Which one did WWE drop the ball on the most?

[Blade]

Well, as has been said, Shelton Benjamin and John Morrison had all the promo ability of an inanimate carbon rod. But they were still given huge opportunities. Both men were given multiple midcard title reigns, and major wins over heels that were higher on the card than them.

Carlito, meanwhile, should've never been given the push he was given. I just cannot explain it. Was it because he's second generation? Was it because WWE thought his gimmick was genuinely interesting? I have no idea. But him and Masters getting WWE title shots is unbelievable even to this day. Indeed, 2006 was a strange year in WWE. When you really think about it.

I would say the closest any of them came to being 'ball dropped' would be Morrison. There was a time when Morrison was pretty over. The summer of 2009, during the Jeff Hardy vs. CM Punk feud, John Morrison was arguably the number 3 guy on Smackdown, even getting a clean win over CM Punk at one point. He was hot, but he was always behind Punk, Hardy, and then Undertaker and Mysterio when they eventually returned. He was close, but never quite there. Plus, as has been said, he had various problems backstage. Admittedly, he was certainly way more deserving of a World title push than Carlito ever was.

 

[Alex]

I like Morrison the most out of the three. Shelton just has the personality of vanilla ice cream and Carlito just seems like a massive dick and also seems like he's entitled to everything and throws a fit if he doesn't get it (hence his attitude and physique in the latter half of his WWE career)

But Morrison could've been big. Only problem is other people were doing it better than him. I'll say it before I'll say it again. John Morrison is like the Poison/Warrant to guys like CM Punk's Motley Crue/Bon Jovi. Can do the same thing but just don't have that spark that would get them over the edge (his mic skills). Only in some cases can a guy with sub par mic skills get to/near the top and they have to bring something else to the table to make up for it and unfortunately Morrison didn't have that.

 

[Kidpolean]

First off...No hardy couldnt have had a hall of fame career like Jericho. WTF are u guys talking about. Matt Hardy cant do anything even close to as good as Jericho. Matt isnt a great wrestler and his mic skills are average at best. To even mention this spot monkey that was carried by his brother in the same sentence as Y2J is ridiculous.

Secondly...all three guys you mentioned had absolutely no chance of every being a main event player so NO wwe didnt drop the ball with any of them. Morrison didnt do anything special, the wwe can get another guy just like him from the millions of indy promotions across america. Carlito just sucked and I dont know why we are even discussing him. Shelton Benjamin, the first full black wwe champion...HELL NO and this is coming from a black male. I would rather Mark Henry get that honor, or save it for someone deserving. Benjamin was a spot monkey with some of the worst mic skills I have ever seen. He was absolutely terrible on the mic...worst than Ryback!!!

 

[HBKistheHOF]

Carlito - Carlito always screamed average mid-carder to me. Besides his hair & his music that was kinda funny, he never really had anything that stood out. In fact when he won the US Title on his main roster debut I was pretty shocked simply because I thought WWE had already pushed this guy as far as he could go. He went on to have some decent IC Title matches but was never anything more than an after thought, even when involved in moments like the MitB Ladder match at Mania 24 or unifying the Tag Titles at The 25th Anniversary of Wrestlemania. To me Carlito epitomizes the uninteresting cast of characters & lack of talent that followed behind the WWE & John Cena in late 2004/2005 & led into my least favorite period of wrestling since before the Rock N' Wrestling Era.

Shelton Benjamin - Benjamin is my definiton of a spot monkey. He was never interesting or entertaining unless he was jumping off of the top rope to get Sweet Chin Music by HBK or diving off of a ladder in a MitB match. He lacked more than charisma or the "it" factor, he completely lacked a personality. I think Benjamin rightfully reached his peak as the IC Champion.

John Morrison - My vote goes to him. Even though I think he basically reached the level he should have by the end of his run, competing for the WWE Title occasionally, I do think WWE could have done a little more with him & pushed him as a lower main eventer even sooner. But realistically the man still achieved plenty & his mic skills were pretty poor, so I don't think he would have ever been more than a transitional World Heavyweight Champion at most.

 

[Headman]

most definitely shelton. the man can do u anything in the ring, and just the tore house down and apart with legends like hbk, angle, etc. yeah he wasnt that great on the mic, but he was the most deserving to win a mitb and cash in at least for a world title run. i mean swagger did..

And Swagger was a failure just like Shelton would have been. And what house did he tear down? People remember him for taking a hellacious super kick and that's it. Nobody remembers or cares about any of his matches. He wasn't anything special, but for some reason people seem to have convinced himself that there was this huge missed opportunity with him.

 

[willross]

I don't agree with Shelton Benjamin because he was given plenty of chances and he couldn't get his mic work right. He was very athletic and more so a Kofi Kingston type. His lack of mic skills and his unreal lack of improvement throughout the years is what hurt him. He beat HHH in his RAW debut, won the IC title from Y2J months later, he was given the chance, he just couldn't get the people behind him.

Carlito I will say the same thing. He was called out often in public forums by guys like HHH about being basically lazy and not appreciating his chance to work with Ric Flair. He was given a huge push from the start so again, he was given the ball and fumbled.

John Morrison I think would have been a big star by now but his relationship with Melina hurt him backstage from what I have read. You can't get pissed about Trish Stratus and treat her like shit for working a WM match cause your gf should have had that spot. Treated Snooki like gold but Trish like shit? Not a smart move. He also wasn't a great mic guy but out of the 3 you listed he had the most fanfare backing him. I am sure if he comes back he will get the Jeff Hardy 2006 push and really get a chance because he looks like a WWE star which you cant say about the other 2 either.

To continue from where I left off in my previous post. There have been bigger tragedies than the 3 you listed. I don't like saying the company "dropped" the ball on anyone because they see and access everything these guys do so they know them better than we do seeing them 1 or 2 times per week.

But someone who has sorta got the rug pulled out from underneath them was Wade Barrett. I think it has more to do with timing. He gets some steam but then a big PPV comes around and there is only so much time with no brand extension so he ends up getting lost in the shuffle a lot, not really anyones fault its just he gets momentum at the wrong times.

A guy that baffles me is Alex Riley. Granted he was more over by association because Miz was such a hot heel when they were together and I think the crowd hated Miz, didn't necessarily like Alex Riley. I did think he was the best in his NXT season actually. I don't believe the Cena buried him backstage shit either for 2 reasons 1) Cena has nothing to gain from doing that, not like Alex Riley was gonna get two WM main events out of The Rock lmao and 2) cause Matt Striker has said Cena and Punk more than any other guys actually want guys to succeed and don't hold anyone down.

 

[Trill Co$by]

The only two that are even worth debating are Shelton Benjamin and Carlito. Anybody who thinks the guy who couldn't hit his own finisher once was underrated needs their head examined. Morrison was sloppy, and the whole "parcore" thing was perhaps the dumbest thing to come across my television ever... and I've watched some dumb shit.

Of the two that are worth anything, I chose Carlito. Simply because, he was a great mind for the business and from the reports I've heard he should've never been fired to begin with. Not to mention, he had an awesome gimmick that was relatively over and was fairly entertaining.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I don't agree with Shelton Benjamin because he was given plenty of chances and he couldn't get his mic work right.

The sad thing is.....you might very well be right. Imagine what wrestlers of the 50's and 60's.....and even ones I remember from the 80's.....would think of the state of the pro wrestling art today. Can you just imagine? They'd look at a guy like Shelton Benjamin, a terrific ring worker and exciting presence.....and figure he'd strike it big because his in-ring abilities would be enough to send him over the top. The notion of a guy being kept down because he couldn't deliver the goods on the mic would be so foreign to the old wrestlers that they'd spend hours in the bars, pounding Budweiser and cursing Vince McMahon for "ruining" their sport.

Pro wrestling has been around a long time. There has always been good (and bad) action in the ring and always been sequences taped at ringside or backstage. But "sport" became "sports entertainment" when these guys were suddenly required to talk. I'm forever amazed at how well some of them can do that.....and forever dismayed that the lack of speak-a-bility can keep down a performer like Shelton Benjamin. It makes me think of the early days of filmmaking, when "silent films" became "talkies" and some previously famous actors couldn't handle the transition because they weren't able to make the grade vocally.

State of the art.

 

[MCMG]

I reckon they could have done more to help John Morrison. At one point he had several WWE Title matches but he was never going to win and they were very makeshift.

He definitely had the in ring talent. Morrison put on some awesome matches in the WWE. His athleticism was crazy and he had the look. We never saw him get the opportunity to cut a long promo but there is probably a reason for that. I feel that John Morrison never actually got an extended chance to speak and improve. Think about how many times Del Rio has come out and put us to sleep. That could be Morrison. Some of his stuff with The Miz, especially on WWE.COM, was actually quite good. Miz was certainly better on the mic but Morrison has twice his ability in the ring. Just combine the two and we have a top superstar.

Benjamin is similar to Morrison. A lot of talent but lacking the mic-skills. Carlito was a decent mid-carder and, again, had some skills but was never a world champ. I say Morrison because he was putting on matches just as good, if not better, than the other two. He was also popular and I think giving him the World Heavyweight Championship and some time on the mic (or a manager) would have helped.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

There was a missed opportunity with Shelton, in that they didn't work hard enough on improving his mic skills. When he and Brock Lesnar were both in OVW it was Benjamin who was considered the "Can't Fail" rather than Brock.

He was the most athletic guy on the roster at the time and while people hate the colour card, had he been able to get over to that main event then it would certainly have been a good thing from WWE's perspective and saved them the aborted attempts with Bobby Lashley, Monty Brown and Elijah Burke to create an African-American main eventer.

Shelton should have been a Horsemen or put in Evolution. Had he been given that spot with Flair, maybe Arn if was the Horsemen then he would have had guys who knew how to talk helping him. It worked with guys like Windham and even Sting. But they went with Orton and Batista, we all know why - Vince likes his Musclemen and perhaps a bit of a hard on for Randy. But Shelton in Evolution as a 5 or replacing Batista would have worked just as well.

 

[The Brain]

This thread is about John Morrison, Shelton Benjamin, and Carlito. Why am I reading about Muhammad Hassan, Matt Hardy, Alex Riley, and others? Let’s stay on topic people.

Of the only three people that are supposed to be discussed in this thread I’ll pick Shelton Benjamin. I’m not sure what the op means by “dropped the ball” because I think these guys were given opportunities and don’t see any as world champions or consistent main eventers. There’s nothing wrong with being a good mid carder. I pick Benjamin because I think he was miscast. Benjamin was hot in 2004/2005. He was having good and exciting matches with Triple H, Chris Jericho, and Shawn Michaels. After dropping the IC Title to Carlito in mid 2005 Benjamin just fell off the map for some reason. In early 2006 Benjamin was repacked as a comedy heel with the Mama Benjamin storyline. This move didn’t make any sense. Benjamin is a natural face. He may not have been the most charismatic guy in the world but his offensive style was not one of a heel. The fans wanted to cheer for Benjamin’s high flying fast paced offense. He never needed to be pushed to the top of the card. He would have been just fine in the mid card bringing the fans to their feet and taking their breath away with his high spots. So while I don’t know if “dropped the ball” is the appropriate term I’d say Benjamin was the most misused.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

You're reading about other people because we're making the point the options of the poll were limited and it's incorrect to just limit the discussion to those 3... The E has dropped the ball on a wide range of people not on that list and they're relevant to the discussion.

I get your point about "miscasting" but it's pretty semantic because everyone is miscast by WWE in someway. The perfect gimmick comes along so rarely. The other thing that held Benjamin back was that he had Brock alongside him, both NCAA, but Brock had the bigger build and "monster" image. So he got put with Heyman. Shelton's original run with Kurt was intended to get him over I am sure and it did to an extent, but say they reversed it and Shelton had been the Paul Heyman guy and Brock became Angle's enforcer...

Both roles were heel, as you say Shelton was a natural face - but as a face he had no real scope to learn those mic skills he needed. As a heel he had mouthpieces. WWE did try with him, they just picked the wrong people to do it. In Brock's case his face turn was miscasting of the worst kind and WWE arguably dropped the ball with him there.

 

[Wald]

I don't think the WWE dropped the ball on any of those guys to be honest. They all got pushed and all had a level of success that was about where they should got to.

Sure Shelton was fantastic in the ring but he didn't have the It factor that makes you stand out from the mid-card. I'd argue that he is just like Dolph Ziggler, in that he is loved by the IWC because he is capable of five star matches but neither guy has what it takes to hold the top title. That's no big slight either, both are/were great midcard guys and a company like the WWE needs people like that on the roster just as much as they need top card talent capable of working with John Cena.

Morrison won titles, put on good matches on occasion but didn't have the charisma to get himself over more. The guy couldn't even turn a conceited, vain heel character into gold when he had the in-ring tools and the looks to get it done. That's how much of a charisma vacuum he was in his run.

Carlito could have gone further but he didn't really want to be there so was lucky he got to the level he did.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I would go with John Morrison although I think Shelton Benjamin was another who possibly could have moved up to the next level but never did. Carlito on the other hand was worthless in my opinion, and was lucky to even make it to WWE.

Morrison had the looks, the agility, the body and the swagger to be a major player in WWE, but he was always one of those guys who just lacked that little extra something to push him to the top. In JoMo (and Shelton's) case it was the poor mic skills, and in WWE you almost always need to be able to talk as well as being able to wrestle.

I think Morrison will end up back in WWE sometime soon, and when he does he will get a big reaction from the fans and probably end up with a push similar to that which Jeff Hardy received before he left for TNA- Hardy is another who gets labelled a "spot monkey who can't talk", but became regarded as a worthy champion in the end.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

This thread is about John Morrison, Shelton Benjamin, and Carlito. Why am I reading about Muhammad Hassan, Matt Hardy, Alex Riley, and others? Let’s stay on topic people.

Of the only three people that are supposed to be discussed in this thread I’ll pick Shelton Benjamin. I’m not sure what the op means by “dropped the ball” because I think these guys were given opportunities and don’t see any as world champions or consistent main eventers. There’s nothing wrong with being a good mid carder. I pick Benjamin because I think he was miscast. Benjamin was hot in 2004/2005. He was having good and exciting matches with Triple H, Chris Jericho, and Shawn Michaels. After dropping the IC Title to Carlito in mid 2005 Benjamin just fell off the map for some reason. In early 2006 Benjamin was repacked as a comedy heel with the Mama Benjamin storyline. This move didn’t make any sense. Benjamin is a natural face. He may not have been the most charismatic guy in the world but his offensive style was not one of a heel. The fans wanted to cheer for Benjamin’s high flying fast paced offense. He never needed to be pushed to the top of the card. He would have been just fine in the mid card bringing the fans to their feet and taking their breath away with his high spots. So while I don’t know if “dropped the ball” is the appropriate term I’d say Benjamin was the most misused.

Why just those three? I see no reason to say on topic when the heart of the topic is really which wrestlers were missed opportunities by the WWE. If I had to pick from the original three, I would ask for a fourth option: None of the Above. Benjamin, for all his ring work, had no ability on the mic, and was never going to get much further. Morrison and Carlito let their own attitudes get in the way. They dropped the ball, not the WWE.

Now on to people who really should've deserved a better opportunity:

Muhammed Hassan: Just because some writers choose a politically tone deaf and ignorant storyline did not undercut the fact that Hassan was the hottest heel going at the time. Why did the burden of that blunder fall squarely on his shoulders to the point that he was forced out of the WWE? That was just truly a missed opportunity, IMO.

 

[RedRegan1005]

I'm actually shocked by some of the positive stuff said about Morrison. I guess sense he's stepped away for awhile people may be giving him a different looked

I guess I shouldn't have used the the term dropped the ball, because it is true that all these men had there opportunities. I probably should have used the term. "Who could wwe have gotten more out of."
I'm loving some of the responses though, thanks to everybody who found the topic interesting enough to reply.

After reading every bodies responses i would also have to go with Morrison. A bummer that reported backstage issue hurt him.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

In the grand scheme of things, I'm not all that sure that WWE really dropped the ball with any of them, at least in my eyes.

Morrison & Benjamin were both insanely athletic and entertaining to watch inside the ring. That's never been debated or doubted by anyone that's seen them do their thing. The real problem they had is that neither one of them had any real personality or charisma to speak of. Fans got into watching them in their matches but once their matches were over, there was just no real connectivity. During the time they were in WWE, I don't remember seeing either of them cutting anything resembling a decent promo and if you can't connect with fans on the stick, whether you're able to set new standards like The Rock or rally the crowds around you with just simple honesty like Daniel Bryan, then you won't be a main eventer. I could see JoMo or Benjamin as World Heavyweight Champion since the World Heavyweight Championship hadn't been thought of as being on a similar level as the WWE Championship for several years, but not as WWE Champion. Besides, it's not as if JoMo & Benjamin weren't given several title runs and significant wins over top stars. If you can't follow up and maintain momentum then, sometimes, that's all on the wrestler rather than the company.

As for Carlito, I just never really saw anything all that special about him. He was pretty decent on the mic. He wasn't mind blowing or anything, but he was okay. I generally thought the same thing about his in-ring ability. Everything I've read about Carlito, I don't know if it's true but it's just what I've read, says that he had an entitled and lazy attitude backstage. Like I said, I don't know if it's true, but it's just something I've read from dirtsheet writers, producers, guys in the locker room, etc. Basically, what it boils down to is that most of the stories indicate that Carlito felt he should be a top guy but didn't really want to put in the extra work and effort that comes with it. IF that's true, then it's all on Carlito's shoulders, though even busting your ass is no guarantee that you'll be given that opportunity. At the same time, however, not to sound like JBL, but it seems that every disgruntled former WWE guy takes to the internet to blame various conspiracies for why they didn't make it to the level they thought they should. Odds are, it's true in some cases, but it's become a very convenient crutch that far too many try to use. I suppose it's easier than acknowledging the mere possibility that they just might not be as talented as they believe they are.