Who Did WWE Miss the Boat On?

[Pedigree1]

wow I am going to name someone who im quite surprised no one on here mentioned.. Davey Boy Smith... Davey Boy back in the early mid 90's was the complete package.. He could wrestle,had an amazing IC bout against Bret at Summerslam,some folks say the best IC match of all time.. Davey could cut an amazing Promo,very agile in the ring..

Davey would have made an excellent WWE champion if it only be for a couple of months or so.. WWE really missed the boat on Davey IMO,featuring him in too many tag team battles and never really focused on his singles career. Whatever reason,Davey never got over like he should have...

And IMO its a damn shame,that HBK not that he is the reason to blame (But had to be such a prick about everything,Davey deserved at least one run with the WWE title

 

[UltimoPhatty]

THE Brian Kendrick. I think that gimmick could've taken him and Zeke on a HBK-Diesel type run. He was starting to get rolling, then they pulled the rug out from under him because he couldn't stop rolling...joints.

It's too bad.

 

[AegonTargaryen]

There have been many talented wrestlers to go through WWE, but not all of them have been able to live up to their potential due to either wrongful booking, injury etc. Some guys that come to mind right off the bat are Mr. Kennedy, Ultimo Dragon, Shelton Benjamin and Ahmed Johnson. Kennedy had the total package but couldn't keep himself from getting hurt, I was disgusted by the way Dragon was used in WCW and WWE, and Benjamin just never got that big push after his victories over HHH a decade ago.. As for Johnson, he was getting over really well until injuries ended his career.
So my question is who should have been bigger than they ultimately turned out to be?

I named a few guys above but the main person I had in mind with this post was Raven. This guy was the original Bray Wyatt and the WWE never allowed Raven to get over on the mic, where he lives and dies. Some of the most intense, disturbing, awesome promos I've ever heard came from Raven and he actually had a pretty good look and wrestling style. I always think that if Raven was given the storylines that CM Punk ultimately got such as leading the SES, becoming the Voice of the Voiceless, Raven would have gotten more over as Punk and could have ultimately been a legend! I just never understood why WWE decided to bury this guy in the Hardcore division like all he could do was hit people with chairs.... smh

Couldn't agree with you more about Raven! I just think it's arguable and non-quantifiable as to how popular he would've gotten in contrast to CM Punk. I also find it hard to imagine, despite his mic work, Cult/Stable, etc. that Raven would be the WHC on Raw, or WWE champion on SD before 2005. Those were the days when there wasn't any MITB and they still had a huge pool of mid-card talents like Rob Van Dam, Chris Jericho, Edge, Eddie Guerrero, etc. And if they weren't main-eventing and only John Cena, HHH and Batista were, it's doubtful Raven would be. But I agree Raven could've been a much bigger star and did not deserve the indecorousness of the Hardcore Division.

 

[MoxleyCrue]

Sting - How anyone could argue that WWE didn't miss the boat on him is beyond me. Sure he's apparently just signed a deal with WWE, but it's come 14 years too late. Now Taker has lost the Streak I don't want to see him wrestle again, and I don't want to see Sting wrestle anyone but Taker. Big boat missed here.

Wade Barrett - It appears he may be on the verge of a push now, but he really should have been elevated during his time as leader of Nexus. Unfortunately I feel there won't ever be an English/Welsh/Scottish star pushed to the heights they deserve purely because the American market won't want to get behind them, which I have no problem with from a business point (which WWE is), but from a personal point guys like Barrett or Devitt could be huge.

Jay Lethal - For a company that, to me at least, looks to need to push African American superstars based on talent and not purely skin colour, Jay Lethal has it all. The guy can wrestle, he's great on the mic, and is experienced. Mix in his Black Machismo act as a tribute to Macho Man and the guy could've been super over, even if it was only in the midcard/IC picture.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

I'll take this a different route and go with a tag team. WWF brought The Steiners in late 92 and two years later they were gone. They had a decent run but it should have been more and it should have been longer. Back than Scott was fantastic in the ring and was probably the best mixture of power and technical ability in the ring with some added athleticism to pull off moves like hurricanranas. If they were booked properly and held onto they should have been the dominate team in what was a down period for tag teams in the WWF. When they left you had teams like The Smoking Guns, Body Donnas and Godwinns as your top teams. It was so bad that Owen and Yoko and than Owen and Bulldog were put together to help salvage the situation. The Steiners should have been top dogs during this time and would have remained as such until their inevitable move to WCW probably around 96 or 97 when they were buying all of the top talent.

 

[justtxyank]

Back than Scott was fantastic in the ring and was probably the best mixture of power and technical ability in the ring with some added athleticism to pull off moves like hurricanranas.

This statement is false.

The true statement would read something like "Scott was fantastic in the ring and was probably the best mixture of power and technical ability in the ring with added athleticism. In fact, other wrestlers began doing moves such as the Frankensteiner."

Anyway, good pick. Steiners were a dominant tag team and were a huge part of WCW for years.

 

[Waylon Mercy]

I think the colossal example would be Goldberg. They effectively neutered him when they had Goldust put the wig on his head. I would probably add, though, that this seemed like a deliberate act of sabotage, given that Vince delighted in taking anything original WCW came up with and giving it a good kick in the grapefruits.

 

[whoopin' ass]

Too many. Obviously more recent guys like Matt Morgan and Shelton Benjamin come to mind. With guys like Angle and Benoit, Lance Storm should have been a natural fit and really his mic skills were not that bad.

I always thought they missed the boat with Jeff Jarrett personally. Stick him with this Neon Cowboy gimmick and then wonder why people don't take him seriously. Maybe he would have never been World Champ but I think they could have used him better than they did - a woman slapping hillbilly. Seriously?

 

[Hem]

The Brian Kendrick and John Morrision. The Brian Kendrick character was just an awesome heel to watch, he was a bit different from your typical heel and it was refreshing to see. The guy was a little smaller than most the top guys but I think sometimes it doesn't matter as long as the character he has is compelling, plus having a big guy backing him up like Big Zeke made him look like a larger threat.

John Morrision is another guy for whom I think the ship sailed (for now) because he was always over with the crowd. There are many critics who called him a mere spot monkey and said he had no mic skills but just look back to his feud against Drew Mcintyre, some of both mans best work. His matches with Jeff Hardy were some of the better televised matches of that year. On Johns last day when he faced the Miz I was just hoping that he won the WWE Championship or at least went out in a blaze of glory but instead he was brutalized by the Miz at the end of the match and left "injured"

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

This statement is false.

The true statement would read something like "Scott was fantastic in the ring and was probably the best mixture of power and technical ability in the ring with added athleticism. In fact, other wrestlers began doing moves such as the Frankensteiner."

Anyway, good pick. Steiners were a dominant tag team and were a huge part of WCW for years.

I never said that he originated the move, but not too many guys who were as big and strong as Scott was were doing the things he did. But I think were in agreement on that based on your reply.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

There are a number of them over the years, too many to mention fully but here are the "greatest misses".

Rick Rude - Absolutely should have been champion in 1990 into 91 instead of Slaughter. Warrior didn't want to drop to him, and we saw from the letters at the time it was more a battle with Vince than with Rude... Hogan however flatly refused to work with Rude and that was a mistake.. Rude as champion for that period means that guys like Perfect, Bret, Bulldog, Kerry Von Erich and Shawn Michaels all would have had a strong heel to work off and arguably the 93-95 slump would not have occured as one of them would have "taken off" better by facing Rude... Bret v Rude instead of Yoko for example as a feud into 9 and he and Shawn facing off at 10 would have jumpstarted stuff a lot quicker...

Jacques Rougeau - The Mountie was always someone who was a great talent and could have done more. We all know WHY he didn't in the WWF, because of the Dynamite Kid incident and Bret and Davey were on the rise... it was the classic Harts not liking the Rougeaus that cost WWE a GREAT talent who could have done a lot more with a slightly less silly gimmick.

Scott Steiner - Not so much the E dropping the ball here but Scott himself. In 93 Vince wanted to split the brothers and make Scott the heel version of Bret Hart - pretty much the push Owen got. But the brothers chose to stick together for better or worse...and it was worse... Sure Scott eventually got over and a World title but by then he was a shell... Scott v Bret in 94 would have been a major success.

Davey Boy Smith - In either 92-93 with Mania 9 being a rematch of he and Bret or having him upset Diesel in 95 or Shawn in 96... Either time Davey was more than capable of being the World champion for a spell and would have drawn. It was stupid to have Shawn drop to Sid when Davey (and Vader) were both better equipped.

More recently:-

Paul Burchill - Sure the Pirate thing was a bit hokey but the man was immensely talented in the ring... but something just didn't click with he and Vince I guess. Imagine if he'd have been used right with say an IC reign... he and Barrett as a team... there is some great stuff missed.

William Regal - Yes he got a violation and that ended his World title push, but there was NO better character at the time, that KOTR winning, GM who could just pull the plug on the show... he was screaming to be World Champion and it was going to happen... WWE should have perhaps been less worried about Linda's aspirations.

Shane McMahon - Both on a wrestling and business level, WWE really did not use Shane to his full potential... Why did Vince get the WWE title? Surely Shane getting it, a guy who could work would have made infinitely more sense? Businesswise Vince chose Trips and Steph and Shane cashed out, went to China and made an absolute killing... his personal fortune rivals his dads now and outstrips his sister and hubby and the kicker... if WWE want's "in" to China, which they clearly do... then they're gonna need Shane cos he has the relationships built...and the Chinese are known for only wanting to deal with who they know... remember all that stock Steph has been selling... 2-1 it's Shane buying it...


In all there are a lot of guys you could say they "dropped on" but many made their own mistakes and few were real golden potential... of guys who the E could have done more with that list for me stands out but it's not exhausive... if some had made different choices, like Pillman calling a cab for example... then things could have been so different.

 

[Papa Pillman]

I'm going to mention a recent guy that I haven't noticed anyone bring up yet.

I know the WWE's "missing the boat" on this guy is likely as much his own fault as it is the company's, as is typically the case everywhere he goes due to his notoriously bad backstage reputation, but still so much more could have been done.

The guy I'm talking about is Kaval(Low Ki).

Likely in spite of what the company wanted considering they booked him to lose more matches than any other competitor during the second season of NXT, the guy was just stupidly over with the fanbase(as he is basically everywhere he goes due to his highly aesthetically pleasing offense), essentially dominating the fan poles all season.

Considering WWE made the decision to allow the fans to be the ones doing the voting during NXT season 2, its dumbfounding to me that the company couldn't find a way to keep the guy that fans clearly chose as the one that they wanted to see happy enough to keep him on the roster till even the end of the calender year after he earned his victory.

Hell, I'm not even sure that NXT2 was the right platform to begin with(but I'm glad it happened because it proved how over a guy like Low Ki could be in the WWE). There was a rumor that while Kaval was still competing at FCW, Rey Mysterio himself personally pitched the idea of calling him up as a mysterious heel under a mask to feud with Rey. Had the WWE listened, the feud could have been awesome, and Kaval likely would've emerged as a major star who could've sold more merch than Sin Cara ever dreamed of.

It still bums me out that WWE, and let's not kid ourselves likely Brandon Silvestry himself to atleast some degree, didn't find a way to make the relationship work. In today's WWE climate that is putting a higher priority on workrate than it has in forever, Kaval could've been huge and there's probably 10 guys on the roster that I'd pay $50 in a second right now to see him get 15-20 minutes with. I think its possible that he could've had a RVD-type impact with the company.

 

[$Mr. 100%]

Rvd. Given their history y havent wwe pulled da trigger on making van dam a Paul Heyman guy. I would love 2 c a heel whole fn show once more and he and punk coulda had a way better feud than punk and axel.

 

[Catacomb]

jerry lynn, not only in wwf but wcw too. i cant believe lynn was putting on great matches at house shows and wwf gives him heat for that, also shouldve been a no brainer ppv match with rvd vs lynn. i believe lynn was cruiser champ and rvd was ic, couldve been an epic feud for both titles that wouldve put on great matches. as for his wcw run, the less said the better, mr jl? come on, at least let him have a real name

 

[justtxyank]

I never said that he originated the move, but not too many guys who were as big and strong as Scott was were doing the things he did. But I think were in agreement on that based on your reply.

Haha, sorry man you missed the jest in my post.

Scott Steiner was known to get pissed off when people called it a hurricanrana as he believed it should always be a frankensteiner.

Scott was awesome, we are in total agreement.

 

[tdmoon]

Good thread and most of the wrestlers that came to my mind have been mentioned so I'll just add a couple. Barry Windham comes to mind. I had high hopes when he came to the WWF after his Horseman stint. Even though they never would have done it, I remember hoping he would end up in Heenans stable with Tully and Arn.
Also Terry Taylor, because I was a big fan of his in UWF and World Class. I always thought he had the ring ability and mic skills to be an impact guy in a major fed.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Goldberg, The NWO, Sting and Ric Flair as the owner of WCW

When WCW went out of business the WWE had a chance to change wrestling forever in a positive way. If they would've brought the right people in, in the right roles. I think WWE vs WCW could've been the biggest storyline in wrestling history. Instead it was awful and a waste.

I agree that WWE totally blew the Invasion Angle by relying almost exclusively on mid carders and newbies the audience had little connection to (outside DDP at least). Fact is WWE didn't need the Invasion Angle itself to be a huge money maker....they got the tape library when the bought out WCW, that was the money maker! Anything else they did was icing on the cake. From a money standpoint I cant blame Goldberg, Flair, Hogan, Nash, for waiting to jump ship, WWE wasn't picking up WCW salaries and the buyouts were small. Flair got a similar deal with WWE he had at the end of WCW (500 grand base plus bonus, he was earning in the 800 grand area as a manager and part timer with some of the travel perks that top guys like Cena & HHH get), the others money wise were much better off sitting and collecting their Time Warner pay checks until they ran out.

I would have loved to see a REAL WCW Invasion angle.... but from both WWE and some of the talent's perspective money wise I understand why we didn't get it. As for that Tape Library...WWE is still milking that cow, with last month's "WCW Greatest PPV Matches Vol 1", not too mention the upcoming "Greatest Faction" DVD and the rumored "Great American Bash" set .... That was the real money maker....They probably made their investment and then some just based on the Hogan & Flair sets they sold.

 

[HatchetMan84]

Don't know if anybody has mentioned him, but I think of Dan Spivey aka Waylon Mercy. Lots of people are comparing Bray Wyatt to him as they dress the same, same type of gimmick etc.. Dan spivey said earlier this year that seeing Bray Wyatt made him happy because he saw that type of gimmick finally be able to do its job. He mentioned they had some ideas for him, he thought it would have been good, but physically he couldn't go anymore.

 

[justtxyank]

Don't know if anybody has mentioned him, but I think of Dan Spivey aka Waylon Mercy. Lots of people are comparing Bray Wyatt to him as they dress the same, same type of gimmick etc.. Dan spivey said earlier this year that seeing Bray Wyatt made him happy because he saw that type of gimmick finally be able to do its job. He mentioned they had some ideas for him, he thought it would have been good, but physically he couldn't go anymore.

It's not really missing the boat if the guy was just physically too banged up to go. Allegedly the WWF was really high on the character and wanted to push him, but his body was breaking down and ultimately his career ended due to injury.

This is an odd one maybe and a bit obscure, but I'll say Ernest Miller. Guy was over like rover for WCW and then he barely was given a sniff by the WWF following the buyout. Never made sense to me. I always thought Ernest Miller was a great mic hand. No reason he couldn't have had a little mid card run and then become an announcer or authority figure.

 

[TootsieBear]

Matt Hardy: Like his brother Jeff, Matt Hardy a very talented performer. WWE dropped the ball when they didn't push Matt Hardy after Edge won the WWE title. It would have been much better to see him win the MITB, cash in on Edge, and win not only the WWE title, but Lita too. Imagine all the heat he would receive from the fans. Also, I loved his "V1" gimmick. What a hilarious asshole who was always fun to watch on Smack down.

 

[can't spell]

Dusty Rhodes should have been left alone.the Dots were stupid.mr.wrestling 2 would have been fun to watch.