Wrestlers that....

[Iafeta]

Never quite made it, but when you seen them you thought shazzam they're a chance at going the distance.

There's been a few of them, for a multitude of reasons they never really highlighted a major organisation (WCW or WWF/E).

For mine, over the past ten years there's been some notable ones

* Raven - WWF I thought killed off his major organisation career by holding hmi back as a hardcore opener, THAT guy had a sh!tload of charisma and ability when he led the flock in WCW

* Perry Saturn - I believe he ended up getting injured, but he was a decent worker, could have been a good tag team wrestler of some note IMO if he had another hardcore partner

* Hugh Morrus - Gained some recognition as General Rection, he never had the perfect physique but he seemed to have a good look to him nonetheless.

* Shane Douglas - I think politics and his backstage attitude hindered him. Had great charisma, and could work a match.

* Mike Sanders - I don't know, I just thought he had good charisma and a good ability on the stick, reminds me a little of a slightly smaller John Cena/Randy Orton who were handled well by the WWE in comparison to Sanders being held back against the likes of the Cat Ernest Miller in WCW.

* Kanyon - I liked the fella, had a real in-ring ability to pull off top legitimate moves.

What other wrestlers do you think had "tools" (IE work ability, ring psychology, charisma, microphone ability) who could have been major players but were never quite given the chance?

 

[canberra_raiders2k2]

Razor Ramon,

Would of been a great wrestler, instead he threw his career down the bin with alcohol.

 

[Iafeta]

Thats true, he had a tonne of charisma and was massively over as Scott Hall. Even when he was in A.A away from WCW the fans wanted him back, he had enough heat then to be a massive babyface or killer heel and be a the top of WCW.

Another one I thought of was RVD, when he first came to the WWE he looked awesome, and I think he's been injured, but still its like the WWE don't really want to push him right to the top. He's got charisma, they go for the R-V-D chant, and man he can wrestle.

 

[Misanthrope]

Shane 'The Hurricane' Helms
Christian (for now)

They're two current ones who haven't, and might never, had the acclaim they deserve

 

[canberra_raiders2k2]

Christian is an obvious one, if he came into the wwe back in the early 90's..he would of been in the tittle hunt..but since nowadays its all about big men..he will need the fans to support him to force the wwe to give him the push he deserves.

 

[Smartman]

Owen Hart would of been a great except for a stupid stunt that went horribly wrong. Why did Vinnie Mac have these stupid stunts to start with...

 

[Iafeta]

Yeah it was crazy, although Sting did a similar thing for quite a while quite successfully and gained notoriety for it. I didn't know this, but he attempted to jump ship to WCW with Bret but couldn't due to contractual reasons. According to Wikipedia there were rumours the whole Blue Blazer thing was punishment on Owen for trying to get out of WWF.

Lance Storm is perhaps another one? Perhaps Jushin Thunder Liger? Awesome in ring talents who never got the push up the charts really.

 

[Smartman]

Yeah it was crazy, although Sting did a similar thing for quite a while quite successfully and gained notoriety for it. I didn't know this, but he attempted to jump ship to WCW with Bret but couldn't due to contractual reasons. According to Wikipedia there were rumours the whole Blue Blazer thing was punishment on Owen for trying to get out of WWF.

Owen did want to leave but yeah WWF wanted to play him around with all these gimmicks. People to this day think the 1997 screwjob was a well planned storyline.

 

[Misanthrope]

The lowering of Owen Hart aka The Blue Blazer into the ring was intended as a direct parody of Sting's entrance. The entire gimmick was making fun of WCW's mysterious superhero like character

 

[thuganomics]

Perry Saturn - I gave up on him when the Moppy gimmick came along.

 

[Iafeta]

True dat Thug, but he to me was a decent wrestler in WCW, and he had I thought quite a good entrance to boot back then too.

The basis was there to make a good in ring competitor.

 

[thuganomics]

I was pissed when Jerry Lynn left the WWE as well. He is a top cruiserweight.
I thought DDP could be big as well, but he went down to European title status.

 

[Big Pete]

Diamond Dallas Page in the WWE was a joke I was quite disgusted the way they treated him.

Only one wrestler I could add to this and that's Dean Malenko who I thought was better then Light Heavy Weight status, I thought he should've been at the I.C. status. He was an awesome wrestler and the only one out of the Benoit/Guerrero/Malenko posse not to make a big name for himself.

 

[Misanthrope]

Yeah, DDP's WWE run was a joke. Hell, even Booker T's run (as long as it has been) hasn't actually amounted to anything.

 

[Iafeta]

Malenko was an absolute world class in ring performer in terms of his technical abilities - perhaps though he lacked true charisma and ring pyschology to a degree to rise too high, but still, he certainly could have got to Intercontinental level.

Yes, agree on Diamond Dallas Page - he was over as Bada Bing, Bada Bang, Bada Boom, and the mystery of the Diamond Cutter, and of course had Nirvanas Smells Like Teen Spirit, perhaps second at that time only to Hollywood's Voodoo Chile by Jimi Hendrix as big pop icon theme music songs - when he came into WWE they tried to change him completely with the whole positivity thing. They should have perserved with the stalking storyline on Undertaker's wife, and created DDP firstly as a mega heel, get him noticed by WWE fans and then he could revert back to his more familiar face role.

They really ruined his career, just like they ruined the heat Bret Hart had.

 

[Iafeta]

Yeah, DDP's WWE run was a joke. Hell, even Booker T's run (as long as it has been) hasn't actually amounted to anything.

Which is crazy, I don't know if its McMahon more or less trying to show up WCW, but Booker T, Goldberg and Big Poppa Pump were the three biggest things in terms of heat by the end of WCW's run, yet none of them have been given a fair run. Booker T has largely been made a joke of, he's a decent worker who deserves a bit more IMO.

 

[Jono078]

From what I remember as a young one watching WCW back in the day, I thought Rick Steiner went alright. Im trying to think back a lil more, but no other wrestlers are popping in my mind atm.

 

[thuganomics]

Scott Steiner and Goldberg could of been big when the signed. But both turned out to be duds. The crowd nearly every week was giving it to Goldberg, and Steiner was just a one move man (belly to belly). I remember a match him vs Batista and honestly, that was one of the worst matches ever.

 

[Big Pete]

The Steiner bros were a good tag team and that's about all really.

Once Steiner bleached his hair he became crap...the funny thing is though he was one of only a short list of names to have a good Goldberg match.

Goldberg from the start just wasn't accepted into the WWE especially with the quality promos Y2J and The Rock were dishing him it would be very hard not to get over. However the WWE fans were already sick of the monster guy and Goldberg had out stayed his welcome. To say he didn't get a push would have to be a joke considering he beat most of the top guys and was given the title.

 

[Iafeta]

He was massively over pushed in WCW (Goldberg), INFACT I think it went so much to his head that all of a sudden they created something so big yet so unadaptable that it meant its death - because decent workers like Shane Douglas, Raven, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Sting, Bret Hart had to sit back while he hogged the spotlight. If Goldberg was done right, perhaps had a stint as a major monster heel, and then became beatable (and the likes of Vince Russo didn't concoct bullsh*t stories of if you lose you're gone) he could have been a decent commodity.

Perhaps in WWE he could have been managed as a hired gun by Vince McMahon, the art of a good manager in the 1980's at various points was to gloss over bad speakers, that would have been interesting.

As far as Poppa Pump goes, he used to be a really good tag wrestler with his brother Rick. Both though got shown up as singles wrestlers, they had the pyschology of tag men rather than individualists. I personally always thought Jeff Jarrett and Booker T were a better fued possibility than anything involving Poppa Pump, but at the end of it he must have had some heat that the WWE could have used in some capacity.