Biggest disappointment/waste in wrestling history?

jaykhunter

Hey guys, after reading

Teddy Hart, the youngest wrestler to be signed to a WWE contract, recently entered a Texas area rehabilitation center on behalf of his former employer. He is staying at the same facility as former WWE performer Scott Hall. Hart is claiming that he entered rehab at the urging of his uncle, WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart, who said that if he successfully completes the center’s program, would persuade WWE to give him another shot. During his last run with AAA, Hart managed to unite the entire locker room against him due to his reputation of changing match finishes and spots to put himself over. His mentality is to perform as many flashy maneuvers in his matches as possible, whether they make sense or not.

it got me thinking, is Teddy Hart the biggest waste of talent and disappointment (considering how far he could go in WWE) in wrestling history? If not him, who do you think squandered their talents and opportunities the most?

gimmick

I have no sympathy for Hart. A selfish spot monkey who has left so mucgh behind him. Screw him.

Luger would go down as a big waster as well given the oppurtunity that was to come his way at WMX, but he left his mouth run away with him and that was that.

gimmick

I would also be very interested to know why Claudio Castagnoli was released so quickly by WWE and why TNA have not picked him up. He has an excellent look, good size and a very good wrestler. Decent charisma as well. An add one.

Rjd2

gimmick wrote: »

I would also be very interested to know why Claudio Castagnoli was released so quickly by WWE and why TNA have not picked him up. He has an excellent look, good size and a very good wrestler. Decent charisma as well. An add one.

Internet myth is when he signed he instantly cancelled all his indy bookings so he could start ASAP with the WWE, which didn't impress Vince as he thought it was really unprofessional.

jaykhunter

I'll give a quick mention to fantastic gimmick/promo guy Muhammad Hassan.



Unfortunately real-life events (7/7 bombings) and UPN black-carding the storyline/gimmick lead to a pretty hasty killing-off of Hassan's character and contract. Such a shame.

To put things in perspective, he was touted to win the world title. People who stop the entire Royal Rumble upon their entry is reserved for a select few (eg Austin in 1998), and Hassan got one in 2005. The chorus of boos on a regular basis is akin to/possibly louder than Vicki Guerrero or CM Punk during their best heel promos.

Such a shame this guy's talents and drawing power to see this guy get knocked off was cut short.

Tribesmen7

gimmick wrote: »

I have no sympathy for Hart. A selfish spot monkey who has left so mucgh behind him. Screw him.

Luger would go down as a big waster as well given the oppurtunity that was to come his way at WMX, but he left his mouth run away with him and that was that.

If your talking about when he told people he was going to win the WWE Championship at WMX so the finish was changed i think that turned out to be a false rumour.

jaykhunter

gimmick wrote: »

Luger would go down as a big waster as well given the oppurtunity that was to come his way at WMX, but he left his mouth run away with him and that was that.

I didn't watch WWF during this period, but have since watched WMX and some surrounding PPVs. Luger was pushed really, really hard as patriotic super-face, but it felt like the crowd didn't care for him at all, so Vince pulled the plug?

grames_bond

I think the reason the OP started this thread is actually the biggest waste...teddy hart has so much ability but is such a f*ckwit it is totally wasted, glorified ego maniac spot monkey - epitomised by The incident

Charisteas

I always wondered why WWE wouldn't bring back Muhammad Hassan in a new gimmick. Maybe they thought that the fans would always remember him as a terrorist.

Wow I didn't know that Lex Luger never won the WWE Championship. I remember as a kid he had that feud with Yokozuna and that big deal about the Lex Express, i assumed he must have won it sometime. Surprised to hear not though.

gimmick

Never actually seen the Teddy thing before. What a tool. Devito was well pissed.

gimmick

Charisteas wrote: »

Wow I didn't know that Lex Luger never won the WWE Championship. I remember as a kid he had that feud with Yokozuna and that big deal about the Lex Express, i assumed he must have won it sometime. Surprised to hear not though.

He was pushed super heavily withe the Lex Express nonsense. He was a heel previous to this - The Narcissist. His face turn just happened from nowhere IIRC.

He and Bret both won the Rumble elading the the WMX situation. He pretty much disappeared from the main event soon after that.

Angron

Jeff Hardy. Was on his way to being huge, and consistantly screwed himself over.



And damn, reading that Teddy Hart incident, that's nuts. Doing a move like the SSP, when someone isn't expecting it is highly dangerous. Serves him right that he vomited, ironic when the crowd were calling him a "sick f*ck"

Hassan was a shame, he had good talent, was going to enter a feud with Taker (which would have helped a lot). Though at least the waste wasn't really his fault.

Diabhal Beag

Muhammed Hassan is the dead-on answer. Awesome heel with huge heel heat. WWE pussed out and had him job to Taker.

gimmick

To be fair to WWE, timing was 100% against them. In a pre recroded show, Hassan was attacked and then carried away by Islam looking militia. The day it was due to air was 07/07/07, the day of the London attacks.

I think they were forced into a corner there due to circumstance.

On the other hand, they could have just cut the segment entirely from the broadcast.

Charisteas

gimmick wrote: »

To be fair to WWE, timing was 100% against them. In a pre recroded show, Hassan was attacked and then carried away by Islam looking militia. The day it was due to air was 07/07/07, the day of the London attacks.

I think they were forced into a corner there due to circumstance.

On the other hand, they could have just cut the segment entirely from the broadcast.

07/07/05

Gonna see if I can track down this episode of smackdown

Wolfe Tone

Goldberg in WWE

CMpunked

It's kinda strange how that happened a few times in wwe.
They put an angle out and have to pull it because of circumstances.

The Muhammad hasan/London bombings.
Vinces "funeral"/Benoit incident.

jaykhunter

CMpunked wrote: »

Vinces "funeral"/Benoit incident.

I think there were 2 actual deaths prior to Vince nixxing that angle; i know one of them was Sherri Martel. It was a disgrace that they had her real obituary on WWE.com, and above that, Vince's whodunnit explosion. Scumbags.

DM_7

They should bring Hassan back as amember of SES. Just say he was on drugs and thats why he was pro islam.

Jolt2007

Goldust is probably up there. Dustin has everything imo on his day but would get lazy and crap between runs of greatness.

waltersobchak

This man retiring....

D2D

waltersobchak wrote: »

This man retiring....

The style has never been the same since.

Yeah, I completely agree on Hassan. It'd be interesting to see where he'd be in the PG era.

flahavaj

Ultimo Dragon in WWE. I should have known better but I was so excited when they aired the promos for him and wa dreaming of a series with Rey who was hot as f*ck at the time. Alas they made him a jobber and the highlight of his run was falling over twice at Wrestlemania.:(

flahavaj

Actually Big Show was utterly wasted. Should have been the Andre of his generation, but a combination of his own lack of discipline and sh*tty booking has made him just another guy.

waltersobchak

Should have made Million's of $$$$ in the 90's but for obvious reasons didnt.. The fact he wasnt in WWE/WCW during Wrestlings hottest period is a combination of his own fault.. And to be honest stupidity

sky88

for me the biggest disspointment was the wwe not pushing owen hart agaisnt hbk after the screwjob it could have huge the matches and the promos could really have been great

D2D

I have to mention Chris Harris's run in WWE as Braden Walker. All he lasted was around 2-3 weeks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwyFABQX62A

Charisteas

The demise of WCW and ECW is another major disappointment.

Charisteas

CMpunked wrote: »

It's kinda strange how that happened a few times in wwe.
They put an angle out and have to pull it because of circumstances.

The Muhammad hasan/London bombings.
Vinces "funeral"/Benoit incident.

3. Ken Kennedy implicated in the steroid scandal, and suspended, just before he was due to be revealed as Vince's son.

CMpunked

Charisteas wrote: »

3. Ken Kennedy implicated in the steroid scandal, and suspended, just before he was due to be revealed as Vince's son.

That actually leads nicely into what I think has been, maybe not disappointing, but definitely has made a mock of anything the little individual has been involved in...

steelcityblues

He didn't really have a bad career, but Vince never really capitalised on Road Dogg's popularity during the Attitude Era.
Was expecting him to break into the main-event eventually.

Charisteas

Shelton Benjamin's mom. The poor woman just never got the push she deserved.

geeky

steelcityblues wrote: »

He didn't really have a bad career, but Vince never really capitalised on Road Dogg's popularity during the Attitude Era.
Was expecting him to break into the main-event eventually.

Yup, though I don't blame them for not giving him a serious push - he's a fierce man for the aul drugs.

steelcityblues

geeky wrote: »

Yup, though I don't blame them for not giving him a serious push - he's a fierce man for the aul drugs.

Several main eventers over the years were not averse to certain pleasures away from the ring!
Don't think Road Dogg was ever going to be the #1 face of any era, but he never got a real chance to begin with. Would have been a safer choice for KOTR in 99, instead of his former tag team partner IMO!

jaykhunter

I think Road Dogg was best used in the constant mid-card/side-kick position. His stuff was entertaining during the Attitude Era but his signature moves, look and matches (*in an entertainment sense) weren't anything spectacular. I really think it was a case where the Outlaws really were greater than the sum of their parts. I don't think his character would've worked if he took a serious turn/actual bid for a main-event slot; look how Billy Gunn's pushes worked out and he had more potential (IMO) despite not being able to talk

ricero

Yea Shelton Benjamin for me and a other maybe contreversial one would be the big show for a man his size and gimmick he should of been used better but that also can be said of his suppossly lazy attitude. Also the invasion storyline could of been used to a greater effect

Wolfe Tone

I think the biggest disappointed was when Billy and Chuck were not actually gay, nor where they gonna marry.

Cmon guys, you know Im right.

ricero

Another major dissapointment for me was and still is the wwe's tag team division for the past 4 years an absolute waste we had great tag teams like the miz and Morrison which was absolutly wasted I use to love the wwe tag division we had such great teams such as the dudly boys edge Christian and the hardy boys now absolutly nothig to go up against the hart dynasty which iS a huge shame as the tag division use to be my favourite part of the wwe

Degag

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

Muhammed Hassan is the dead-on answer. Awesome heel with huge heel heat. WWE pussed out and had him job to Taker.

That's not true really. Hassan was involved in a fued at the time he was released with Taker. He was actually supposed to go over on him, but when the **** started to fly that idea hit a brick wall.

I can actually remember, a week or two before he was released he absolutely decimated Taker in the ring.

Degag

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

I think the biggest disappointed was when Billy and Chuck were not actually gay, nor where they gonna marry.

Cmon guys, you know Im right.

Lol, on that note.... did we ever get "live sex?"

Wolfe Tone

Degag wrote: »

Lol, on that note.... did we ever get "live sex?"

Brief glimpse of Litas tit I believe.

Handsome Bob

gimmick wrote: »

To be fair to WWE, timing was 100% against them. In a pre recroded show, Hassan was attacked and then carried away by Islam looking militia. The day it was due to air was 07/07/07, the day of the London attacks.

I think they were forced into a corner there due to circumstance.

On the other hand, they could have just cut the segment entirely from the broadcast.

Justifiable reason to take him off TV for a while but to sack him? Crazy really, it was a very raw deal.

For me, it has to be Kennedy. This guy had plenty of opportunities and injury/suspension spoilt all of them.

Being Vince's illegitimate son which, had it all gone according to plan, may have seen Kennedy squaring off against Stone Cold at WM.

Being MITB and having the awesome niche of refusing to cash in until the next WM.

The fantastic beginning to his tweener turn.

I mean these are all fantastic vehicles to get any one insanely over. Most superstars would be lucky to get just one of those opportunities. Yet Kennedy fails to capitalise on 3 of them. What a waste.

gimmick

This may sound a strange one given that he won a few wold titles and headlined Wrestlemania and went over some of the top names in the business, but Brock Lesnar has to be up there as the biggest waste the company ever had.

He was literally given it all, but was given it all too quickly, leaving him with feck all to do after a mere 2 years in tje company. He won his first world title 6 months after his debut, and won his second at WM19. His first title was too fast. He could have been built far better for his hot run into Mania that year.

Had WWE not blown their load over him they could have had a bankable top man to rival the likes of Rock and Austin for many years to come.

Of course, the fact that Brock was not a fan of the travel makes the above all moot as he would have probably moved on anyway, but it does not make it less of a dissappointment.

jaykhunter

I suppose WWE got the most money they could have with Brock Lesnar. If he was still mid-card and left at the same time, they would've spent a crap-ton of cash signing him and not seen much return.

Brock only being in for 2 years was a huge let-down. He was the future of wrestling. He "caused" the brand split, they changed SvR's sub-heading to his gimmick, not the Rock's for the first time in a few years; headlined WM and won....Most of his feuds were blown through; I would've liked to have seen him feud with most of the mid-carders (Test in particular; great match at KOTR 02); Batista and Tripper being top of my list. It'd've been awesome. Oh well.

It's fantastic to see him doing so well in UFC, but it's also a shame that now we only get to see him fight 2-3 times/year, instead of every week.

The Volt

The fact that we still haven't had a second Edge/Christian feud really irritates me. Especially with Edge being oh so stale lately and Christian not being used at all.

Alex Kidd

DM-ICE wrote: »

They should bring Hassan back as amember of SES. Just say he was on drugs and thats why he was pro islam.

There is absolutely no logic in that at all. The influence of drugs made him pro Islam?

As far as biggest disappointment I'd go with the death of Eddie Guerrero. It's nearly always sad when a wrestler dies but to think Eddie had turned his life around and kicked the drink and drugs (well most of them) only to kick the bucket makes it more tragic.

Cactus Colm

I'd chuck Matt Hardy's name into the mix.

Never have the WWE capitalised on his popularity as a singles wrestler. Time and again he has gotten great reactions from crowds (often the best of the night). He is more than decent in the ring, and is underrated on the mic.

Certainly after the Edge/Lita kerfuffle he was the hottest thing in wrestling and could easily have been thrown into the main event mix. Hardy (and that situation) was white hot at that stage, but WWE wasted it in a non-event of a match where (if I remember correctly) he basically got his ass handed to him by edge before the match was stopped.

A couple of times it looked like a feud was going to build with Jeff, only for WWE to change their minds and drop it, losing Matt any momentum that was built up.

Wolfe Tone

I always felt Matt was never good enough. Struck me as very bland and boring.

Alex Kidd

I think it's the fact that Matt Hardy gives off a sort of insane vibe that prevents him getting to the top. He seems a bit off. Living in the shadow of his more popular brother has probably held him back too, who knows, if Jeff Hardy had never been born, Matt mightn't seem as vanilla as he does (personality wise).

geeky

Alex Kidd wrote: »

There is absolutely no logic in that at all. The influence of drugs made him pro Islam?

This is the WWE. Logic is optional.

Alex Kidd wrote: »

As far as biggest disappointment I'd go with the death of Eddie Guerrero. It's nearly always sad when a wrestler dies but to think Eddie had turned his life around and kicked the drink and drugs (well most of them) only to kick the bucket makes it more tragic.

Good one - I'd toss Chris Candido in the mix too. With Eddie, you could say it was his lifestyle before that had taken its toll, however cruel the timing. With Candido, it was TNA sending him to an absolute quack of a doctor who didn't think to tell him not to fly, and didn't prescribe correctly either. Total effing stupidity, and it cost a life.

Cactus Colm wrote: »

I'd chuck Matt Hardy's name into the mix.

Never have the WWE capitalised on his popularity as a singles wrestler. Time and again he has gotten great reactions from crowds (often the best of the night). He is more than decent in the ring, and is underrated on the mic.

Certainly after the Edge/Lita kerfuffle he was the hottest thing in wrestling and could easily have been thrown into the main event mix. Hardy (and that situation) was white hot at that stage, but WWE wasted it in a non-event of a match where (if I remember correctly) he basically got his ass handed to him by edge before the match was stopped.

Matt single-handedly killed that natural feud with one of the worst promos of the modern era. Someone posted the youtube vid here not too long ago. It was a fail masterclass. He could have been pretty darn good, solid mid-card, maybe in and around the main event, but injuries and WWE's inability to hide his limitations got in the way. Now he's a fat almost-jobber.

johnn

LZ5by5 wrote: »

Being Vince's illegitimate son which, had it all gone according to plan, may have seen Kennedy squaring off against Stone Cold at WM.

Huh?