The Most Wasted Potential of All Time

[ShinobiMusashi]

I have been watching a bunch of WWF stuff from 2001, and I have to say that RVD was a serious waste of potential.

The way they booked him during the Invasion was terrible, and he was more over with the fans than guys who had been there for years before him. He outperformed everyone, and he had years of experience carrying the ECW's PPVs before he arrived in WWF.

They should have pushed him to the top in 2002/2003, but he was doing Sunday Night Heat matches, and Dark Matches.

Then the knee injury, and then the ECW DVD's sell way more than expected in 2005, and RVD finally gets his push. Way too late in my opinion. They had something special when he was in his prime(2001-2002), and they didn't even realize it.

 

[Diet Soda]

Christian

Partly because he was constantly overshadowed by Edge.
Partly because every push got was as a chicken-shit heel.

The guy is immensely talented in the ring and on the mic, yet WWE have never trusted him to be a top face, even though I believe he is more than capable. It came close last year, only for him to be overtaken by Randy Orton.

 

[Dmbfantomas]

I know he has been a two time world champion, but Christian by far has been the biggest waste in WWE history. He has the total package, great in ring work and even better on the mic. He has been so over with the fans since 2004, he really should have been given the spot they eventually handed to John Cena. Sadly, Vince has had it in his head for a long time that Christian wasn't good enough to be the top guy and has had it in for him ever since.

No one outside of internet marks really care about Christian. It's not some big conspiracy. Christian is simply a damn good in-ring guy who is bland to look at and really just can't get it from the crowd the way a true championship material guy should.

Throughout his stints in the major promotions, Sean Waltman had the potential to cement a legacy of title reigns but was always held back by his size - ironic that today's world champs are CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, with wrestling skills that would easily blend their their styles today, as well as over two decades of experience to back that up. Imagine the heat X-Pac would have generated had he held the IC title instead of Albert. The guy could undeniably get a reaction from the crowd.

No one wanted to see X-Pac. There's a reason the term "X-Pac Heat" exists. X-Pac was dogshit on the mic, medicore at best in the ring, and couldn't get a crowd to care about him if he bought them all dinner.

Waltman is a really cool dude, and I'm glad he cleaned himself up. But he was the suck, and got as far as he did thanks to being in good graces with the right people.

Gotta go with John Morrison like a fellow poster said. he had it all except perfect mic skills. I think if they worked with him more on that instead of burying him for the Melina thing it would have been better for business. If WWE holds grudges on up coming talent too much ,that step out of line a little, they are going to lose some gems. I hope Morrison comes back better then ever after mania or for MITB, PPV, win the match and get back on track to the top. Use a manager like vicky if he needs it for mic work.

John Morrison is another guy who was really phsyically talented, but boring as all get out when he couldn't rely on doing flashy moves and amazing feats. The man could not speak. When you couple that with a shit attitude and acting like a small child in the back, you won't get ahead. John Morrison wasted whatever John Morrison could have been,

also ric flair in WWF, they brought him in as the "real" world champion, they couldve had a HUGE unification match at survivor series then a huge blowout at wrestlemania between him and hogan, that was a big waste IMO

The Hogan/Flair feud was wasted, but we ended up getting one of the best WM matches ever in Savage v Flair, so that's good. Of course, Flair winning the Royal Rumble was great too. Flair's old-man run in the E was pure class though. Damn shame he couldn't have walked away after that big retirement Raw.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I think it has to be Sean O'Haire, as I have said many times before on this forum.

O'Haire had it all. The size, body, look, charisma and mic skills of a star. Plus, for a big man he was extremely agile, even able to hit a Swanton (Seanton) Bomb as his finishing move.

Before WWE released him, he looked set for stardom with his "Devils Advocate" gimmick which was fresh, exciting and totally different from anything WWE had done before. I really did see dollar signs on O'Haire and he had so much potential to become a real main event superstar.

It still puzzles me why WWE released him. There are rumours of him being difficult to work with, but I guess we will never know the full story. I am surprised we never saw him pop up in TNA in their early days, but I know he has left the wrestling business now.

O'Haire could have led a faction while under his "Devil's Advocate" gimmick, manipulating and controlling the minds of his followers- kind of like CM Punk did during the SES. I still always create O'Haire on WWE games for the X-Box and push him to the main event.

It's a damm shame we never saw just how good he could have been.

 

[MCMG]

Wasted by the WWE would be john Morrison. For a long time he was the most exiting wrestler in the wwe. His matches were enjoyable and he was improving in terms of mic skills. He should have had a world title run but something happend ( Batista i think) which made Vince dislike him. Real Shame.

By the superstar himself would be of course Jeff Hardy. Part blame may lie with the WWE for not helping him get clean but at the end of the day it was is own responsibly and he ruined what could have been a great career.
After he won the world title he was over with the fans to the same extent as Cena and Mysterio but he had to do drugs and mess everything up.

 

[FlairFan2003]

This response will suprise you-

My pick is :- Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat!

Yes, yes. I know what you will say. But he is in the HoF! Steamboat is lauded throughout wrestling, and his matches with Ric Flair are considered some of the best of all time. He was in the greatest WM match ever, etc!

But I think Ricky Steamboat could have been WWE World Champion. He has the popularity, he definitely had the ringwork, and he was actually very good on the mike as well. Yet he was treated as more of a "midcarder", and even though he beat Randy "Macho Man" Savage at WM3, Steamboat was pushed to the top, but instead he lost the IC Title to the Honky Tonk Man of all people.

Steamboat is the greatest wrestler never to have been WWE or World Champion, and he should have been.

Steamboat's push ended shortly after his IC Title win because he wanted time off to be with his family, he's said this in interviews, he basically asked Vince for time off and a reduced work load and in exchange his push was ended. Same thing happened in WCW in 1989, after the fued with Flair he immediately moved into a high profile feud with Lex Luger who next to Terry Funk was the company's top heel at the time. Steamboat only wanted a short run howver and asked for his release, then stayed out of the industry for nearly two years before re emerging in WWE.

Now I dont know why his last WWE run went so poorly, at this stage he did want to work, he soon went back to WCW and was featured prominently for the next two years with good feuds vs Rick Rude, Flair, and Austin. This run ended only due to injury, which effectively ended his career.

When I think of wasted potential I think of a guy who had the ball and dropped it, Steamboat isnt that guy, he just didnt want to be the guy full time for much of his career, family came first.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Now, I am also going to mention a guy who LSN suggested, and I 100% agree with.

Mike Awesome

I have never seen another wrestler the size of Mike Awesome who could move like he could. As well as having the best powerbomb in the business, Awesome could fly too. He destroyed everyone in his ECW run before causing massive controversy when he left the company while still champion and turned up in WCW.

WCW had a goldmine on their hands with Awesome and they not only wasted him, they stuck him with 2 of the worst gimmicks in wrestling history- "The 70s Guy" and "The Fat Chick Thriller"- unbelievable. Why they did this is beyond me, when they had just signed a man who could have been the future of their heavyweight division.

When he arrived in WWE as the first WCW ever to appear in MSG, stealing the Hardcore title I expected big things from him, he should have been a definite star in the Alliance, but once again nothing was done with him. I heard rumours that someone (Undertaker?) didnt think Awesome knew how to work, and he ended up buried.

When he appeared at the first ONS PPV in 2005 against Masato Tanaka, Awesome showed he could still go, he had a great, brutal match which is one of my favourites to this day. After that performance, WWE should have resigned him in my opinion.

Sadly, Awesome took his own life shortly after which I think is a huge loss to the wrestling business as well as to his family and friends. Mike Awesome had the size, strength, look and ability to be something special in wrestling, and I think WWE and especially WCW didnt realise what they had. Sure, he wasn't the most technical wrestler ever, and could maybe be a bit sloppy but they could have worked with him and made him into a bona-fide main event level star.

 

[ShinobiMusashi]

Now, I am also going to mention a guy who LSN suggested, and I 100% agree with.

Mike Awesome

I have never seen another wrestler the size of Mike Awesome who could move like he could. As well as having the best powerbomb in the business, Awesome could fly too. He destroyed everyone in his ECW run before causing massive controversy when he left the company while still champion and turned up in WCW.

WCW had a goldmine on their hands with Awesome and they not only wasted him, they stuck him with 2 of the worst gimmicks in wrestling history- "The 70s Guy" and "The Fat Chick Thriller"- unbelievable. Why they did this is beyond me, when they had just signed a man who could have been the future of their heavyweight division.

When he arrived in WWE as the first WCW ever to appear in MSG, stealing the Hardcore title I expected big things from him, he should have been a definite star in the Alliance, but once again nothing was done with him. I heard rumours that someone (Undertaker?) didnt think Awesome knew how to work, and he ended up buried.

When he appeared at the first ONS PPV in 2005 against Masato Tanaka, Awesome showed he could still go, he had a great, brutal match which is one of my favourites to this day. After that performance, WWE should have resigned him in my opinion.

Sadly, Awesome took his own life shortly after which I think is a huge loss to the wrestling business as well as to his family and friends. Mike Awesome had the size, strength, look and ability to be something special in wrestling, and I think WWE and especially WCW didnt realise what they had. Sure, he wasn't the most technical wrestler ever, and could maybe be a bit sloppy but they could have worked with him and made him into a bona-fide main event level star.

I strongly agree with this post.

Lets go back to December of 1999 for a brief moment.

While everyone was watching shit wrestling over on Raw, Smackdown, Thunder, and Nitro, they missed 2 of the best heavyweight wrestling matches of the year over on TNN on Friday nights. Mike Awesome vs Masato Tanaka for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship.

An Awesome led ECW Invasion of the WCW(with Bam Bam Bigelow, Shane Douglas, Terry Funk, Mysterio, Juvy, Psicosis, C'mon!) would have been better than Jeff Jerrett's NWO for sure. The WWF didn't do much better. They didn't really know what they had because none of the head honcho's had actually ever sat down, and watched ECW until after the DVD sold millions of copies in 05/06.

Mike Awesome's matches against Masato Tanaka from Heatwave 98("Get Off Me Motherfucker!"), and their two on TNN from December of 99 are in the top 5 best matches in ECW History in my opinion. Their match at One Night Stand was great too. They managed to recapture the same elements that made their old ones so good.