Times when you felt WWE missed the boat

mr.mayo

Basically I'm asking you about what you consider missed opportunities for WWE, I'll start:

Kurt Angle's Heel Turn in 2001: Terrible decision imo, Austin's heel turn hadn't quite gone to plan so they decided to do a double turn involving Angle. At that time Angle was the most over guy in the company, he was on a similar level of popularity to Austin/Rock at their peaks, he could have been their next mega star but they ruined it all by turning him heel. They had him drop the WWF Title only like 2 weeks after winning it and it made him look very weak. I think they really missed the boat on the badass Kurt Angle from mid-late 01, he could have been the face of the company for years to come

Orton's Title reign in 2004: Orton had been doing really well as the Legend Killer, he was a cocky, disrespectful heel you just loved to hate. All of a sudden WWE launched him into a world title match with Chris Benoit which he won, Evolution then turned on him, resulting in a face turn for Orton and he began a very one sided feud with them. His Title reign was one of the shortest in history, the fans didn't really get behind him because he never once went over Triple H, and he quickly turned heel again once the angle was finished. WWE rushed the whole thing because they wanted him to break Lesnar's record of being the youngest ever champion and it was a big mistake, this should have been played out over a series of months with Orton eventually going over Triple H and having a good title reign.
The whole angle was handled pretty poorly imo, Orton could have been the top face in the company for years to come if they had handled this correctly but they didn't and instead of being a main eventer, Orton drifted off into obscurity for the next 3 or so years.

Anyway, I'm sure you all get the idea, now the balls in your court

callaway92

the Invasion storyline could have been miles better...not going to go into the details because this thread has been created a million times before, but my answer in Invasion

D2D

Kofi and his push - late 2009: Kofi was ready to be pushed to the stars in late '09. The table spot with Orton sent his popularity skywards and then, at TLC, they absolutely bury him and he's now back in mid-card status.

Shelton Benjamin and his overall WWE career: Let's be honest, his WWE career has been a joke. Shelton has/had the potential to be huge but now, all he get's is a spot in the MitB match at Mania

Tribesmen7

Rob Van Dam

When he first came into the company during the Invasion storyline the fans loved him and it was obvious he had to turn face as he was so over. They did turn him face but then he should have got a mayor push, such as winning the IC title before then moving on to the main event and getting involved in angles for the WWE title. They didn't, he got lost in the shuffle and became just another mid card wrestler who became a multiple time IC champion and wasted in a tag team with Kane.

Booker T
This man should have won the World Title from Triple H at Wrestlemania 19, I really feel they messed up here. Some would say the storyline was racist. I had no problem with it. Infact I thought it was good. Triple H insulting Booker and and racially insulting him was good...but only if when the time came he got his comeuppance. That didn't happen and it angerd many people. Wasted opportunity.

Tribesmen7

Dare_2_defy wrote: »

Kofi and his push - late 2009: Kofi was ready to be pushed to the stars in late '09. The table spot with Orton sent his popularity skywards and then, at TLC, they absolutely bury him and he's now back in mid-card status.

Shelton Benjamin and his overall WWE career: Let's be honest, his WWE career has been a joke. Shelton has/had the potential to be huge but now, all he get's is a spot in the MitB match at Mania

He was always going to be stuck at midcard level because he has no charisma. I agree to a point. I would love to see Shelton wrestle more. He should get a few 10-15 minute matches every now and then to showcase his amazing ability but thats it. The closest he will get to the main event is jobbing to the top talent I hate to say.

Penn

Matt Hardy 2009 - I was really skeptical about his heel turn, but it was pretty good. Especially his blogs where he stayed in character and called himself names like 'Black Cloud'

So he injured his arm or something and was out for a few months. Fine. But then when he came back... he made up with Jeff. Presumably just because Jeff was leaving, but as soon as he turned face again all the momentum he had built up went out the window. He could have finally been pushed into the main event. He could have teamed with CM Punk to take on Jeff and Morrison, then have a good fued with Morrison when Jeff left. Could have been a great fued to build them both up to main event.

Clareman

They should have just let Bret hand back the title all those years ago

DM_7

"The" Brian Kendrick.

The Kendrick and Big Zeke were flying and then Zeke gets moved to ecw, kendrick gets moved to RAW and jobbed out, even the promos were interesting. TBK Ends up in TNA.

Waste.

D2D

DM-ICE wrote: »

"The" Brian Kendrick.

The Kendrick and Big Zeke were flying and then Zeke gets moved to ecw, kendrick gets moved to RAW and jobbed out, even the promos were interesting. TBK Ends up in TNA.

Waste.

He had his moment (a really short one but still)

Rjd2

DM-ICE wrote: »

"The" Brian Kendrick.

The Kendrick and Big Zeke were flying and then Zeke gets moved to ecw, kendrick gets moved to RAW and jobbed out, even the promos were interesting. TBK Ends up in TNA.

Waste.

He loved the weed and he was very small. Thats what killed him sadly.

DM_7

Rjd2 wrote: »

He loved the weed and he was very small. Thats what killed him sadly.

True, The weed was a big issue.

I still think he could of had a great couple of years in the role they had started to create.

D2D

Chris Masters: Appartantly the only way to get him over was his "dancing pecs". Everything for him was going well (dominant heel) until Lashley broke the Masterlock challange and it all kinda went downhill from there. He at least deserved a championship run imo

Vince135792003

Tribesmen7 wrote: »

Rob Van Dam

When he first came into the company during the Invasion storyline the fans loved him and it was obvious he had to turn face as he was so over.

Absolutely agree.


They missed the boat on Eric Bischoff. The first thing they had him do was hug Vince McMahon.

Another was Goldberg. He was limited but they never played to his strengths until it was too late and made him look silly/weak a number of times e.g. wearing Goldusts wig.

Tribesmen7

I had high hopes for the Matt Hardy/Edge feud over Lita when they brought Matt back but I thought they messed it up. I really thought they could do no wrong with this feud but they managed to screw it up.

hitman79

Waylon Mercy..they definately missed the boat with him...anyone else remember him???

Vince135792003

hitman79 wrote: »

Waylon Mercy..they definately missed the boat with him...anyone else remember him???

As far as I can recall, he got injured.

I do remember him. He creaped me out as a kid.

Tricity Bendix

Elijah Burke.

At the very least he cold have been used as a gimmick-heavy midcarder.

Cactus Colm

mr.mayo wrote: »

Basically I'm asking you about what you consider missed opportunities for WWE, I'll start:

Kurt Angle's Heel Turn in 2001: Terrible decision imo, Austin's heel turn hadn't quite gone to plan so they decided to do a double turn involving Angle. At that time Angle was the most over guy in the company, he was on a similar level of popularity to Austin/Rock at their peaks, he could have been their next mega star but they ruined it all by turning him heel. They had him drop the WWF Title only like 2 weeks after winning it and it made him look very weak. I think they really missed the boat on the badass Kurt Angle from mid-late 01, he could have been the face of the company for years to come

+1 on this. Angle was playing the patriot angle to great success, just after september 11. I know the Invasion needed top level heels on their side, but Angle was the wrong choice.

Tribesmen7

hitman79 wrote: »

Waylon Mercy..they definately missed the boat with him...anyone else remember him???

He was deadly. But as Vince said he got injured, I'm not sure on this but I think it forced him to retire.

This character was before its time though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNOo8-RlHMc

Degag

Bret and Vince this year. Fair enough, the match may have been the same quality, but they booked this so badly. It should have written itself yet they had to introdúce a fake injúry storyline into it...

Last years Wrestlemania, i think there were quite a few matches they should have done better with. Not elaborating now but i can!

Ridley

Most recent one to my mind is CM Punk having absolutely nothing to say to Austin. And I believe Punk and Mysterio had a dark match at that Raw aswell.

gimmick

The whole Scott Steiner thing in 2002/3 was a complete waste. He could have been a dominant heel, but instead he had push up contests with HHH and other such nonsense. He just turned into a joke by the end of his run.

Also, for fear of repeating myself, the entire CW division could have been a great undercard attraction given the amount of talent at their disposal.

Spazdarn

Not having Goldberg and Stone Cold feud properly was a mistake, they were two biggest icons on each company for years and it was every fanboys dream to see them fight...

Motley Crue

Tommy Dreamer - a veteran who just jobbed to everybody and only did house shows when he first arrived instead of instilling him as the main event-er he was, or at least should have been ECW Champion sooner

British Bulldog - after his match with the Rock at No Mercy 99 he was almost forgotten about, I felt sorry for him, because I felt that he had what it took to be a WWE Champion



Mr Perfect - completely wasted opportunity, he came 3rd in the Royal Rumble and held his own with the best the company had to offer at that time, he could have at least challenged for the Intercontinental Championship at WM18...instead, nothing, and then the whole firing problems

Goldust - I hope he gets a push in 2010 because I sincerely think he is the best performer on the roster at the moment



Haku - brought him back for RR01 and then wasted his comeback. Haku was actually wrestling until WCW Hardcore Champion the night before the RR01 and even WCW didn't know he was leaving. So I reckon that could have shaken things up a bit for a rivalry. Still, his character was wasted, and such a shame.



Gimmick Battle Royal, WM17 - I looked forward to this SO MUCH, but when it happened, they treated it like a COMPLETE JOKE! Iron Sheik winning because he was the only man who couldn't actually take a fall at his age and Repo Man being tossed before the bell rang was an absolute joke. They could have at least paid some kind of respect to the likes of Earthquake, Michael Hayes etc etc....some of those guys were legends

Otis Driftwood

The one that springs to mind is the Undertaker/Sara stalker angle around the invasion time.It was nicely built up for ages,they had a plethora of WCW stars that could have taken the role(I had been hoping for weeks that it would have been Vampiro) but no,we get DD fcukin P.

Jesus I was sickened.
:mad:

gimmick

ToiletFusion wrote: »

Not having Goldberg and Stone Cold feud properly was a mistake, they were two biggest icons on each company for years and it was every fanboys dream to see them fight...

It would have been the dream feud and would have made so much money, but they were never in the same company at the same time when it would have mattered.

mr.mayo

Kane's Title reign, it only lasted one f'ing day! Kane was the top heel in the company back then, he was built really strongly and they took his title off him one freakin day after winning it. I was a total Austin mark and at the time was happy he won it back but looking back, I definitely think they dropped the ball with Kane back then

Degag

Motley Crue wrote: »

Goldust - I hope he gets a push in 2010 because I sincerely think he is the best performer on the roster at the moment

If he was booked better he could be a good performer definately, he has the skills necessary but he's not the best performer on the roster by any means IMO.

nedtheshed wrote: »

The one that springs to mind is the Undertaker/Sara stalker angle around the invasion time.It was nicely built up for ages,they had a plethora of WCW stars that could have taken the role(I had been hoping for weeks that it would have been Vampiro) but no,we get DD fcukin P.

Jesus I was sickened.
:mad:

Most of WCWs stars didn't sign with the WWE that time though. DDP performed very well in that angle IMO. Had the creepy, stalker persona down to a tee.

waltersobchak

nedtheshed wrote: »

The one that springs to mind is the Undertaker/Sara stalker angle around the invasion time.It was nicely built up for ages,they had a plethora of WCW stars that could have taken the role(I had been hoping for weeks that it would have been Vampiro) but no,we get DD fcukin P.

Jesus I was sickened.
:mad:

+1
I rememeber at the time thinking "oh good god, please let it be Sting" I still think DDPs awesome and all, but he was a serious let down for sure

Otis Driftwood

My biggest problem with using DDP is that it was common knowledge that he was at the time very happily married.He had had that feud in WCW with Bischoff IIRC over his (Pages) missus so to have him as the stalker was non-sensicle.I know that wrestling for a large part is suspension of belief and all that but come on,its DDP.At least someone like Vampiro had a bit of menace about them.

waltersobchak

nedtheshed wrote: »

My biggest problem with using DDP is that it was common knowledge that he was at the time very happily married.He had had that feud in WCW with Bischoff IIRC over his (Pages) missus so to have him as the stalker was non-sensicle.I know that wrestling for a large part is suspension of belief and all that but come on,its DDP.At least someone like Vampiro had a bit of menace about them.

Yeah absolutely his wife Kimberly Page was a pretty well known Nitro Girl and model, and actress (She was in the 40 year old virgin) I wonder how much of that was Vince just thinking the WWE audience doesnt care whatever happened in WCW previously..

flahavaj

Thought they missed the boat big time with Sean O Haire a few years ago. He started that awesome gimmick where he was basically the devil on everyone's shoulder. Had a great look and wasn't a bad worker either. Sadly he hadn't much of a passin for wrestling.

Also never doing a feud between Eddie and HBK. Imagine what they could have done given 20-25 minutes at Wrestlemania.:eek:

Not getting Stone Cold and Hogan to put their respective ego's aside and put on the biggest match in Mania history when they both were still able to go in the ring.

waltersobchak

flahavaj wrote: »

Thought they missed the boat big time with Sean O Haire a few years ago. He started that awesome gimmick where he was basically the devil on everyone's shoulder. Had a great look and wasn't a bad worker either. Sadly he hadn't much of a passin for wrestling.

Also never doing a feud between Eddie and HBK. Imagine what they could have done given 20-25 minutes at Wrestlemania.:eek:

Not getting Stone Cold and Hogan to put their respective ego's aside and put on the biggest match in Mania history when they both were still able to go in the ring.

I'd love to have seen how they'd possibly come up with a finish for that one more so than the actual match tbh.. With how protective Stone Cold was of his character and how much of a mark Hogan is for himself, probably would've taken Vince, Heyman, Gabe Sapolsky and Bill Watts to come up with that conundrum tbh:pac:

flahavaj

waltersobchak wrote: »

I'd love to have seen how they'd possibly come up with a finish for that one more so than the actual match tbh.. With how protective Stone Cold was of his character and how much of a mark Hogan is for himself, probably would've taken Vince, Heyman, Gabe Sapolsky and Bill Watts to come up with that conundrum tbh:pac:

I often wondered that seeing as how Hogan put the Rock over at Mania, why do people think he wouldn't do the same for Stone Cold?

waltersobchak

flahavaj wrote: »

I often wondered that seeing as how Hogan put the Rock over at Mania, why do people think he wouldn't do the same for Stone Cold?

I dunno i reckon he had very little political clout at Wrestlemania X-8 because he was so fresh from WCW but i presume he would done to Stone Cold what he did to Michaels, and wesseled his way out of doing the job somehow.. Scary to imagine what the buyrates would have been though

mr.mayo

flahavaj wrote: »

Thought they missed the boat big time with Sean O Haire a few years ago. He started that awesome gimmick where he was basically the devil on everyone's shoulder. Had a great look and wasn't a bad worker either. Sadly he hadn't much of a passin for wrestling.

Also never doing a feud between Eddie and HBK. Imagine what they could have done given 20-25 minutes at Wrestlemania.:eek:

Not getting Stone Cold and Hogan to put their respective ego's aside and put on the biggest match in Mania history when they both were still able to go in the ring.

From what I've heard, that was the original plan for WM 22, but obviously Eddie passed away in late 05 so it wasn't possible

I also would have loved to have seen a big HBK vs RVD match on ppv, those two never had a real big match together

flahavaj

mr.mayo wrote: »

From what I've heard, that was the original plan for WM 22, but obviously Eddie passed away in late 05 so it wasn't possible

I also would have loved to have seen a big HBK vs RVD match on ppv, those two never had a real big match together

Aye.:(

Another one that got away was the Stone Cold/Eddie feud that had to be shelved when Stone Cold left the company. Would have been epic.

mr.mayo

Austin's Heel Turn: A lot of people hated his heel turn but personally I didn't mind it too much. In fact I loved it at the start when he transformed his character into an absolute psycho, here is just one example of classic psycho Austin - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TPtM5nvNtc&feature=related
When Trips got injured they had to scrap the whole Two Man Powertrip thing but instead of leaving Austin as a demented, sadistic bastard, they turned him into a cowardly(albeit very funny) heel. I would have kept him as the evil bastard, getting Kurt in as HHH's replacement but then having Kurt turn on him and starting a feud between the two. I would have had Austin lose the belt to Kurt but win it back at Vengeance and become the first Undisputed Champion, he would then hold the belt until Mania where he drops it to the returning Triple H. Imo that would have been far better than Trips & Jericho, what do the rest of you think?

waltersobchak

Yeah Eddie and HBK would have been unreal, it actually upsets me to think about it:o

starviewadams

Think it was around summer 2005 when Christian was traded to SmackDown! and entered a battle royal to become world champion,for the previous months on Raw he was having matches with the newly face Batista just after he won the title @ mania against Triple H, and even though Christian was a heel he was getting much better reactions from the crowd then big Dave,would have been the perfect time to push him to the moon but of course WWE didnt and Christian,out of frustration,jumped ship to TNA.

Also when Matt Hardy was feuding with MVP in 07 and was super over,thought that once their feud was over Hardy should have been given a crack at main eventing but again they didnt do anything with him(or MVP either,who now sucks as a boring face!)

Bounty Hunter

some random blog wrote:

Who was responsible for G-TV? (Funny enough, the last time G-TV was on WWF television, it caught Eddie in the shower with two of the Godfather’s hoes while he was dating Chyna — one of the hoes in question being Victoria, even though they never mentioned this fact after Victoria debuted on RAW as Trish’s fitness rival brought in by Molly. In fact, they even blurred out Victoria’s face when the shower scene was later replayed in a “best WWE relationships” video package a while later!)

that was one that popped into my mind immediatley when i first opened this thread and the rest of that quote was anecdotal enough to make the cut imo :pac:

Mr Teeny

WWF missed the boat big time with Owen Hart.
Sure he had some memorable feuds (the one with Bret in the mid 90s is my favourite feud of all time) but he could have been pushed so much more by the WWF.

He had all the ingredients needed to be the top guy for the company. Massively over with the fans (both as a face and heel), great on the mic, respected by all in the dressing room and immensely talented in the ring.
The opportunities were there to give him the push he deserved, real shame.

RIP Owen

DM_7

At the top level I agree with the suggestion of Kane. He should of reached a higher level after his first and only title win.

On a Mid Card level:

Kevin Thorn

The Gimmick came a year or two early. With all the vampire stuff going around now, Twilight, true blood etc it could of been an interesting Gimmick.

Agree with the mention of Elijah Burke was another wasted talent from ECW at the same time.

I think thats why I like NXT so much. It allows people a better chance to have a go at getting over when they are new to the audience.

Motley Crue

Motley Crue wrote: »

Goldust - I hope he gets a push in 2010 because I sincerely think he is the best performer on the roster at the moment

Goldust was a good performer but I think he's being used to the level PG will allow. A good comedy veteran that can put over younger stars. He was great during the A.E when he was like the person ever homophobic person hated. He's far from the best performer on the roster though.

I think WWE dropped the ball with the Cruiserweight Championship. They could've had the best Cruiserweight division in the world. Helms,London,Kendrick,Jimmy Wang Yang,Funaki.But they killed it with Hornswoggle.

waltersobchak

Deleted User wrote: »

Goldust was a good performer but I think he's being used to the level PG will allow. A good comedy veteran that can put over younger stars. He was great during the A.E when he was like the person ever homophobic person hated. He's far from the best performer on the roster though.

I think WWE dropped the ball with the Cruiserweight Championship. They could've had the best Cruiserweight division in the world. Helms,London,Kendrick,Jimmy Wang Yang,Funaki.But they killed it with Hornswoggle.

The time Smackdown had Juvi, Super Crazy, Psicosis, London, Kendrick, Noble, Kid Kash etc etc was fuc*ing unreal while it lasted they barely ever got on Smackdown though but Velocity was awesome in those days:(:(

Ridley

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

that was one that popped into my mind immediatley when i first opened this thread and the rest of that quote was anecdotal enough to make the cut imo :pac:

There's an interview with Russo saying an idea was G-TV was going to turn out to be the idea of Tom Green.

Don't know if that mention is in that specific part - been a while since I listened - but the whole thing is an interesting listen even if you disagree with what Russo's saying.

(Part Deux)

Motley Crue

Ridley wrote: »

There's an interview with Russo saying an idea was G-TV was going to turn out to be the idea of Tom Green.

I was hoping to have forgotten about this!

sky88

not giving the wwe title to jericho in 2000 when he was hugely over with the crowd insluting steph just listen to the pop he got when he won belt off hhh for like 20 minutes before the decision was reversed the feud between him and hhh then would have been so much bigger then there undisputed title feud at wrestlemania 18

Rjd2

Dare_2_defy wrote: »

Chris Masters: Appartantly the only way to get him over was his "dancing pecs". Everything for him was going well (dominant heel) until Lashley broke the Masterlock challange and it all kinda went downhill from there. He at least deserved a championship run imo

A few months ago when Masters was turned face, he got seriously over. His merch was making the most money, his pops outshine the entire roster, and he was consistently outperforming everyone else in the company.

Then according to Meltzer or PW Insider, Hunter got seriously insecure. He, Batista, Orton and Cena went to Vince bitching about how he was pushed, worried he was overshadowing them. Vince understandably knowing he had the new Austin with Masters, quite rightly told them to **** off.

Then Hunter ran to Stephanie and well he played the daughter card. Vince loved the fact that in Masters he had possibly the biggest draw ever in wrestling, but he realised his loyalty to his daughter was more important.

I assume once the company loses some if its politicians and the money stops rolling in, he will be pushed incredibly hard. He’s too much of a draw to rot in the midcard really.

rossie1977

Deleted User wrote: »

I think WWE dropped the ball with the Cruiserweight Championship. They could've had the best Cruiserweight division in the world. Helms,London,Kendrick,Jimmy Wang Yang,Funaki.But they killed it with Hornswoggle.

when you compare it to what wcw had circa 1996-98 with eddie, benoit, jericho, mysterio, malenko, ultimo dragon its like comparing a ferrari with a lada

The Volt

A lot of what's been said here is golden and may be incorporated by BWE so stay tuned for that

When you see the options they went with over some of these ideas it makes you cringe. William Regal I always felt was really underused. Would have loved to see him as commisioner again as opposed to all of these guest hosts on Raw.

Raw has lacked continuity over the last year in comparison to SmackDown and I miss the intensity that a GM creates on Raw alá Foley and Bischoff.