Could've made it

[bxbigshow]

Easily Muhammad Hassan, I think the look, mic skills, Davari as his manager...he had "it". And it was scary good. Unfortunatley he was scapegoated by Vince, I've previously ranted about this so I won't again. But in short Vince had 2 days to fix this issue via suspension (kayfabe), or moving him to Raw, or even not showing the match...put in on WWE.com and watch the IWC shut down the server, making him an even bigger attraction.

Honorable Mentions:

Eugene- If they turned him heel correctly. ("I did it all to get onTV!", etc.)
Sean O'Haire- Thank you Roddy Piper for ruining WWE's last great character.
Shelton- to an extent....he was partially responsible, maybe if he breaks out ala Christian/TNA, he might still have a future.
Ken Doane aka Kenny Dykstra (also Spirit Squad)- They "too sooned" him and he wasn't ready. Look at Dolph Ziggler (former SS member 'Nicky!!') slow down the push, develop the right character...star.

 

[Dr. Stinger A. Zoidberg]

The first person that pops into my head is Sean O'Haire. He definitely had the look, and the ability to be a pretty big superstar, but unfortunately, his career in the WWE was cut short by Roddy Piper. I liked his gimmick, and I enjoyed those promos he had which would tell people to go out and do whatever they wanted. Although, even after Piper pretty much ruined that gimmick, he was still able to pick up a couple of victories. Had it not been for that motorcycle accident that he was involved in that eventually led to his WWE release, I think the WWE could have really done something with this guy. He certainly had all the necessary tools to do so.

 

[californiachef84]

Sean O Haire

This guy just looked bad-ass. I still get goosebumps seeing him hit the Seanton Bomb. Graceful.... and powerful as fuck!!

His Devil's Advocate gimmick was nothing short of amazing, like an anti-CM Punk of sorts. Encouraging cheating, drinking, fraud etc. Sean had a great look and was athletically gifted also......

....... Hey, I'm not telling you something you dont already know

I couldn't have said it better myself... This guy was AMAZING!!! I have no earthly idea why he was never pushed and was ultimately released... This guy had more natural talent than most of the younger stars today... He was TEN TIMES better than the Miz, Swagger, Nexus, etc... I am totally with you on this one... GREAT pick...

 

[The Chosen One of WZ]

Theres a couple I could pick: Test, Lance Storm, Hardcore Holly and Lance Cade

Test: Great potentol. When he was dominating ECW he was incredable. He's Big Boot destroyed everyone. Shoulda been a Main Eventer but never not there RIP

Lance Storm: Great wrestler. One of my all-time favs. Shoulda been pushed more

Hardcore Holly: Should have won Mid card titles and ECW title. I remember he even fueded with Brock Lesner once but they took him outta the Main Event after that

Lance Cade: Tons of talent could have gon really far. I especally liked him when he was with Jericho. Too bad he had drug problems and got released. RIP

 

[kingjaekob]

Muhammed Hassan was AWESOME! That was my pick, I never thought anyone rememered him! I think he was undefeated in WWE. This Guy had the IT Factor! Dont forget Mr. Kennedy, Carlito, and a few others. I used to like Van Hammer. Think he would have good in wwf Back in the day. Oh Val Venis! Paul Burchil was great too!

 

[Azogan v.2.0]

I will always say Shelton Benjamin. I wanted for years for him to get his chance and he never did. I remember watching that classic HBK match he had and i remember thinking "If that match doesn't get him over and open everyone's eyes, nothing will." And sadly i was right. I held out hope until SB got his future endeavors, and that kind of put a stamp on 6 years of waiting for him to get his "main event push" per say. But it is what it is.

 

[Azogan v.2.0]

Easily Muhammad Hassan, I think the look, mic skills, Davari as his manager...he had "it". And it was scary good. Unfortunatley he was scapegoated by Vince, I've previously ranted about this so I won't again. But in short Vince had 2 days to fix this issue via suspension (kayfabe), or moving him to Raw, or even not showing the match...put in on WWE.com and watch the IWC shut down the server, making him an even bigger attraction.

Couldnt agree with you more, cant believe i forgot Muhammad Hassin, absolutely crock what happened to his character. I remember reading he was headed to SummerSlam and would have defeated the then champ Batista. Unforunate events, but i do believe he (along with my pick of Shelton Benjamin) are probably the biggest "balls" the WWE dropped. Good pick!

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

I think maybe, I should've gone with a poll as well for O'Haire, Ahmed Johnson, Test, Pillman, Tazz to name a few.

One name I would like to highlight further is Muhammad Hassan.

A brilliant character and the man who played it was even better. He was probably one of the greatest Antagonist and the reason why he had to be cut was just unfortunate.

Had good ring-skills, could definitely talk the talk and Daivari for that extra 'Screw you Americans' was brilliant.

One name I haven't seen tossed is Road Dogg Jesse James.

Goddamn this guy could sell it on the mic. Wasn't Kurt Angle in the ring but was very entertaining. I think Billy Gunn was a just such deadweight to carry. The man had potential for the upper mid-card.

He goes to TNA...AND AGAIN he is saddled with more of Mr. Ass!!! GODAMMIT!!

 

[The Chosen One of WZ]

One name I haven't seen tossed is Road Dogg Jesse James.

Goddamn this guy could sell it on the mic. Wasn't Kurt Angle in the ring but was very entertaining. I think Billy Gunn was a just such deadweight to carry. The man had potential for the upper mid-card.

He goes to TNA...AND AGAIN he is saddled with more of Mr. Ass!!! GODAMMIT!!

Dude Billy Gunn was awesome IMO. He was a good wrestler and also was Road Dogg for that madder.

They were a great tag team and when they were together it was like the only time they didn't have a gay ass gimmick (no need to mention some of Billys) lol

But don't put down Billy Gunn great wrestler and great talker when he has a good gimmick.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

The first person that pops into my head is Sean O'Haire. He definitely had the look, and the ability to be a pretty big superstar, but unfortunately, his career in the WWE was cut short by Roddy Piper. I liked his gimmick, and I enjoyed those promos he had which would tell people to go out and do whatever they wanted. Although, even after Piper pretty much ruined that gimmick, he was still able to pick up a couple of victories. Had it not been for that motorcycle accident that he was involved in that eventually led to his WWE release, I think the WWE could have really done something with this guy. He certainly had all the necessary tools to do so.

O'Haire was AWESOME!

Everyone seems to really rate this guy, and yet WWE completely dropped the ball with him and cancelled his push when his "devils advocate" character was getting over with the crowd. Definitely had the potential to be a big star, does anyone know what he is doing now? Is he still in the business? I would certainly LOVE to see O'Haire back in the 'E, I create him every year on SDvsRaw, I love the guy

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

Dude Billy Gunn was awesome IMO. He was a good wrestler and also was Road Dogg for that madder.

They were a great tag team and when they were together it was like the only time they didn't have a gay ass gimmick (no need to mention some of Billys) lol

But don't put down Billy Gunn great wrestler and great talker when he has a good gimmick.

Didn't mean to go medieval on him, but I just liked Road Dogg a lot and saw a man who could really talk the talk.

Billy Gunn, well maybe, wasn't all too bad, but really his character died for me at the turn off the millenium and then Chuck Palombo came into fray...

What transpired ...

 

[Wolf Pac]

I would go for Ahmed Johnson. Reason is because back in the 96 era, wrestling & mic skills didnt really matter much, most main eventers and Ahmed werent very good on neither and WWE was short on established main eventers, there was only Undertaker, Bret & Shawn, so they stuck anyone up against them and Ahmed could've been one of those people to be put up against them and become World Champion since WWE pushed him to the bone. It would've been much easier to have made him a World Champion back then but nowadays you have a lot of established main eventers, mic & ring skills matter now and it's really hard to put the likes of John Morrison, Shelton Benjamin etc. up against these established main eventers as JoMo, Shelton cant work on the mic, one of the most important aspects of the main event scene, in fact I would say it's THE aspect of the main event scene cause even if your not a great wrestler, you can still be in the main event scene ala Orton, Cena, HHH etc. so scratch ring skills being important nowadays in WWE. WWE are in no rush to make new stars & new World Champs now but back then they were and as I already said, Ahmed could've been one of em easily.

Also Test back in 2001 after he joined the Alliance. I think WWE should've made him join WCW earlier in the Alliance - WWE feud or at least have kept the WCW Title a seperate title after the Alliance was banished cause I could see Test easily winning the WCW Title the way he was pushed at the time. As far as the WWF Title, the only way I could see him winning that if he was pushed as the new Kevin Nash/Diesel at that time. With the right push, Test would've made it but you know WWE's ego.

 

[Nik Notorious]

Sean O'Haire is the first one. Adam Bomb is the second one. It didn't hurt that he had Raven managing for him, I was a huge mark for Adam Bomb.

 

[jcarr19]

Shelton Benjamin, Mark Jindrak.

Everyone knows why Benjamin.. But Jindrak was just someone who definitely had the look, and seem to have the athleticism but didn't exactly jump out with his mic skills.. But if put with a proper manager, he could've been very good.

 

[RaTeDAwEsOmE84]

-Muhammad Hassan i thought was excellent at the time and i was extremely pissed that they didnt use their heads about his potential. The wrestling business should be controvesial. And the guy had skills in the ring and on the mic unlike many of the other people around him at the time, it wouldve only gotten better. He had many other guys he couldve had great feuds with at the time as well

-Ken Kennedy during the "who is Vince's illegitemate child" angle. If he didnt screw with the wellness policy it would have been official right there that he was going to be the champion soon enough. It would have been an easy excellent pick for Kennedy to be Vince's son. Vince would have helped him to the top and made him an extremely enjoyable heel. But it was all sadness after that.

 

[King Blitzkonic]

Shelton Benjamin, Mark Jindrak.

Everyone knows why Benjamin.. But Jindrak was just someone who definitely had the look, and seem to have the athleticism but didn't exactly jump out with his mic skills.. But if put with a proper manager, he could've been very good.

Have you forgotten? Jindrak had two mouthpieces during his WCW/WWE career: Mike Sanders when he was with the Natural Born Thrillers (and Sanders wasn't that bad actually!) and Teddy Long when Jindrak was the "Reflection of Perfection". Let's be honest: Wouldn't you agree that Teddy Long would make a great mouthpiece for a main-eventer if he was never the GM of Smackdown? But I agree with a call for Jindrak.

Two of my top calls are Sean O'Haire and Johnny Stamboli.

O'Haire: He's been mentioned before. He's just as athletically gifted as Jindrak but with one small difference: He could actually work the mic..."But I'm not telling you anything that you don't already know." Not sure what the hell Vince was thinking releasing this guy.

Stamboli: Another amazing athlete, and I'm pretty sure he could run with the better mic workers if given a chance. Here's an example of why I think he could make it:

[youtube]-4QsiDpfzy0[/youtube]

Notice it wasn't just a simple lift up and down. He actually held Jamal up there before dumping him

 

[LitasRevenge79]

Great thread...wow. I've always liked the underdogs and this is PERFECT for me.

First, I'd be remiss to my friends on here who know me if I didn't say MATT STRIKER...granted the teacher gimmick didn't go over too well, but the man is AMAZING in the ring. You can't deny the athleticism. He is quite talented, and knows how to cut GREAT promos from his Striker's Classroom, and watching some of his indy bits online, and seeing him live when he used to wrestle, this guy was great live. I'm sad that he didn't get a chance more for a title.

Test- perfect example of size, power, and talent when given the right angles. I've always liked him from his days in the T&A faction, even his angle with Stacy and feud with Steiner, that was classic. Then seeing him as a HUGE power player as one of Heyman's cronies, he was effin amazing.

Shelton Benjamin- Dude was freaking spiderman in real life. Did you see that athleticism? His ability to leap to the top rope in a single bound?? The man did know how to grow on me. I loved everthing about him even when he was heel. I mean this guy always had some amazing move in every match he did that would leave you going " that was amazing!" Believe me, I'm still one of those people that was truly shocked when he was let go from WWE.

 

[Wolf Pac]

Also forgot to mention Ken Shamrock. Yes his character & mic skills were bland but neither are most of the guys mentioned in this thread but Ken did have the right image & gimmick to look like a threatening champion which is how all World Champions are & should be potrayed. But I wouldn't exactly say he should've been World Champ instead of guys like Stone Cold, Taker, Rock, Mankind & HHH in early 99. Maybe in late 99, he could've won the title from HHH though. before losing it back to him. He wouldnt have been a good champion but I would've liked to have seen him with the title at least once & at the time Big Show held it, nobody really cared for the title, so it wouldnt have mattered if he had won it from HHH then.

 

[Gabbo]

Don't think he's been mentioned yet but Val Venis. He had the lot, was confident on the mic, had a great character, could wrestle a good match and looked the part.

I've seen alot of names mentioned in this thread like Benjamin, Test, Rhyno, Jindrak, Gunn, Adam Bomb and they all lacked charisma. I really felt like Venis oozed charisma.

According to Jericho's book; the reason Venis never made it was because he didn't care enough. He was too nice. He was happy to be walked over backstage, happy to do as he was told and happy to put anyone over. Such a shame he didn't fight his corner a bit more as I was a big Venis mark.

From my own perspective, I think he was a little close to Triple H in terms of look, build, voice and a decent amount of similar moves for Hunter's comfort. Maybe I'm grasping at straws but that's always been in the back of my mind with Val.

His video and theme were awesome too.

 

[ChrisNutter]

Someone that really could have made it better than they did. Arn Anderson,

Anderson held the TV title and was a tag team champion but never got the World Title. He always played in the shadow of Flair which was good for his Enforcer role but he had this calm calculating demeanor about him. He gave good promos and really could work with anyone in the ring. His ability to work on a single body part and to this day still delivers the best Spinebuster in wrestling history.

Anderson could work with anyone and make them look really good in the ring, he did it with Hogan a few times in WCW when Hogan looked awful. If anyone saw his performance in Fall Brawl against the nWo and any other Wargames matches Anderson was always a top performer.

 

[jds121212]

Test- perfect example of size, power, and talent when given the right angles. I've always liked him from his days in the T&A faction, even his angle with Stacy and feud with Steiner, that was classic. Then seeing him as a HUGE power player as one of Heyman's cronies, he was effin amazing.

QUOTE]

The problem with Test was the fact that they showcased the guy who was an inch or two taller and 20 lbs heavier than Triple H as a 7 footer wrestling like Nash or Sid or Kane. He should have been wrestling as more of a mix of a Triple H and a Nash, he wasn't big enough to wrestle the way he did (and i know he had some high flying like his elbow but he basically wrestled like a huge power guy)

I'd have to agree with O'Haire, Raven in either WCW or WWE or Ahmed Johnson who had the look, build, finisher and general presence to be a force at the top of the card

 

[Wolf Pac]

Even though he was WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Vader could've made it to in the WWF. All he needed was the monster look & the monster talent which he had, to become a champion. But unfortunately Shawn Michaels had to hold him back and give the title to a bumbling idiot like Sid instead. I'm sure Michaels would've regained the title back from Vader a few months later, had he let Vader beat him for the title at Summerslam 96.