Wrestlers the WWE didn't maximize

[THTRobtaylor]

No offense, but what do you mean he was the most decorated champion at WWE history at one point, with all the accumulated reigns? Did anybody on WWE programming ever mention him as such? Was that an opinion you held? If so, why would you feel that way? Did he hold all the titles in the WWE except the WWE title and the World Heavyweight Title for a longer time than anybody else did, in days counting accumulation but not breaks and gaps?

If anything, I felt Matt Hardy was pushed too much, but that idea is neither for here nor for there.

Yes it was acknowledged as his accumulated Tag, European and Hardcore titles meant he had had more runs with all titles than any other star, it may have since been surpassed but it was definite mention when they were trying to push him.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Rude is someone yes, they dropped the ball with - but Hogan simply refused to lose to a smaller man and Warrior's excuse was he'd already jobbed the IC to him. Had he stayed fit, I think he would have gone back when Hogan showed up in WCW and won the title from Bret or Shawn but the injury ruined any chance of that.

Charles Wright was never going to be a world champ or main eventer with any of his gimmicks. Papa Shango was the closest but he was very green and his botched run in at Wrestlemania 8 ruined any chance he really had in that guise. The Godfather was used to its full potential and by then he was a better worker.

Crush - never in a million years, he was overpushed for much of his WWF career - he picked up the feud that Davey Boy turned down with Doink and only really his match with Savage was worth anything.

Ahmed Johnson was also classically overpushed and far too quickly as I mentioned in the earlier post. His potential was quickly used up once his weight issues and attitude got in the way.

Morrison is an interesting one, but again ego and backstage ruin a career. The "parkour" character they had going for him was excellent and worthy of the title, but he let his relationship with Melina cloud things. Maybe he was right and she deserved the spot Trish took, but at the end of the day Trish was the most over Diva ever and it was Wrestlemania. Basic professionalism says be nice to Trish... and bitch about it later... he didn't and it cost him, it's happened to many men and it's known as "Lady McBeth Syndrome".

 

[Nikkolas]

Razor Ramon. He was easily World Champion material in my book. As much as I like Kev, Scott would have been a better choice to be pushed as the main guy. Vince likes 'em big and Scott IS big, standing something like 6'6 or 6'7. His look is very unique and memorable, he literally dripped superstardom charisma and he could do really well in the ring when he wanted to.

 

[teampunk]

Sean O'Haire

This has been said numerous times on this forum but WWE dropped the ball BIG TIME on Sean O'Haire. There was a guy with almost unlimited potential, a sure-fire bet to become a champion and the company totally blew it with him.

[YOUTUBE]E--vjcE7W9w[/YOUTUBE]

Just look at the guy, he is a incredible physical specimen, and SO athletic. What other man can do backflips off the top rope when they stand at about 6 foot 6 (I cant remember his exact height), and can pull of a Swanton (Seanton) Bomb, especially when springboarding off the ring ropes. Amazing.

O'Haire was on a major roll in WCW, close friends with Goldberg and was looking set to become one of the next generation of main eventers for the company before WWE bought them out and he debuted in Vince's company as part of a tag-team with Chuck Palumbo and looked very impressive.

Once the Alliance was defeated, O'Haire started to portray a kind of "Devil's Advocate" character", encouraging people to sin and break the rules. This showed he had great promo skills as well as being good in the ring and having an awesome look. It was one of the most innovative characters WWE had come up with in years.

[YOUTUBE]GISnWeaVu3A[/YOUTUBE]

Just brilliant. O'Haire really had it all, although I have heard rumours of a bad backstage attitude but I don't know how true they are.

I have always thought, if WWE had got behind O'Haire like they did with someone like Cena, Lashley, Batista, Lesnar etc he would have been a mega star, a multi-time champion.

It pisses me off to this day that we never saw a long Sean O'Haire WWE run.

O'Haire has spent the last ten years getting arrested for substance abuse and getting in fights with bouncers in bars. I think his outside the ring problems killed his career. as a wrestler and as an mma fighter.

 

[akathelaw]

Dean Malenko - His gimmick in WCW worked so well against the "character" Chris Jericho represented. There are so many characters in WWF/E when Malenko came there, he should have just been this wildcard opponent who could secure any midcard championship and fight to the death to defend it.

Y2J - Such a grand debut and then Vince pulled the rug out from him. Granted, it only took Jericho a few years to become Undisputed Champion, but the story that occurred in between those events should have been a spectacular one. Jericho has already led a legendary career, but it's that point in time where I feel WWE dropped the ball in the worst way, a smudge on the legacy of a true star.

Jack Swagger - Everything about Swagger worked until they finally put the WHC on him. He was too wimpy and he lost the title too quickly. The man is a monster in the ring. He could kick Brock Lesnar's ass. The fact that we are finally seeing it is simply disappointing that it didn't happen the first time, when Chris Jericho tried to pass the torch to him. Now that his future is in jeopardy thanks to a recent arrest, it's just another disappointment from WWE creative, giving us too little and too late because they failed to pull the trigger.

Ryback - Why does WWE want to punish fans for getting behind a new Superstar? Ryback's embarrassing loss count is getting far too high. Ryback got over with fans faster than anyone in recent memory. He is a hard worker, a monster of a man and possesses loads of future potential. I think Ryback will find a way into the main event regardless, but he is experiencing unnecessary de-emphasis especially for being popular.

Evan Bourne - I felt Evan Bourne was over enough at one point to win Money in the Bank. WWE squandered it and Bourne got hurt. The guy is such a natural babyface, an opportunity was missed to create a cruiserweight Cena-style face. I think Bourne still has a shot, and could come back from injury to a MITB victory.

 

[The Warlord]

I agree with RVD...should have been alot bigger than he was. Paul Heyman would have been a great mouthpiece for RVD and help get him to that next level.

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

I don't know how you can say Ted DiBiase wasn't maximized. He was the top heel in the company for about two years. He would headline PPVs and the house show circuit with Savage for almost a year.

Back then, you didn't need the title. I remember an interview with DiBiase where he mentioned a conversation he had with Vince. Vince basically asked him, what would give you more heat? Giving you the World title? Or you making up your own title and claiming you're the champion? Ted DiBiase was a smart enough businessman to realize it would be better for his career, better for his character as a heel to create his own belt. It got him more heat. The more heat he had, the more money he made. And that's how the business was different back then. It wasn't about winning the title. It was about making the most money you could.

A lot of people are mentioning guys like Jake Roberts, Mr Perfect, Rob Van Dam, etc. WWE did maximize on these guys. Could they have gone further? Probably. But it wasn't because they weren't given the opportunity. These are guys who screwed themselves with partying, drugs, etc.

I will agree, some guys like Vader and Bam Bam were under utilized. These were big guys who could go. They were the monsters that Vince loves. Apparently, if you watch the shoots they blame it all on the kliq. In hindsight I find it kind of shocking that Vince didn't push them harder.

I always thought John Morrison could have been bigger/better than he was in WWE. But he apparently had his own backstage issues with his girlfriend. And Sean O'Haire. I don't know really what happened to him. But he had the look, the moveset and the body that Vince loves. It's kind of surprising that he just disappeared, but I don't really know his story.

I never saw what was so special about guys like Carlito or Kennedy. Thought they were mostly bland, benefitting from WWE packaging them into something sort of interesting. But even then, not interesting enough to really get over on their own.

 

[16timestheman]

Ted Dibiase, Curt Henning, Jake Roberts, Roddy Piper. All could and should have been world champ at some point. I think it's one of the biggest crimes in the history of the sport that they were never given the chance. And if it was not for Hogan's massive ego maybe the would have.

 

[shalliin]

Sean O'Haire

This has been said numerous times on this forum but WWE dropped the ball BIG TIME on Sean O'Haire. There was a guy with almost unlimited potential, a sure-fire bet to become a champion and the company totally blew it with him.

[YOUTUBE]E--vjcE7W9w[/YOUTUBE]

Just look at the guy, he is a incredible physical specimen, and SO athletic. What other man can do backflips off the top rope when they stand at about 6 foot 6 (I cant remember his exact height), and can pull of a Swanton (Seanton) Bomb, especially when springboarding off the ring ropes. Amazing.

O'Haire was on a major roll in WCW, close friends with Goldberg and was looking set to become one of the next generation of main eventers for the company before WWE bought them out and he debuted in Vince's company as part of a tag-team with Chuck Palumbo and looked very impressive.

Once the Alliance was defeated, O'Haire started to portray a kind of "Devil's Advocate" character", encouraging people to sin and break the rules. This showed he had great promo skills as well as being good in the ring and having an awesome look. It was one of the most innovative characters WWE had come up with in years.

[YOUTUBE]GISnWeaVu3A[/YOUTUBE]

Just brilliant. O'Haire really had it all, although I have heard rumours of a bad backstage attitude but I don't know how true they are.

I have always thought, if WWE had got behind O'Haire like they did with someone like Cena, Lashley, Batista, Lesnar etc he would have been a mega star, a multi-time champion.

It pisses me off to this day that we never saw a long Sean O'Haire WWE run.

I have never understood the IWC and their love for Ohaire. He was mediocre at best in the ring, he was bland and gereric appearance and had nothing that set him apart from the pack. He came in at the same time as Mark Jindrak, Chuck Polumbo and a 4th guy i can never remember his name. They were a foursome for a while in WCW and then they split into tag teams, them swapped partners, Jindrak and Ohaire, and Polumbo and the other guy. Could any of the 4 have been bigger then they were ,sure. but none of them were top tier guys. Upper midcarders at best, solid jobbers/ emergency push for injury replacements at worst.

 

[shalliin]

Out of all the guys mentioned so far, I would have to say that Bam Bam is the one that stands out the most. for such a big guy Bam Bam moved really well and he and i can't remember any other big guys around out the time that would come of the top rope like he did. he also had a great look and was one of the better talkers in the company. If it was not for Hogan then I think he would have had his chance, its just a shame we never got to see him as a main event guy. RIP big man

Papa Shango is another Wrestler that was never used right, in fact he was never really given a chance in the first place and with the Undertaker character really taking off at this point, Papa Shango seemed like the perfect person for the undertaker to feud with.

Rick Rude is somebody that WWE never really used either. Rude was one of best Heel's the company had and repeatedly had great matches and while he did have great feuds with jake the snake and the ultimate Warrior. I wish WWE had pulled the trigger and had him feud with Hogan for the wwe title.

notable mentions. Mr Perfect, Crush, owen hart, Ahmed Johnson amd John Morrison.

Papa Shango==Kama the Supreme Fighting maching==Kama Mustafa of NOD==the GodFather==the GoodFather==Charles Wright had a great run with multiple roles in WWE, and did get to Feud with Taker as part of MDM's Corporation.

Ahmed Johnson like Warrior ruined things for himself. He let his own ego and character get to his head and blew things for himself, but he was unlikely to be a major player.

BBB was a similar style and built to Vader who also used the ropes just as well.

Rude like a lot of guys gets a lot of postmortem boost in the minds eyes of people looking back. He was a solid worker with a good role, but he was positioned and booked correctly for guys his size and talent at the time. he could not have worked well with a feud with Hogan, as aside from Macho, and possibly Perfect, Hogan was best used and positioned against larger opponents then Rude. In the ring, Rude would have had to limit himself too much against a guy like Hogan and while Macho and Perfect could work around Hogan's limits, Rude didn't have that ability. He needed to be matched against people who were good to great workers in the ring. I would have enjoyed a Rude/Martel/Steamboat/Santana feud a lot more then any program that paired Rude with Hogan.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I have never understood the IWC and their love for Ohaire. He was mediocre at best in the ring, he was bland and gereric appearance and had nothing that set him apart from the pack. He came in at the same time as Mark Jindrak, Chuck Polumbo and a 4th guy i can never remember his name. They were a foursome for a while in WCW and then they split into tag teams, them swapped partners, Jindrak and Ohaire, and Polumbo and the other guy. Could any of the 4 have been bigger then they were ,sure. but none of them were top tier guys. Upper midcarders at best, solid jobbers/ emergency push for injury replacements at worst.

This thread is about personal opinions of guys who WE believe the WWE didn't maximise, and O'Haire being wasted is simply an opinion of mine. And I completely disagree with your opinion.

"Mediocre at best in the ring"- did you not see the video? O'Haire was incredibly athletic for a guy of his size, I haven't seen anyone else built like him who could moonsault from the top rope or hit top-rope Swanton Bomb's, mixed with some martial arts skills and power moves. He definitely stood out to me from the first time I saw him perform.

"Bland and generic in appearance"- really? O'Haire had an incredible physique, exactly the kind of guy Vince goes for, ripped and without an ounce of fat on him. So he didn't have a mask line Kane, or pink sunglasses like Bret Hart, or had as many tattoos as CM Punk...so what. His look was cool.

"Nothing set him apart from the pack"- except the athleticism that I have already mentioned, and the whole "Devil's Advocate" character that he was playing which is still talked about a decade later as a wasted opportunity for WWE. It was something totally different to the usual characters the company creates and stood out from the crowd. I would love to have seen how far O'Haire could have gone with this, as would many other people. That is why there is IWC love for Sean, because people think he is a guy who should have gone further than he did.

 

[Gavschenko]

I'll say Rhyno and ddp, rhyno his gore was unreal looks like he kills people when he hits it. He should have been pushed after the invasion angle to be a monster as he has the look and is very believable but for some reason he was never given a pushed then got released in 05 i think after an argument with his wife is a shame really think they coulda had a big star with rhyno.

Not much needs to be said about DDP he was made jobber in wwf when he was in the invasion angle he should have been one of the top guys in 2001 as he was one of the top guys in wcw i have been watching the invasion angle and after Summerslam i havent seen DDP at all i know he's old but push him he's a household name at the time imo hot of his wcw run but unfortunately he got buried for unknown reason maybe he pissed taker off or something.

 

[shalliin]

One I haven't seen mentioned that could have been good was Kozlov. Another was Santino Marella, both of who had a lot of talent, game in with great hype, but were pushed aside into lesser roles. A lot of those who have fizzled in recent years have done so I feel because for a long time, WWE didn't want to put much effort in long term plans, but with the winnowing down of the last of the true superstars, they are now trying to turn the corner and really build characters and personalities with a long term forecast instead of short term hype.

 

[shalliin]

This thread is about personal opinions of guys who WE believe the WWE didn't maximise, and O'Haire being wasted is simply an opinion of mine. And I completely disagree with your opinion.

"Mediocre at best in the ring"- did you not see the video? O'Haire was incredibly athletic for a guy of his size, I haven't seen anyone else built like him who could moonsault from the top rope or hit top-rope Swanton Bomb's, mixed with some martial arts skills and power moves. He definitely stood out to me from the first time I saw him perform.

Almost any one could put a match or too or take bits and pieces of any ones matches and make someone look fantastic. With the right equipment or time, you could put together a highlight reel that makes duane gill look like rey mysterio. And a Swanton Bomb is a relatively easy top rope move, where the most difficult is judging the distance before jumping. If he was doing a 450splash or a shooting star that would be impressive. The only thing less impressive then a swanton is any type of splash off the top. 5star frog splash, venis' money shot, and so many others. Doing these off of say a ladder or top of a cage makes it more impressive but still these are all fairly straghtforward moves.

"Bland and generic in appearance"- really? O'Haire had an incredible physique, exactly the kind of guy Vince goes for, ripped and without an ounce of fat on him. So he didn't have a mask line Kane, or pink sunglasses like Bret Hart, or had as many tattoos as CM Punk...so what. His look was cool.

Just like Palumbo, Masters, Nowinski, and Stasiak(the one I keep forgetting) who all had the look you say Vince goes for. It takes more then a ripped body to become a star and Ohaire like these others didn't have it.

"Nothing set him apart from the pack"- except the athleticism that I have already mentioned, and the whole "Devil's Advocate" character that he was playing which is still talked about a decade later as a wasted opportunity for WWE. It was something totally different to the usual characters the company creates and stood out from the crowd. I would love to have seen how far O'Haire could have gone with this, as would many other people. That is why there is IWC love for Sean, because people think he is a guy who should have gone further than he did.

And Chris Masters had the Masterlock challenge, Polumbo had the gay wedding with Mr Ass, Stasiak had Meat, and so many others that I can't begin to name them all. Ohaire's devils advocate gimmick wasn't anything that different that stuff that's been done better by others going back decades. Piper, Jake Roberts were among the best at that style.

And the only ones talking about Ohair and his failed gimmick are the few people like you who can't seem to admit that he FAILED. He lacked that esseential something that would have made him a true star. I remember when I was young, I thought hte Warrior was the best thing ever but I can admit that I was naive and wrong about that. I thought at various time that Strike Force and the Rockers were the best tagteams ever. I thought it was terrible that Ahmed Johnson never got the chance to shine, that Mordecai was going to be that next best thing to a new Undertaker then he was a vampire named Kevin thorne then a bland generic Ohaire lookalike. And that Nathan Jones was going to be a beast that tore through wwe for decades.
If you are that hung up on the look, then find video of Nathan Jones and see what a 'real' look for Vince used to be. He wasn't as ring talented as Ohaire but his look and size were leaps ahead of Ohaire and he was being touted at the time as Undertaker's protoge until backstage issues cropped up and he left to become an actor and have less travel issues, mainly staying and working in australasian areas. He's bee in movies with Jet LI and Tony Jaa among others.

 

[jlawls91]

D'Lo Brown springs to mind for me. The Droz accident most definitely affected both D'Lo shortly afterwards and arguably the WWE's confidence in him meaning he never got the push that he deserved.

He was athletic and over with the fans but never got enough time on the mic, especially when you consider how much time Jeff Jarrett got in '99. As well as this, he wasn't involved in any major storylines (Small part in the Nation and Mark Henry betraying him spring to mind) and didn't have a lot to feed off IMO.

Even when he returned in 2002 after he had been with Chaz and Tiger Singh Ali wearing turbans and genie pants (wtf lol) he got huge pops. Although he had multiple European title reigns he could have easily been a multiple Intercontinental Champion battling it out with RVD, Eddie, Benoit, Jericho, Angle, Regal etc.

 

[thebarber]

This may seem an odd pick, but Im going with Tully Blanchard. He was a fantastic singles star in the NWA, coming to WWE in late 1988, he and Anderson had some great feuds with Rockers and Demolition. I know Blanchard failed a drug test and thus why he was let go, but imagine if he hadnt had hat drug issue? I think Tully Blanchard could have been utilised as a fantastic Intercontinental Champion and had crackerjack matches with Bret Hart, Kerry Von Erich and no doubt carried guys like Ultimate Warrior to good matches. A scenarion of course of we will never know, but one interesting to ponder

 

[justtxyank]

I've got another odd pick for you. John Nord. They used him as the Berzerker which was obviously a garbage gimmick, but the guy could flat out work. As a big man brawler he was outstanding in the early 90s. I really would have liked to have seen him get serious run as a legit worker in a big promotion.

 

[shalliin]

I've got another odd pick for you. John Nord. They used him as the Berzerker which was obviously a garbage gimmick, but the guy could flat out work. As a big man brawler he was outstanding in the early 90s. I really would have liked to have seen him get serious run as a legit worker in a big promotion.

I kind of liked the Berzerker character. A few swlight tweaks, not quite as centered comic bookish mannerisms, with a harder edge, especially since it was supposed to be a heel character. A dark Berzerker could have worked, and would have been interesting in the mid 90's and the attitude era, have an entire Viking faction like DOA, NOD, and so many of the others of that time.

 

[magic man]

A lot of the ones that sprang immediately to mind have already been said, D'lo Brown, Goldust, Bulldog, but another one that popped into my head were The Headbangers, they had a unique look and good in ring skills. I know injury stopped them hitting the heights that they could of but they could have been an excellent addition to the Dudley / Hardy / E & C tag team saga.