Is Sean O'Haire the greatest-Never Was?

[KillBill]

I was just on youtube watching some of this guys promos from 2003. They are awesome. This gimmick could have worked then, the attitude era, or even today as the anti everything. WWE has had a lot of hits and misses, but this may be the biggest blunder. Not only was the gimmick great, the guy could wrestle. Just watch any of his WCW matches. A guy who was 6'8 and could do a swanton bomb? Are you kidding me? I can't believed this bombed, and after reading some of the comments underneath the vids, neither can a lot of other people. What happened, and what was the potential for this guy? The sky was the limit.

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[Spanky_316420]

O'Haire was the man, it's just sad that they made him Roddy Piper's bodyguard or whatever the hell he was. He was extremely talented and i don't know why his character went from pretty intelligent and thought provoking to wanting to learn how to become intelligent and thought provoking...didnt make sense to me then and still doesnt now, it's like going in reverse. I definitely agree with you that he was, at least one, of the best 'never was' guys

 

[Showtime]

I once wrote an article for another forum site years back on him, Palumbo, Jindrak, Stasiak and Stromboli, how they were the young and probable future stars of WCW, if it survived, yet they never seemed to get off the ground in WWE. That shows that they either, weren't good enough to begin with, or WWE really is against WCW grown talents. I think it's a bit of both, but in reference to your question, I don't think I'd name him the greatest-never was, it honestly depends on how you use "never was", how long exactly are we talking, 3, 6 months, under a year, and by never was do we mean never been world champion or any kind of champion. I honestly believe his former partner Mark Jindrak was the best out of the five, and I'd consider Mark equally in the "never-was" category, even though he did wrestle longer in the WWE. And O'Haire did have successful runs in WCW as tag champ, and in the WWE solid matches with Kane and Undertaker for the WCW tag titles, before injuries derailed him. Like you said, he came back in 2003 with a great gimmick but management never got behind the gimmick really, and dropped much of it and instead had him managed by Piper, which did turn out to be beneficial for him, till Piper was released, then he really began to just float around and only appear on Velocity destroying wrestlers. 2003 was a weird year as WWE tried out a bunch of different talents (see Nathan Jones, Kenzo Suzuki, Mordecai) and kinda put O'Haire to the back a bit. They must've had plans for him as in his WWE career he's never been pinned in a televised match. Then a motorcycle accident put him out for a while, and he was released not long after he came back and now he's done.
So yea, it's hard to say who's the greatest "never was", and I don't think he is, but he's up there.

 

[dsfedor]

i read somewhere that the only person who got in OHaire's way was himself. i remember the quote being very vague, only alluding to some problems that he had that prevented himself from climbing the ladder. it takes more than a shitty gimmick to hold someone down. Batista and Kevin Nash started off in the "bodyguard" gimmick, and they've done alright for themselves.

and i'm pretty sure Mark Jindrak's name was on one of those steroid reports that got released after the Benoit Tragedy. so you can fill in the blanks there.

Jinjrak, OHaire, Stasiak, etc all remind me of the bland "ripped pretty boy" gimmick that they're giving with Orton, Rhodes and DiBiase. boring.

 

[Gabbo]

O'Haire didn't make it because the WWE was fed up of him getting in bar fights and spending the night in the cell.

Considering the WWE is a PLC, would any of the share holders be happy with the world champion or lead character on a brand always having the chance of not turning up for a show, having a call from a police officer etc?

He was a liability.

 

[quink987]

i do think wwe dropped the ball with sean o'haire for 1 he had the look of a world champion he could wrestle and hell he did a pretty cool senton bomb to.
i just think if he would'nt of been a wcw home grown talent he would be one of the top guys now feuding batista,cena and orton and proberly been world champion 3 or 4 times.

but in 2003 wwe was more concern with the like's of brock lesner, triple h, the rock and stone cold at the start of the year, evolution, john cena getting a push and finally giving the old wcw main eventers a final push [e.g] kevin nash, scott steiner,ric flair, hulk hogan,and bill goldberg so any new talent coming though really had no chance because the main event was already full at the time. but i think the gimmick could work today and just to get him over again put him on ecw for a while then move him to smackdown or raw and give the main event some new faces

 

[Gabbo]

If he sorted out his attitude he could have been something, the WWE didn't drop the ball on him.

 

[Lithium66]

Yeah Sean O'Haire had the look and skilled could have been a big star but his backstage ways just got him fired and now his just a no body. i did like his promos and that person could be big right now but 2003-05 was a drag back for a few wcw stars

 

[MattMoses]

I don't think Sean O' Haire had the potential to be a huge name in the business or reach the status of world champion. I was never impressed with any of his in-ring work, evident by the fact that I can't even remember any of his matches or feuds in both WCW or WWE. Bigger guys have pulled off more dangerous and impressive high-risk moves, so I don't see the big deal about him being able to pull of a senton bomb. It's also safe to say he wasn't the most charismatic of guys either, and combined with a pretty bland look, I can't see the big deal about him.