to win the match either, he got a nice rub from that. O'Haire had an interesting character, but it got derailed. As for Steiner, he got pushed to the moon. He was in the World Heavyweight Title picture for quite some time, problem is he's a walking botch and had nothing to offer. He didn't fit. None of them really did.