Forgotten Wrestlers

[merce07]

After seeing the thread someone made about a wrestler called Mordocai that I never heard of I thought it would be interesting if we could make a thread about wrestlers that seemed to leave as soon as they came. To keep this from being a spam thread describe the wrestler and their gimmick and why you think they were fired. I will start with:

Muhammad Hassan

This guy had it all the look, the build, decent mic skills, decent in ring skills, a great gimmick and an insane amount of heat. It depresses me to think about how this character could have developed. From what I hear the WWE was planning to make him a World Champion and have him feud with Batista. I think he may have grown stale after a while but I also believe that if he was kept around he could have been the WWE's top heel from 2006-2008 or so. He could have been something like the anti Cena.

But of course a horrible coincidence had to happen. The WWE had to push the extremeist angle to far on the day of the London Bombings. Hassan was fired after the Great American Bash I believe. To me personally Hassan was one of the greatest missed opportunitys in WWE history.

 

[Calderownz]

Muhammad Hassan

This guy had it all the look, the build, decent mic skills, decent in ring skills, a great gimmick and an insane amount of heat. It depresses me to think about how this character could have developed. From what I hear the WWE was planning to make him a World Champion and have him feud with Batista. I think he may have grown stale after a while but I also believe that if he was kept around he could have been the WWE's top heel from 2006-2008 or so. He could have been something like the anti Cena.

But of course a horrible coincidence had to happen. The WWE had to push the extremeist angle to far on the day of the London Bombings. Hassan was fired after the Great American Bash I believe. To me personally Hassan was one of the greatest missed opportunitys in WWE history.

I actually think this is a good post. He really could have been a solid draw for a while. Might have gotten old after a point, but it could have worked for a while.

Anyway, onto my pick: Johnny The Bull.

Wasn't the best or great at anything. However, he was a bigger guy with a decent look and he could actually work a little bit. He was fairly agile for a guy his size. He would have only gotten better with the proper attention.

His gimmick of a Mafia-type was awful, but I was always hopeful that he would get something else out of it.

 

[RkoMachine]

Definitely agree with you on Hassan! I LOATHED him which is what a heel is supposed to make you do!

Another comes to mind but he never even debuted so i dont even know his name! He had these video promos almost stating that he would be feuding with the undertaker for sure but then he was never seen!

Anyone remember this? it has been maybe 3 or 4 years i would say..... if anyone could tell me the name or find the youtube video i would greatly appreciate it

 

[Lazerball]

ur thinkin of Mordecai, and he did debut and was awful, it was kevin thorn, same guy, diff gimmick. and they both sucked.
my pick would have to be Essa Rios, all he was was a way to bring Lita in, but the man was great in the ring, but jus fell victum to the WWE anti cruiserweight crap.

 

[RkoMachine]

ur thinkin of Mordecai, and he did debut and was awful, it was kevin thorn, same guy, diff gimmick. and they both sucked.
my pick would have to be Essa Rios, all he was was a way to bring Lita in, but the man was great in the ring, but jus fell victum to the WWE anti cruiserweight crap.

no not him, i remember him completely! he lost his last match to rey and wasnt seen again till kevin thorn, im talking about somebody who literally didnt debut! they dropped the whole angle, this website even did a story on them dropping it i just cant remember the name

 

[pepentorresHHH]

Ufff I was thinking about this subject a few days ago....the forgotten wrestler I really loved back in the day was the big valvowsky Val Venis!!!! I loved this guy and the best part was always the promo before the match!... Everyone can remember the "hello ladies" and then some funny sexual innuendo!!! This guy was great and the only thing that held him back was his gimmick!

 

[THEpapachamp]

SAVIO VEGA!

Alot of people forget it was Vega who started Austin's push. he even received the first Stunner

 

[californiachef84]

Sean O'Haire!

This guy had a great look, and a really cool gimmick... He would tell people to indulge in whatever they wanted to do, and then tell them "I am not telling you anything that you do not already know". Just a bad ass character.

O'Haire was paired with Roddy Piper while Piper was fueding with "Mr. America"(Hulk Hogan) in like 2003 I think... Piper made some comments in an HBO interview that Vince McMahon didn't like so they took Piper off tv, and (as a result) also took O'Haire off tv. Then I don't ever remember seeing O'Haire again.

A shame, a damn shame...

 

[TheManOf1004Holds]

I would say Super Crazy!!!

The dude was totally awesome in the ring, and even though he couldnt really speak english, he totally had a great personality in the ring and out. And He has the second best Moonsault that ive ever seen!

I think he could of been a pretty solid midcard talent if given the push, the fans always seem to get behind him in his matches.

 

[Mordecai]

For me it would have to be "The Butcher of Bogga Row" Nathan Jones.

He had all the credentials to be a massive star, crazy, intense, muscles on muscles but didn't like the travel schedule of the average wrestler.

 

[RkoMachine]

Perhaps you're thinking of Hade Vansen.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWjSPWo-ZkA

WOW MAN THANK YOU! yes that was it! i wasnt talking about modecai/kevin thorn like everyone else on here kept saying even tho i explained i wasnt i was talking about hade vansen! thanks a shit ton for clearing that up for me

 

[Brahma Bull]

Chuck palumbo: i thought that the guy was pretty damn good. he had a good look, good gimmick, and didnt suck in the ring. after his fued with jaime noble though, everything went down hill for him, and he was eventually released.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Dean Malenko

It could be argued that Malenko is not really forgotten, as many people remember his WCW/ECW heyday, but many of the younger WWE audience will be unfamiliar with Malenko's work as he was extremely underused in WWE.

Known as the "man of 1000 holds" due to his technical prowess and "the iceman" and "the shooter" for his cold, uncaring demeanor, Malenko was widely regarded as one of the best in-ring performers in the world.

He arrived in WWE as one quarter of The Radicalz, along with Guerrero, Saturn and Benoit and ended up holding the WWE Light Heavyweight title for a long period of time, but never was given the same push that Guerrero and Benoit received. In a sharp contrast from his cold character in ECW/WCW, Malenko was repackaged as a slick Ladies Man, known as "Double Ho Seven" (a play of the 007 James Bond codename) and ended up feuding with The Hardy Boyz as he tried to get Lita to date him, even facing her in a Light Heavyweight title match on the condition that she had to go out with him, if she lost..which she did.

Malenko did have a few matches against his former Radical team mates for the European title, but ended up retiring in 2001 after fading into obscurity, and never really being given any push of note in WWE. I think this was a shame as he was a phenomenal wrestler, and could have put on some amazing matches with the likes of Chris Jericho, Benoit and Guerrero, Kurt Angle and many others.

Due to his size, it would have been unlikely he would have ever been World Champion, but could have been an excellent Intercontinental Champion. I think that the only reason we never saw Malenko in a more prominant position in WWE was his age. He was nearly 40 when The Radicalz debuted in WWE, unlike the much younger Benoit and Guerrero, and perhaps WWE didn't want to push a man who likely did not have much longer left in the business. However, I think an IC title reign within his first year in the company would have been perfectly fine and would have helped to establish Benoit, Guerrero and even Kurt Angle as major players after all would have put on classic matches with Malenko. Even Jericho would have looked even better after working with The Iceman.

So, whether he really is "forgotten" or not, I want young WWE fans to know who this man his. Dean Malenko was a great wrestler, a true technical genius and he deserves to be remembered. So kiddies, look him up on You Tube. Malenko was awesome.


[YOUTUBE]Ekt0XRgvcuA[/YOUTUBE]

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[Reincarnated09]

KIZARNY (had some weird crappy circus promo for weeks then he debuted against MVP... When MVP Was on losing streak.... and won... then he never appeared again lmao

 

[Decarow]

Kaval. The guy wins NXT Season 2, doesn't do shit on Smackdown, and is released pretty quickly. I don't even remember hearing why he got released, and I don't remember much talk about it either. This guy could have been involved in this year's Mania, he surely had the in-ring talent.

 

[silverwraith720]

Tiger Ali Singh. He always came out to the ring and asked people to come in to the ring and do stupid things for money. That was how they launched Kurt Angle's career. At the time he was just a prospect and they played it off as "Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle is here to watch Sunday Night Heat" and Singh wanted someone to blow their nose in the American flag for $500, instead Angle did it to the Indian flag.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Essa Rios

Someone has already mentioned him briefly but I thought I would again. He was one of the 1st high-flyers I ever saw in WWE. He had a cool look, could pull off an awesome moonsault and of course had Lita as his manager, the 1st time we saw her in the WWE. She would often go to the top rope after his matches and nail a moonsault of her own.

Rios was always entertaining but sadly never really progressed beyond the WWE minor shows like Heat, as even then the company was not that big on cruiserweight wrestling. I dont know if he could speak English or not, because not being able to can really hold you back (that is why Sin Cara is trying to learn English now).

I have seen clips of him since then wrestling as Mr Aguila in Mexico and I think he was part of Team Mexico in the TNA X-Cup one year, but he has never been back full time in US wrestling since leaving WWE.

Here is a pic of Rios now

He is only 32 years old now, according to Wikipedia so it is quite possible that he may end up coming back to WWE or TNA at some point, although hopefully not with the Shannon Moore style haircut...

 

[Davi323]

Dean Malenko

It could be argued that Malenko is not really forgotten, as many people remember his WCW/ECW heyday, but many of the younger WWE audience will be unfamiliar with Malenko's work as he was extremely underused in WWE.

Was he really underused though? Or was it that he was transitioning from an on air wrestler to a back stage agent? Malenko started wrestling back in 1979, which means that by the time he got to the WWE, he had already been wrestling for 21 years. He was already 40 years old when the Radicalz made the jump from WCW, and he retired the next year from active competition. I believe that was by choice, not because the WWE was underusing him. I think he knew his wrestling career had a lot less left to offer him than working backstage would, and he made the change.

His situation simply isn't comparable to some of the others that have been mentioned, as he wasn't "underused" until he was 20+ year veteran. Apples and oranges.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I've got two.

The first guy stretches back to my earliest memories of pro wrestling; Tom Zenk. As a member of the Can-Am Connection with Rick Martel, he really stole the show with his technical wrestling ability. Zenk was exciting and looked great. He left WWE suddenly, and listening to Martel talk about how his partner ran away because he was scared was the first time I ever heard a WWE performer mentioned after he was gone. He had some success in WCW afterward but I think he could have gone to the top in WWE.

The other guy was Ludvig Borga. He had the great look and nasty personality a top heel should have. His ring repertoire was brutal and effective. He was funny, too; his anti-America rantings made it sound as if the U.S. had gone to war with Finland(!) I heard he got injured.....and he never came back to wrestle anywhere ever again. I think he's dead now (and will probably remain that way).

 

[80's were better]

TECHNO TEAM 2000. Eric Watts(son of Bill Watts) and Chad Fortune. They debuted late 80's early 90's didn't last long at all but as a kid I thought they were awesome. Neither one ever went on to be much. Watts had run in the early TNA days fueding with Jarrett.

 

[SD619]

What about Christopher Nowinski...He was a part of wwe in '02 as their first Harvard alumnus.
had good mic skills as well.
his apperance in the Royal Rumble '03 was impressive...
I think he left due to some injuries

 

[Kaneanite]

Ken Shamrock possibly. Never had a world title run but had a great gimmick, solid look, and put on good matches. It's too bad he left to go back to MMA or whatever he did. I really enjoyed Shamrock and thought he was awesome.

Really forgotten though, digging deep, that leader of Spirit Squad - Kenny Dykstra. I remember for a little bit people were hyping him up a lot. He had a nice look and was good in the ring. Yet, the only one that got famous was Dolph Ziggler. It's too bad but I wonder what happened...

Then of course, there's The Hurricane. Who knows what could have been.

 

[AntiChristDeicide]

I actually think this is a good post. He really could have been a solid draw for a while. Might have gotten old after a point, but it could have worked for a while.

Anyway, onto my pick: Johnny The Bull.

Wasn't the best or great at anything. However, he was a bigger guy with a decent look and he could actually work a little bit. He was fairly agile for a guy his size. He would have only gotten better with the proper attention.

His gimmick of a Mafia-type was awful, but I was always hopeful that he would get something else out of it.

Johnny The Bull was good, i enjoyed his mafia style gimmick in the Mamalukes and later the new FBI.The last time i saw him on tv, was when he was Rellik in TNA in a rumoured Disciples of the New Church revival with Black Reign (Goldust), Raven and Judas Messiah along with James Mitchell as manager.

 

[A Mod's Best Friend (aka Bitch)]

NORMAN SMILEY

The guy was an absolute pisser and i could just never take him seriously. When he was in the Hardcore division in WCW, i'd laugh at everything he did!

 

[rjoconnell]

I saw someone mention Kenny Dykstra.. that's funny. He's wrestling with whatever organization in my town this Saturday in the middle school gymnasium! Woohoo!