Released Wrestlers; Who was the biggest Mistake WWE let go?

[Shadowmancer]

To be fair this is only the ones that were released for no real reason or who asked for their release or let their contract run out. So that means that Angle, Christian Cage and Chris Jericho aren't involved in this equation. And to narrow it down, lets say from Wrestlemania 21 through to Vengence 07.

My pick is Muhammed Hassan, he got the most heat for his gimmick at the time, they had him work with HBK they got Hogan to work with him and Daivari, The only reason they released him was because of the Smackdown incident where they had several masked assailants beat up Undertaker this was just before the London Bombings, He then gets demolished by the Undertaker, sent back to development and then was quietly let go. All because UPN didn't want that kind of gimmick. IMO he could have been one of the Top 3 Heels and quite possibly in the title hunt right now without injuries. He had the In-ring skills, he had the look, he had the Gimmick, he could have been a big deal.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I agree with Hassan. I honestly dont see why they released him. Personally if anything they should have turned him face. Wouldn't it have been a good thing to have him as a face? That gimmick inspired racism despite the fact that Hassan actually had valid things to say. He said that people were racist towards him after 9/11 just because of what other people his race have done. Then again he was a shite wrestler.

Ariel is one. I'm not going into reasons but it was stupid to release an original looking diva.

 

[Derf]

I'd have to say that although they were quick to fix it, releasing Matt Hardy was a pretty big mistake. Ignore the fact that they actually took him back a few months later. Matt Hardy was probably the top face in the company due to pity from the Edge Lita deal, even though he was injured and not on RAW at the time. People cheered for Matt anytime either Edge or Lita showed up, and you'd think that the WWE would take advantage of that fave value, but instead they got rid of him. It was a good choice to take him back, but a stupider one to have released him in the first place.

The other big mistake IMO was Rhyno. Not as much as a misake to have released him, but look at how they play favorites. Look at the Timeline. Rhyno gets fired for making a scene at a hotel Wrestlemania weekend. Eddie Guerrero dies, which eventually brings in the Wellness Program. Randy Orton violates the Wellness program, gets a two month suspension, and actually gets brought back early from it. A year later, Orton himself gets in Hotel trouble, not by smashing a vase, but a whole Hotel room. If Orton could get away with violating the Wellness Program AND trashing a hotel, which also probably made some kinda scene, why fire Rhyno for less?

 

[justinsayne]

The other big mistake IMO was Rhyno. Not as much as a misake to have released him, but look at how they play favorites. Look at the Timeline. Rhyno gets fired for making a scene at a hotel Wrestlemania weekend. Eddie Guerrero dies, which eventually brings in the Wellness Program. Randy Orton violates the Wellness program, gets a two month suspension, and actually gets brought back early from it. A year later, Orton himself gets in Hotel trouble, not by smashing a vase, but a whole Hotel room. If Orton could get away with violating the Wellness Program AND trashing a hotel, which also probably made some kinda scene, why fire Rhyno for less?

because Rhino wasn't a main event star with the company at the time, but looking at things now he could be the top guy in ECW if they hadn't let him go, so yeah Rhino was a big mistake to let go

Another big mistake was releasing the Dudleyz, with WWEs tag division being crap, they could easily be one of the top two teams in WWE, and could help establish all the young teams being brought in

 

[Prax]

I agree with Hassan. I honestly dont see why they released him. Personally if anything they should have turned him face. Wouldn't it have been a good thing to have him as a face? That gimmick inspired racism despite the fact that Hassan actually had valid things to say. He said that people were racist towards him after 9/11 just because of what other people his race have done. Then again he was a shite wrestler.

Ariel is one. I'm not going into reasons but it was stupid to release an original looking diva.

To be fair didn't he also want to leave because he wanted to be an actor? I remember reports saying his heart wasn't in wrestling and he wanted to do other things. Since they couldn't go on with the terrorist angle (which was one of the best done characters in the last 5 years to be perfectly honest with you), there was no point in keeping him around, he didn't want to be there.

As for Rhyno, if I'm not mistaken he got fired cause he was a wife beater, no? WWE doesn't need that shit in their company, his release was justified. Altough he would've been an asset in ECW, for sure.

 

[hatehabsforever]

I agree with those of you who said the biggest mistale was Hussan. If they had kept him the way they did at his beginning, he could have been huge as a heel, or could have had his character tweaked to be a face if they wanted.

At first he claimed that despite his "heritage," he was an American but was a misunderstood American who was being persecuted unfairly. He wore American style clothes such as a suit and tie, and stated "I'm just like all of you, I'm an American but I have been unjustly treated because of my race.

The mistake came when they essentially turned him into a terrorist, especially with the timing of it all. Wearing Arabic clothing, acting like a terrorist rather than a misunderstood American, and of course the whole Undertaker thing was too much at a highly sensitive time.

If they hadn't changed him he would have been huge.

In response to an above post, I don't ever remember Rhino being a wife beater, is this true? Doesn't sound familiar to me. He could now be the cornerstone of a weak ECW brand, along with several other released guys such as Test (yes I said Test), Jindrak, and a few other guys who were redundant at the time but could fill a bigger role in ECW today if they were still around.

 

[Shocky]

Hussan was okay at best. I thought he was more annoying on the mic then anything, and just wanted him to get his ass beat to keep him off the microphone. He's average at best in the ring as well. Daivari I thought was better in the ring and better on the mic then Muhammad.

I'm going with a tag team, the Dudley Boyz. I have come to realize that when someone is released from the WWE do to "Creative Having Nothing for Them", that in reality it means, Creative is a bunch of uninspired morons that either haven't found an old storyline to rip off, or creative is too busy watching bad reality TV to see if anything from it will translate to the WWE.

Honestly, The Dudleyz should never have left. I'm guessing if ECW was going to come back full time in 2005, the Dudleyz wouldn't have been fired. They would add much needed name value to the product. Hell, the WWE's tag ranks are shit, that should have let them have a job for years to come, with or without ECW.

WWE Creative Sucks.

 

[THE Madcap]

Kurt Angle - Greatest wrestler of our times IMO
The Dudleyz - Greatest tag team wrestling today
Rhyno - Really could have been a main event player in WWE
Test - Seemed to fit the new ECW well IMO
New Age Outlaws - Could revive tag team division

 

[sincade20]

In my opinion I think they made a mistake releasing Sean O`haire. Yes I said it Sean O`haire. He was a amazing talent did you seen some of his matches in Wcw. Yeah I know his mic skill wasn't the best but he could have fit in the new ECW

 

[Jeremy Dick]

Hassan was the biggest mistake. He was awesome in the ring and on the mic. And what makes it worse is all the cheap shots WWE take towards the Hassan character, as if his release was his fault... they dropped him because creative thought it'd be a good idea to have terrorists strangle the Undertaker when there's a real war going on in the middle east.

Ariel, another mistake. Rumors suggest she was fired for not having that "diva look" that Vince ejaculates over, but in actuality she was one of the more popular divas. At least it was an original character and she actually looked better than many other divas still on WWE in my opinion.

Charlie Haas, even though they did correct that and hire him back (although just to be a jobber). Haas is an awesome wrestler, I only wish they'd push WGTT they way they need to be.

Matt Hardy, when he was fired, was stupid. He's a fantastic performer, over with the crowd, and they could have utilized him good when he returned from his injury. But he gets fired for mentioning something on the internet that many wrestling sites were reporting anyway. They kind of dropped the ball with his return, but at least they hired him back into the company.

Also, does Paul Heyman count? He kinda quit, got fired, but still under contract, or is he not anymore, I don't even know. But Vince should really slap himself over that one. The ECW brand really needed Paul Heyman and in more control over the brand.

 

[crippler6707]

I think Test was the WWE's biggest mistake letting go. I think he was really coming along in their ECW brand and he also had a nice fued with the ECW champ at thetime Lashley.

 

[Jeremy Dick]

Test's ECW run was the best stint of his career, I would say. It was a shame to see him go but he wanted out of his contract if I remember correctly.

 

[LipstickAndBruises]

Francine, wtf....like ECW doesnt suck enough they had to go and toss out an original. The last time I saw her on TV was in some "official catfight" with I think Ariel...and she looked great and got a nice pop. Maybe she wanted to leave but still, I <3 her and would have loved to see her more.

 

[TheShiznetNo2]

I'm not exactly sure what happened with these individuals but I believe WWE should have kept Juvi, Psicosis, Kidman, and Tajiri.

WWE could've had a monster cruiser weight division had they have kept these guys around grouped with the guys they already have. IMO you don't need much creativity with the cruiser weight division. I don't remember a lot of story lines from the division in WCW, I just remember a lot great matches.

I think a cruiser weight division like this would make Smackdown a lot more better.

 

[TheVoice]

Not sure if this is within the given time line or not... But I'm gonna go with Brent Albright. This guy may not have had the "WWE look", but he was a great technician. Some of his matches from OVW, especially his feud with Punk, and latterly in ROH have been incredible.

He was built up as being a protege to the late Chris Benoit, and from what little I saw of him in WWE, did a great job at caching The Crrippler's intensity and style without blatantly ripping off his moveset. Then fired him for being too similar to Benoit. If they had kept the whole protege deeel gpoing, they could have made an excellent tag team, while quickly elevating his stock through association to Benoit. Definately droppped the ball with this guy.

 

[Slim Pickns]

I'm not exactly sure what happened with these individuals but I believe WWE should have kept Juvi, Psicosis, Kidman, and Tajiri.

WWE could've had a monster cruiser weight division had they have kept these guys around grouped with the guys they already have. IMO you don't need much creativity with the cruiser weight division. I don't remember a lot of story lines from the division in WCW, I just remember a lot great matches.

I think a cruiser weight division like this would make Smackdown a lot more better.

I'm not sure about the others but I know they wanted Juvi out of the WWE because he was out of control.

As for the biggest mistake, I agree with Hassan. He was talented and young, he was just missued in the end. There was a line and the WWE crossed it, then blamed it on him.

A close second is not doing more to hang on to Kurt Angle. TNA has tried many things to catch up to WWE and none worked. However Angle has the potential to give them more exposure, especially if he fights in MMA.

 

[Evan Snow-Wolf]

I'm not sure if my pick falls under the requirements of the thread or not, my head hurts, but I really miss Nora. Bring back Molly Holly!

It was like she left and all the sudden there was this gaping hole in the Women's Division. After that, it felt like we had Trish and Lita and a bunch of eye candy you could shuffle around in a trick or treat bag and be unable to tell them apart.








Then down at the bottom you had Stacy Kiebler. ^_^

 

[BlackHoleCradleShock]

I understand that Lita wanted to move on to do other things(like her current band project), but losing her was a significant loss in my opinion. Aside from Mickie James, Victoria, and Melina, the womens division is now dead to me. And of course you can't count out Trish either. It seems the womens division now is just about stupid bimbo's who have no actual wrestling ability, where as back in time they still were attractive, but they actually put some effort into matches.

 

[the80swasbetter]

well i guess that since its using the WWE and not WWF then it has to be recent times.... new age outlaws and dudleys would be huge to the tag team division these days if they could be brought back...

i feel that christian wasnt that big of a deal as a singles wrester and doesnt look that good as a tna world champ... however if he was in wwe he would have become a big time player in tag team aswell probably with edge and he would also have earnt a title run with smaller guys getting a shot at the big belts!!! PATIENCE was all he missed!!!

also letting rvd, big slow, sabu, heyman, jericho etc go was a big mistake as they have left big gaps... but alot of what WWE is doing right now isnt what the fans want to see.... ECW is a joke, smackdown is watered down rubish and RAW is good... bit not GREAT like it was in the attitude era.... stop the storylines that get started and not finished and stop giving people titles that dont deserve them!!!!.... WWE currently stands for We Want Entertainment...

RANT OVER

 

[Shadowmancer]

As I said in the First post people that ran out their contracts, like Jericho, Christian, Trish, Lita, Big Show and RVD are not included, neither is Angle because of the actual initial reasoning for his release of being in need of recuperation for his injuries. And this is limited in time between Wrestlemania 21 and Vengence 07 so in that just over two year timespan only.

As to TheVoice you are right Brent Albright could have been huge in the WWE, he had the in-ring skills and the best entrance ever in that everyone thought he was a no name Jobber for Booker but then he came out and won. At least he is now tearing it up on the Indy scene now, quite possibly going to be in the final for the NWA Title. I still have no Idea why he was suddenly dropped off of TV when Benoit went on his Sabbatical last year, after which they dropped him.

 

[Derf]

Wasn't Brent Albright known as "Gunner Scott"? I'm thinking it's the same guy...

Anyways, one big string of releases I don't look to highly upon is the HUGE group of ECW origionals that were fired in the past year. Look at how many origionals were on the ECW roster the night they debuted on ScFi. If memory serves me correctly, all but two of them were origionals at the time, and they had close to 20 people, if not more. Go back now, I believe they have a total of 5 originals on the active roster. What ever happened to people like Justin Credible? Danny Doring? Roadkill? Francine? And now Sabu! And that just the top of my head!

 

[cfcdan]

Kurt Angle ... TNA Champion ... Enough said

I understand WHY they did it and perhaps they were justified, but still, doesnt change the fact it has hurt them in that TNA has a GREAT world champion, altho AJ still the best guy in TNA imo

 

[ReedTucker]

Kurt Angle ... TNA Champion ... Enough said

I understand WHY they did it and perhaps they were justified, but still, doesnt change the fact it has hurt them in that TNA has a GREAT world champion, altho AJ still the best guy in TNA imo

Having Kurt Angle hasn't helped TNA that much. On top of that Cena and Edge draw bigger ratings has champion than Angle ever did.

"Also, does Paul Heyman count? He kinda quit, got fired, but still under contract, or is he not anymore, I don't even know. But Vince should really slap himself over that one. The ECW brand really needed Paul Heyman and in more control over the brand."

You can blame Stephanie for that one. She just flat out didn't like Heyman.

 

[Shadowmancer]

I am going to say this one last time, KURT ANGLE DOESN'T COUNT it was by the feeling that letting him go would help him get better. I said in the First post Kurt Angle doesn't count.

Paul Heyman is still under contract meaning that he doesn't count either.

 

[TJ2069]

The reason Hussan was let go from the wwe was even though he was getting great heel heat he also grew big ego back stage and was getting into it with the top wrestlers backstage. He was also given countless warning by the wwe about his attitude. His release was not really based on his in ring talent it was based on his backstage actions they said alot of wrestlers very happy to see him go.