The One Vince McMahon Let Get Away

[The Scarred One]

We're all aware of Vince McMahon and the WWE's ability to create superstars. In the past, we've seen the likes of Chris Jericho, John Cena, Randy Orton, Triple H, Edge, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels and Batista among others reign at the top while other stars such as the Miz, CM Punk, John Morrison, Kofi Kingston, Jack Swagger and Sheamus are on their way there.

But at the same time, Vince McMahon has let a lot of great talent slip through his fingers. Whether it be creative differences, disciplinary problems or personal issues, a lot of great talent that could've succeeded in WWE did not.

So out of all the names that have come and gone in the past, who is possibly the best that McMahon let get away? Had the circumstances been different, who would've been up there with the other names I've mentioned?

I have two examples:

1) Sean O'Haire
When he got called up to the main roster in WCW as a member of the Natural Born Thrillers, I thought this guy had something special. He had the look, the mic skills and moveset to really go places. After WCW went out of business and was sold to WWE, he, along with several other WCW employees, went with it. After a run as part of the WCW/ECW Alliance, he disappeared to Ohio Valley Wrestling to tune up. He was called back up to RAW a year later but didn't accomplish much.

But in 2003, O'Haire started appearing in vignettes for SmackDown in which he portrayed a Devil's advocate character. In these vignettes, he urged people to do things that we consider wrong and immoral (breaking the law, committing adultery, not going to church, doing drugs and alcohol, etc.). He also urged superstars like Dawn Marie and Brian Kendrick to do outrageous things. But this new persona was quickly abandoned as O'Haire became the apprentice of a returning "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. After Piper was released, O'Haire was left to fend for himself with appearances on Velocity before he got released in early 2004. Last I heard, he works as a professional bodyguard after a less-than-stellar career in mixed martial arts.

Now it's obvious that the Devil's advocate gimmick wouldn't fly in today's WWE because of the PG rating. But I think if the WWE kept the gimmick, he could've made it to the upper mid-card level at least.

2) Muhammad Hassan
After a couple of years in Ohio Valley Wrestling, he and Shawn Daivari went on the road with RAW testing out a new anti-American gimmick. As Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari, the WWE portrayed them as Arab-Americans who wanted relief from the increased oppression and discrimination they felt following Sept. 11. The gimmick was different from the likes of the Iron Shiek, Yokozuna and Nikolai Volkoff, who portrayed foreigners that despised the United States and its people. Instead, Hassan and Daivari were Americans of Middle Eastern descent who were raised with American ideals and values but felt mistreated due to their ethnicity. For the first couple of months, Hassan would constantly interrupt promos of other superstars and talk about being held back due to predjudice. In doing so, he became the most hated superstar in the WWE. So hated that when he entered the 2005 Royal Rumble, the faces and heels currently in the ring ganged up and eliminated him. Eventually, Hassan was drafted to SmackDown, where he immediately got into a feud with the Undertaker. Before the Great American Bash match, Daivari faced the Undertaker. Afterwards, Hassan summoned five masked men to beat up the Undertaker and carried Daivari away like a martyr.

The WWE's timing with this couldn't have been worse as the July 7 London Bombings took place hours before the episode aired. The media backlash following this caused UPN to demand Hassan's removal from the show. According to reports, Hassan was scheduled to win over the Undertaker, eventually going on to feud with Batista and possibly winning the World Heavyweight Championship. Now unable to show Hassan on SmackDown due to outside pressure, the WWE had no choice but have the Undertaker win and kill off the Hassan character, despite his popularity or notoriety with fans. Hassan and Daivari were sent back to developmental, but Hassan left the WWE months later with aspirations of becoming an actor.

Much like O'Haire, I felt that the Hassan gimmick wouldn't work in today's WWE environment. But how far would've Hassan rose had it not been for that segment? Would he have been a multiple time World Champion?

But those are just two examples of guys who had the potential to really thrive in WWE but, due to one circumstance or another, never lived up to it.

But who else would be considered the ones who Vince McMahon let slip through his fingers? Elijah Burke? Brian Kendrick? Chris Kanyon? Billy Kidman? Mr. Kennedy? Past or present, who comes to mind as far as being great talent but not finding great success in WWE?

 

[tjkyle316197]

I really like how you picked two believable main eventers. As much as I disliked their characters, they were very capable of being in the main event and making us interested. I do have to say neither were the bigger loss, if only because S. O'Haire never got the shot that Hassan did, but he did good with what he was given.

 

[JETER123]

No offense, but these revelations aren't new at all. People have been saying for years that these two guys could have been huge. I've seen threads and responses about these two for a long time. There really isn't much more to be said that hasn't been said already. These two guys were talented on the stick, and could've given a lot with their characters.

 

[stewed99]

I think that Paul London had just as much potential as Brian Kendrick. He seemed to have a little more individuality than Kendrick when they were teaming and had a great look... I liked the whole mask thing he had going on a couple times. Also, another name that comes to mind is Bob Holly. I really think that he had loads of potential and was one of the hardest and toughest workers in the biz. It just seemed that he never lived up to it. WWE really missed an opportunity with the whole "Brock, I'm gonna break your neck" angle. He was always a very solid performer in my eyes. I think that Mike Knox and Gene Snitsky could have really been monster super-heels if their characters were booked properly.

 

[#hamler]

Shelton benjamin. Benjamin was drafted in 2004 to raw and beat triple not once but multiple times. Then beat jericho for the intercontinental title. He shined at wrestlemania 21 at the money in the bank matches, had the match of his career against shawn michaels in the gold rush tournament in 2005, and put on matches against christian for the ecw title that were match of the night material. He wasn't the best at cutting promos but I believe he's one of the best pure athletes in wwe history next to kurt angle. He could mat wresle, do some springboards and some high flying, kick, strike, anything. Its a damn shame and I believe it truely was a mistake to let benjamin go. Sucks for vince (and us)

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I think Sean O'Haire was a massive talent, I loved his look, and moveset. The guy could really go in the ring, and its a shame that he never really made it as a top wrestler. I still create him every year on the SmackDown games for the X-Box haha.

The Devils Advocate gimmick was really cool, and something totally different. It would be awesome to see in the WWE at the moment, going up against CM Punks SES.

I heard O'Haire ended up doing time in jail for assault, and has lost most of his sight in one eye? Could be wrong though

 

[Caitiff]

If there's one prson that WWE really missed the boat on, that person would have to be Charlie Haas. This guy is basically Kurt Angle minus the promo skills, an, in ym nowhere near humble opinion, he was also the better half of the tag team with Shelton Benjamin. Especially since, in the few times I remember him cutting a promo, his promos were better than Shelton's. Shelton's mic skills were, to the best of my memory, god-awful at best. Hass is a throwback to the days when actual wrestlers actually wrestled, and the contrast in style between him and, to be honest, pretty much anyone else on the WWE roster should have made him a noteworthy talent.

Then again, WWE did, at one point, have Christopher Daniels under a contract. In fact, Daniels actually wreslted on WWE programming a few times, but nothing came of it. So, my vote on this one would go to either Charlie Haas or Christopher Daniels.

"But, Rob. When did Christopher Daniels ever wrestle for WWE?" Good question. Well, let's hop in the Way-Back machine, and set the clock to the year 2000. You remember the year 2000. We still had a World Trade Center, the biggest problem in America was the hell that would be unleashed if the Spice Girls got back together, and we had a competent Congress.

(whispering in background) Oh, yeah. Wrestling. Sorry. Got off on a tangent. But, in the year 2000, (said in the old Conan O'Brien style) Edge and Christian were unable to get a tag title match against the Hardy Boyz. So, they put on costumes. But, in order to fool everyone, two other guys also wore the costumes with Edge and Christian, so that Edge and Christian could be seen with those guys. The secondary people in the costumes were Aaron Aguila, who later became semi-well known as Carlito's lackey Jesus, and Christopher Daniels. Yes, I'm talking about Los Conquistadores.

 

[The Prod1gy]

There is a long list but like the creator of this thread, I will only name 2.

Shelton Benjamin: This guy came into the WWE with the perfect start, created a brilliant tag team with Charlie Haas. Then joined Team Angle where he learned from the best and the angle caught on like wildfire. This got him over enough to go his separate ways from the Team and he went to Raw.

From there he cleaned house and ran wild all over RAW, Starting with a main event fued with Evolutions, Randy Orton, Ric Flair and even to a lesser extent Triple H (He beat him two weeks in a row on RAW.) From there he just went downhill really. He won a few IC and US titles but nothing major and nothing long.

Billy Gunn: Everywhere Billy went he got incredibly over, even with crappy gimmicks. He could go in the ring, was good on the mic and was pretty much the total package. He worked his ass off and was never rewarded. In TNA and WWE.

Though you could argue his first run in the E wasnt bad it was still wasted due to the fact he held practically no titles and was only involved in DX and even then he was just "the other member" of the team.

There are heaps more but I just wanted to name 2.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

I am very sure the WWE had big plans for O'Haire that just never materialized. If I can recall they were actually trying to get him a rub with Piper as his manager. I'm guessing there is just something that happened backstage that didn't allow it to work out and I don't think its because he is a WCW guy because having a WWE Legend like Piper work a programme with him means that was not a factor.

guys the WWE let get away were ....

The Brian Kendrick - The fact that the WWE never gave him a chance beyond his 1 month stint in Unforgiven was just criminal. If Mysterio is built around as a little guy underdog who can defy the odds, Brian Kendrick could have been the exact opposite. The cowardly little guy who get huge breaks because of cheating ... it could have worked for him to bring him as an upper mid carder and main eventer.

In wrestling you need three things charisma, mic skills, and in-ring ability and if you were to evaluate Kendrick on all three he would get high scores.

Just check this out ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCSm2MCMz94 .... that was promo gold.

It's funny how Jim Ross compared him to Brian Pillman ... I thought it was an interesting comparisson.

 

[Wainy]

There are literally hundreds of wrestlers that the WWE has wasted/missed the boat on, & the majority of them are all down to one reason. Vince's Ego"! The big problem for anyone coming into the WWE who's had success anywhere else is, well, just that, they've had success elsewhere, & Vince wasn't the reason behind it. His attitude of "Just because it worked there doesn't mean it will work here" is ridiculous & detrimental to his product, but his massive ego & blinkered view of the world outside the WWE Universe means that it will never change & will continue to hold back wrestlers who are 100 times better than some of the shite he has promoting his company right now. At a aglance, lets go with:

Lance Storm
Rob Van Dam
Chris Harris
Sean O'Haire
Mike Awesome
Taz
Paul Burchill
Paul London
Brian Kendrick
Tommy Dreamer
Justin Credible

All of whom are top talents, but were lumbered with piss poor booking &/or gimmicks. There are others too, who were WWE originals, but never really had the chance to shine like Matt Morgan for instance, who went on to look like a star in TNA, & then there were people who never even got a chance. Fucking Takeshi Morishima for God's sake! A guy who'd walk through the entire WWE locker room, & make all of them look good in the process, but Vince said no because "He looked like a "Fat Japanese School Girl". AJ Styles was another, but Vince offered him less money than he was earning & a developmental deal only.

If Vince wasn't so narrow minded & egotistical, the WWE product would be bigger than anything in the world right now. The sole reason there are so many WWE haters in the world right now, is that man right there.

 

[Low_Ki]

There have been quite a few.

The main guy i always felt had more potential, even though he was with the WWE until quite recently, was Carlito.

His vignettes before he debuted were hilarious, and his character was something that was fresh and new (at the time). He won his first Championship in his first match, winning the US Title off John Cena and looked to be going somewhere. And then he got injured, and really fell hard down the pecking order.

I don't know. It just seemed like such a waste of talent.

Another guy that I think the WWE really dropped the ball with was Elijah Burke aka D'Angelo Dinero.

The man was a class act. He was a very good wrestler, and, as he has proved in TNA, given the mic, he is pretty damn good. And look at him now. He is massively over and I see a title reign in the near future for him.

There are many more I'm sure but that is just my two!

 

[harrythem]

I'd have to pick Vader. The guy was a monster wherever he went but, in WWF, he just didn't seem to cut it. It was strange as he had such a strong arrival in the company but just didn't seem to go anywhere. Yeah, I know he got a title shot at SummerSlam 96, but HBK telegraphed who'd win that when he got straight back up from a Vader beating at the end of International Incident the month before. The only time he really seemed to shine in WWE was in the Fatal-4-way match between him, Undertaker, Austin and Bret Hart but, even that, led to nothing.

Not long after he left the WWE he became one of the big draws in AJPW again....Vince really blew it with this guy

 

[The Wolf]

"Shelton Benjamin: This guy came into the WWE with the perfect start, created a brilliant tag team with Charlie Haas. Then joined Team Angle where he learned from the best and the angle caught on like wildfire. This got him over enough to go his separate ways from the Team and he went to Raw.

From there he cleaned house and ran wild all over RAW, Starting with a main event fued with Evolutions, Randy Orton, Ric Flair and even to a lesser extent Triple H (He beat him two weeks in a row on RAW.) From there he just went downhill really. He won a few IC and US titles but nothing major and nothing long.

Billy Gunn: Everywhere Billy went he got incredibly over, even with crappy gimmicks. He could go in the ring, was good on the mic and was pretty much the total package. He worked his ass off and was never rewarded. In TNA and WWE.

Though you could argue his first run in the E wasnt bad it was still wasted due to the fact he held practically no titles and was only involved in DX and even then he was just "the other member" of the team." The Prod1gy

First of all it was not two time that shelton beat Triple H BUT 3 so he should of gotten a title shot right then and there not an IC title.

Second Billy Gunn's first run was not wit DX but wit Bart Gunn as the Smoken Gunns.

As far as them not being used right I will agree.

 

[FutureChamp328]

I'm going to go with a personal opinion and say Kevin Fertig. His first character Mordecai was in my eyes a great gimmick and it had a great build up. Not only that he looked totally dominant and was even supposed to feud with The Undertaker but alas he was released less than 6 months after he debuted. His next gimmick was Kevin Thorn in WWECW which was once again not allowed to go really anywhere after a big build up and an impressive showing.

 

[crimson_mask]

Definitely Shelton Benjamin. The fuck happened there? In 2005 he looked poised to take over the WWE, but nothing ever really materialised. Sure he was lacking mic skills, but his in-ring ability more than made up for that, not to mention he had the all-important looks factor. He was one of those guys who was just fun to watch every time he was in the ring. WWE definitely missed the boat with the guy.

 

[The Scarred One]

There are literally hundreds of wrestlers that the WWE has wasted/missed the boat on, & the majority of them are all down to one reason. Vince's Ego"! The big problem for anyone coming into the WWE who's had success anywhere else is, well, just that, they've had success elsewhere, & Vince wasn't the reason behind it. His attitude of "Just because it worked there doesn't mean it will work here" is ridiculous & detrimental to his product, but his massive ego & blinkered view of the world outside the WWE Universe means that it will never change & will continue to hold back wrestlers who are 100 times better than some of the shite he has promoting his company right now. At a aglance, lets go with:

Lance Storm
Rob Van Dam
Chris Harris
Sean O'Haire
Mike Awesome
Taz
Paul Burchill
Paul London
Brian Kendrick
Tommy Dreamer
Justin Credible

All of whom are top talents, but were lumbered with piss poor booking &/or gimmicks. There are others too, who were WWE originals, but never really had the chance to shine like Matt Morgan for instance, who went on to look like a star in TNA, & then there were people who never even got a chance. Fucking Takeshi Morishima for God's sake! A guy who'd walk through the entire WWE locker room, & make all of them look good in the process, but Vince said no because "He looked like a "Fat Japanese School Girl". AJ Styles was another, but Vince offered him less money than he was earning & a developmental deal only.

If Vince wasn't so narrow minded & egotistical, the WWE product would be bigger than anything in the world right now. The sole reason there are so many WWE haters in the world right now, is that man right there.

I quite agree with you on this. It seems that Vince McMahon has always had a preference for guys created by the WWE machine. I guess he feels with someone who gained tremendous success in another promotion, he probably feels he can't take any credit if they do get over because they found greatness elsewhere. It's a shame too. A lot of great talent has come and gone because of this.

There is a long list but like the creator of this thread, I will only name 2.

I didn't say you had to only list two. I just listed two myself as examples. Anyone can list as many as they want.

 

[lamo78]

Two people I feel who never got the full pushes that they deserved were-

1. Steve Blackman- He looked like a total bad ass and backed it up with martial arts in the ring. He was intense and believable. I know he was more or less forced to retire due to injury before they got to push him fully or not. But he should have been in the mix for the I/C belt at least and not just the hardcore belt.

2. Hardcore Holly- He was crazy intense, built, and likeable. He had a reputation in the locker room for being as tough as his character made him out to be. He put on some really good matches with people like RVD and Kurt Angle. He finished working a solid match with Angle with a broken arm. That alone should make him worthy.

 

[Ruthless-RKO]

The first guy that pops in my head is...Elijah Burke...I love his character in TNA, and it could easily work in WWE...they just never used him properly did they?? apart from him being leader of the New Breed stable!!

Another is of course Shelton Benjamin, he could have easily stepped up his mic skills or have been given a mouthpiece..but VKM dropped the ball with him...I woduln't be surprised if he won the TNA World title... lol

I also have to mention Muhammad Hassan, the only thing I didn't like was the character, I don't know why, but I ahte the anti-American characters, they get cheap heat..and c'mon them attacks happened a long time ago now, maybe back then it had only been like 4 years, but still..His could have taken up a much better heel character or even face..I could have seen him a 2-time World champion in WWE by now!! at least!!

 

[aman7525]

I know that the OP didn't say we had to only name two but that's what I'm gonna do

1. Andrew TEST Martin: I know that he had some good feuds, and that he had some other issues, but he had the look and at several times ha had the momentum to be the champ. I remember him and HHH feuding over steph as one such time.

2. Prince Albert: he teamed with test and Trish Stratus to form T&A and thats all i really remember from him, but he was huge and mean looking and can go in the ring. The fact that he has been one of the biggest things in Japan proves that he has an ability to Draw( I know that the Japanese audiences are different from the American audiences).

Honorable mention: Ken Shamrock: I don't think he was going to be around very long, but he genuinely seemed like he could have beat anyone at anytime when he was there.

 

[Sparky3000]

1) Test, I know someone else has previously mentioned him but he was great right up until his heel turn around the alliance angle... That sucked.

2) Rhyno... The former ecw champion

3) Shane Helms, they built him up when he returned from his injury & made him look like he was gonna get a us title run... then sent him to ecw and let him fall away into obscurity.

4) Stevie Richards... I was never expecting him to be world champ but he deserved more than what he got. After spending years as a jobber he found minor success in wwecw then got injured. After said injury he came back with all this momentum, he got a good little push & winning streak. He looked like a good contender for the wwecw title, which would have been a good way to go out for him, but then he didn't and suffered the fate if everyone else.

5) Chuck Palumbo, when he came back a few years ago he got this awesome, badass, biker gimmick and winning streak that was working for him. He coulda had a great u.s. title run but instead he prematurely turned heel before he could re-establish himself and ofcourse he fell away into obscurity.

The moral to the story is kids, if you push someone you have to commit to it or people will stop caring AND don't make people turn when they just start to get momentum... IT RUINS CAREERS

 

[Storm316]

The one that stands out to me is Matt Morgan. Vince made him look like a stuttering dumbass in the WWE and now he's a premier talent in the TNA. I would have loved to see Matt continue in the WWE. Not sure why Vince didn't see him as a possible future main eventer. Maybe there is more to the story I don't know. But I remember him being the bomb on Tough Enough too.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

Someone said Vader earlier, and I somewhat agree. Vader wasn't used to his full monster-potential in the WWF, but he was a main-eventer. Should he have held the title? I think so. But it's not like he was an absolute nobody. I think that's what I'm going for. Someone who could have been great (IMO), but did nothing.

Kenny Dykstra: I thought this guy was going to be something special. He was freakishly athletic, and when give the opportunity, could flat-out perform. He was a great mixture of mat wrestling and high-flying ability, with decent size to boot.

He wasn't bad on the mic either. Didn't get a lot of chances to talk, but wasn't bad when he did. I think he was very green on the mic, and could have used some practice, but had great potential. He had the look, the athleticism, all of it.

I'm not really sure what happened to this guy. I think I recall reading he was somewhat of a headcase, but nothing terrible. So, with that being said, I'm not sure I can say Vince really let him slip away. But, I saw a lot of potential in this kid, and I think I would really tried to get him on the right path. Just my opinion, but I think this kid could have been something special.

 

[ckoneagain]

Noone seems to have mentioned Nathan Jones, i loved his vignettes prior to his debut and the training storyline from the undertaker was all very kool and looked like he was going to be the next indestructible monster, but it just wasn't to be as we know, he couldn't handle the schedule which is a shame, would have liked to see where he ended up had he stayed.

 

[Luke Dawg]

Elijah Burke/ The Pope D'Angelo Dinero.
The guy got a semi push in ECW, but as with many black superstars in WWE, was eventually relegated to jobber and released.

 

[greg_74]

I think it's a lot easier to say guys that weren't as successful in WWE but are now in TNA because we see what can be successful for their characters. I would I to agree with everything said in the first post about Hassain. Also, I think Test could have been a main eventer. He had the size and was pretty athletic. Also I just watched SummerSlam 1999 and he got the biggest pop of the night behind Stone Cold and The Rock so you know he could get over.