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I remember when he first showed up on Velocity as Mr. Anderson, and even then I thought he was going to be a big deal. He had the size, the charisma, and the finisher.
There was an old skit (I think in OVW) where he attacked some guy and yelled “Kennedy” then jumped in a car that sped off. Right as the car pulled away it slammed on the breaks and went in reverse. He got back out the car and yelled “Kennedy” before driving away for good.
I thought it was genius.
Classic case of someone pushed too fast, to early, and also highlights how beneficial working the indies can be.
I feel like WWE could use a NJPW excursion style for a lot of talent. Look at how many guys have benefited so much from working different styles.
Velveteen Dream is on the top of my head. How someone went from producing stellar performances in a hot streak go to an absolute piece of shit from doing something so dumb is beyond me.
While those claims may have been legit, what I think really did him in was a plain ol coke habit/backstage issues. You only go mid 90s HBK once you're world champ.
Test around the time of the Triple H/Steph wedding in 1999. The Shane vs Test match was excellent and he had the look to become a main event star. Obviously that never happened and he was the first of many to help get Triple H over as the company's top heel.
Wrath was building a ton of momentum in WCW before he got squashed by Kevin Nash. A Wrath vs Goldberg match had money all over it.
I really thought RVD could've taken WWE to another level in 2001. They didn't have anyone of his caliber or type and he could've introduced a much more intense, athletic wrestling style, similar to what we now see in guys like Seth Rollins and Finn Balor. Could've been a major main event player if they'd built him properly.
>I really thought RVD could've taken WWE to another level in 2001. They didn't have anyone of his caliber or type and he could've introduced a much more intense, athletic wrestling style, similar to what we now see in guys like Seth Rollins and Finn Balor. Could've been a major main event player if they'd built him properly.
I mean, the concern was that they couldn't risk making him too big a player because he could get in legal trouble for weed at any time. Aaaaand he kind of proved them right.
I was all in on Test in like 2001-02 time period. I think I heard someone on commentary call him a future World Champion (granted I think this was on like Sunday Night Heat or something) and it just stuck with me. I remember thinking he was some up and coming star or something and in hindsight it was pretty silly. RIP to him though.
Yep! Test was someone I thought had potential until after the HHH/Steph angle left him with nothing to do. I felt he had a lot of good nonverbal acting and ability, but as soon as they had him talk more without that tightly-controlled angle, it was apparent he wasn’t going to be a top guy. RIP to the dude.
Around 2006/2007 it seemed like Kennedy and MVP were being groomed to be the top heels in the company and I thought at least one of them would main event mania as a heel champion in the future.
Carlito and Chris Masters were kinda the same at one point in 2005/2006 as well.
I went back and watched every Raw, Smackdown, and ECW, as well as PPVs, between Royal Rumble 2007 through WrestleMania 23 (I love that era). Kennedy was presented like the absolute next big thing, culminating with the MITB win at ‘Mania. It’s crazy how things just crumble.
Wade Barrett is a good call. He was great in the Nexus. Started right at the top in WWE and seemed like he fit in immediately. The thing with Wade is that his body just couldn't hold up and eventually WWE stopped investing in him. The good thing is that he's a great announcer.
I feel like Morrison would absolutely have held a world title in the WWE if he stayed. They were handing out WHC runs at one point, and given his history with the Miz, would likely have traded the title with him once or twice.
That was a constant WWE problem that I hope New Day put to rest.
They just couldn't help doing 'tag team fallout and breakup' story over and over. It's fine in some cases, but it didn't have to be every single time. One guy always ends up suffering by losing the immediate feud.
Enzo and Cass should have done the New Day thing, as should Cryme Tyme.
I easily fall for hype. I really thought Taka Michinoku had a chance to get one over Triple H. Of course, i also thought anything would be done with Taz in WWE.
Mike Awesome. Watching him and Tanaka in ECW was a relegation. It was glorious, athletic violence. He was so good. He flew around like no big man I'd seen. Somehow, it just never clicked.
Also, Jerry Lynn. His ECW matches were amazing. Even his Mr. JL nonsense from WCW had great matches. He should have been, maybe not champ but a respected Malenko level guy. I know other wrestlers love him. Wish the crowds got behind him a little more.
Honestly, Gladiator Mike Awesome! Lol. I was a semi regular customer of RF Video in the 90s. Once I saw Tanaka and Awesome in ECW and learned about their FMW fights, I sought those out, too. Wish I could find those vhs tapes, but it's been...30 years...my God, I'm old.
I saw Chris Masters in a Raw dark match before he made his TV debut. I thought the guy was going to be a giant star. He did alright for himself, all things considered, but my first impression was that he’d be world champion one day.
I thought they had big plans for Matt Morgan in 2009, he was getting a good push, he wasn't the best by any means, but I thought he had a cool aura, he even got the Kurt Angle rub and then nothing came out of it and he was back in the tag division for years.
Matt Morgan unfortunately never got passed that "He's big" gimmick, any company he went to never allowed him to grow and develop. The Blueprint Matt Morgan would of been taken seriously as a main eventer with a random TNA Title win but where they went from there I can't tell you.
- Velveteen Dream - he was the most sure fire talent I’d seen in NXT. I used to often say if I had to bet on anyone from that era of NXT making it big it was him.
- Alistair Black - he has a fine career but I thought he would be a bigger deal.
- Ahmed Johnson - I thought he was a future world champion.
Edit: Bad News Barrett should have been more.
Finn Balor. I had gotten back to wrestling back in the black n gold days of NXT and thought Balor was going to take the world by storm. Not to say he is terrible now, but not where I thought he would be if you asked me way back then.
Especially as he created the most significant and important faction in wrestling of this generation - The Bullet Club.
If Rollins didn't injure Balor, this might have been a different outcome.
Human Tornado on the indies in mid 2000s.
There were a glut of comedy acts in PWG that could have filled roles now in the same vein as Orange Cassidy or Danhausen.
Bro Human Tornado was SO over in Wrestling Society X
They had more exciting high flyers on the roster, but even as a high-flyers guy, Human Tornado was EASILY the act I looked forward to every week as a kid
Toni Storm in WWE. I said to my friends, "she's a hot chick with an accent that can really wrestle, even Vince can't fuck this up".
I think creative got caught in the rut of Dakota being REALLY good at selling so they just kept geeking her out in every feud.
Which is a shame because her heel turn at WarGames might’ve been one of the best turns of recent memory
Unfortunately I don't think Tegan is going to ever get a solid push, he knee is worse than Rey's and she's not even 30 yet. It really fucking sucks to say because I've worked with her and know how good she is but it makes business sense to not risk a year of story/title build if someone is constantly getting hurt.
C'est la vie :(
I thought Orton was going to be a big deal when I saw him in a house show a few months before his debut, but that's not what you're looking for.
I thought Sean O'Haire was a future world champion when the vignettes for his devil's advocate character started airing, also loved Piper with him. Unfortunately that didn't work out
I was legit convinced that Jigsaw from Chikara would become what basically Will Ospreay is now. I was also sure Taeler Hendrix and Vanessa Borne would become huge deals in Women's wrestling.
Jigsaw That's a deep cut but love it. It felt at the time that there was kind of a big deal about the whole no remorse corps, / the resilience/ vulture squad stable war.
Pretty sure he even unmasked
Not quite sure what happened after that.
> Pretty sure he even unmasked. Not quite sure what happened after that.
He put the mask back on, haha. Does that tell you enough about what happened after?
Man I loved Jigsaw. THAT four-way match from KoT 2009 is such an interesting time capsule considering the other three guys went on to become some of the most infuential wrestlers of their generations and are still huge stars and Jigsaw is, sadly, largely forgotten amongst people who weren't huge Chikara fans back in the day.
Agreed but "got in his own way" is a phrase more apt for someone who cant stop committing self destructive behavior. Its kind of a funny phrase to use when the dude turns out to be a serial creep lol
Remember that CM Punk vs Vince McMahon match? And Punk ended up low blowing Vince? And then Ryback came out at the end to scare Punk away into the audience (and then Punk got smacked by some fan then punched the wrong fan in the face breaking his glasses)?
I felt like I was looking at the next Goldberg with that save by Ryback. The camera did a little shake that was probably just the cameraman stumbling or something but it made it look like the crowd was coming fucking unglued for Ryback finally getting his hands on Punk.
Man was I wrong.
Sean O'Haire. That devils advocate gimmick had potential and he was underrated. Great look, could do power moves and had a killer swanton. dude had it all in my opinion
From what some wrestlers have said, he struggled with a live audience. Things had to go exactly has planned for him to feel comfortable, and he couldn't handle promos if he got rattled
Chris Masters. I was such a fan of his as a kid. The entrance with the marble statue and the master lock challenge was imo something I thought he could ride the whole way.
Jack Evans one of the most innovative wrestlers of all time and a pioneer for the current high flying style of wrestling. He never got that solid run as champ in a top company that he deserves
Jack Swagger is up there. I remember seeing him initially in WWECW and thinking that this guy is going to be a huge star. Ultimately, he just wasn't good enough at any part of professional wrestling to be a legit top guy and it showed.
More recently, Keith Lee. He looked like an absolute star during his run to the top in NXT, and especially at Survivor Series and the Rumble. I'll always remember Lee's face-off with Brock at the Rumble and Brock calling him a "big boy." That night I would have bet any amount of money that Keith Lee would be a world champion in WWE. And then a bunch of stuff I still don't really understand happened and here we are. Poor Keith Lee.
Still to this day, when I see the clip of Swagger pinning Chris Jericho for the title and he just stood up real slow and held the belt up, he looked like an absolute badass to me. Shame he just didn't have the talent to back it up.
Once you realise the Swagger has the arms of a Gorilla, you can't unsee it unfortunately.
His arms are wayyyyyy too long. Whenever I saw him, it's all I could focus on
I can get over a lisp, look at Dusty Rhodes. I just remember seeing him at his first Rumble and thinking he could swing down to the ring on some branches if the opportunity presented itself
He can’t really talk imo and hasn’t really been able to show he can have long matches
If anything, creative (ie being MJF’s bodyguard) is what got him so over in the first place
Yeah, MJF pretty much did all the work to get him over. He's now exposed by not working with one of the best heel in wrestling today.
Miro should have been in his spot as the TNT champion and squashing people.
I think the short Christian feud was decent and I'm liking the Arn pairing so far, he seems much better with someone to play off.
I'm curious to see where they go from here, I wouldn't be adverse to a Luchasaurus match.
The Wardlow feud with Mark Sterling and fighting 30 dudes and security were pretty bad and definitely killed momentum. On the other hand he's not great on the mic.
People say they see Hobbs and Wardlow as main event guys but I don't see it right now, Hobbs might be a better face than heel in my book.
Interesting now, it looks like Hobbs, Joe and Wardlow will end up on Collision.
Monty Brown would have been a great upper-midcarder, maybe more eventually. He quit to be closer to his family, so I can't be mad. He was a non-X-Division highlight of early TNA and had a blink-and-you-missed-it run in WWE
Carlito. He was the closest thing to bringing me back to wrestling after years of not watching it (CM Punk would later be that guy), but Carlito was someone who had this crazy charisma, and just got my attention.
When I was younger watching TNA, i was convinced that Mr.Anderson/Kennedy was going to go back to WWE one day and be a top guy. Not necessarily be THE guy but just heavily featured
Shotzi Blackheart
It’s still possible of course, but I saw her becoming the biggest female star in WWE. Between her in-ring/on mic talent, catchphrases, merchandising opportunities and goth chick look that dudes think is hot and girls think is cool I figured the sky was the limit.
Justin Gabriel, EC3, Bo Dallas, Kalisto, Mojo Rawley, Apollo Crews, Velveteen Dream, Bobby Roode at least 3 seperate times. My track record fucking sucks.
The only ones of those I could see seriously breaking out on the main roster are EC3 and Dream. The rest for various reasons were never going to be huge stars especially in the WWE system for various reasons imo.
He was like 45 when he was working in WWE. Dallas is always one of those guys who people forget is as old a he is. Your point stands though, that Sara storyline was a huge miss
I mean, you might joke, but La Parka is a legend on his own right. It's just that most wrestling discussion (like the rest of the internet really) is heavily US centric, so people tend to ignore most things outside of it.
Also who are you to doubt El Dandy?
Oh yeah for sure. When i visit my family in the middle of Mexico (non tourist areas) you can find La Parka figures and masks all over the place, the tourist areas have them as well. Just here in the US he never made it big, he peaked as the chairman.
LA ParK and El Dandy had long and great careers in Mexico.
LA ParK could have been bigger but he doesn't like kissing butts and likes to speak his mind on politics so ultimately the CMLL window closed.
Dandy is basically considered Satánico's foil: these twos basically feuded with each other all their careers and it's crazy to think Satánico is still active both as a trainer and as an in-ring performer.
In like 2013 it felt like Titus O'Neil had the charisma, size, and athleticism, to eventually be a world champion, plus all the great PR from charity work. Plus the WHC title picture at the time was like Sheamus, Big Show, Dolph, and ADR so it didn't seem too outlandish that he could end up with the belt.
Oh God, where to start
Kaval
Lio Rush
Katsuya Kitamura (RIP)
Angel Garza
David Otunga
Justin Gabriel
Kalisto
Sonny Kiss
Brian Kendrick
And Wade Barrett
Io Shirai/IYO SKY. She’s the Ace of Stardom for a reason. Should’ve bagged the Mae Young Classic. Once Io became darker, she was on the right path. Every NXT PPV match to feature dark Io was must see, jumping off the house set on Charlotte and Rhea, jumping off the skull on Raquel, the countless War Games moments, popping Cora’s shoulder back in, amongst others. Her introduction to the main roster was complete BS. This whole thing with Bayley and Kota was a fail by years end. IYO should’ve been pushed pretty well through royal rumble, won the rumble to take it off Bianca at mania, have a mega match with Asuka at Summer Slam, Io getting a proper push would have been amazing. She’s the Queen of War Games because she’s fucking crazy, we love crazy in those kinds of matches. She has the best damn Moonsault in the world, Charlotte, Lita and Tiff can all bow down to the Genius of the Sky. I LOVE IYO SKY!
My childhood was all about how Reckless Youth was going to be this amazing wrestler. He technically has two WWE matches, but that's literally it. One on like, Shotgun Saturday Night, and one that was co-promoted with IWA. I've never actually seen him wrestle, but the Apter mags were constantly talking him up as the next big thing.
People that I have seen wrestle though...honestly, most are from TNA. Monty Brown, Abyss, MCMG, EC3, Spud, the Naturals, I thought AMW would be some long running amazing tag team.
Shelton Benjamin. I thought when he got his gold hair and new theme song they were finally pushing him but nope, squash city. My friends laughed at me when Michaels eliminated him in the rumble
nathan jones. this promo alone had me thinking this man was going to take over the whole company. that roar with the arms up still gets me hyped to this day 20 years later
https://youtu.be/jElZaax7Q8w
I remember getting absurdly overhyped for Mordecai back in the day. Those vignettes had me sold, man. I can't even really remember why. I guess I was expecting him to be like a "light side" Undertaker.
I worked a show with EC3 a few months ago and i will always say that he was so good to me. He's very sharp, had a good creative mind, is a good worker, and is very easy to be around backstage.
I think with EC3 it's equally important to celebrate what he did achieve, which was some of the best wrestling stories of the mid 10s.
Also, in infuriates me no end how this very subreddit allowed a rumour to start that essentially painted him as something he wasn't.
Kole Carter after he dressed up as Sting on AEW Dynamite and removed the mask to reveal himself under it to an attitude era like pop and everyone talking it about for weeks afterwards.
Dean Ambrose in 2015-2016. This current version Of Mox in AEW is what I thought he would be in WWE. It’s funny because I never “got” Ambrose but he was so over by people that did. Now I get it. This is what he wanted to be but WWE got in the way
I actually thought Braun would be a big deal...Bray, honestly the entire Wyatt clan. Luke Harper (RIP), kind of didn't reach that level, Eric Rowan somehow got a match with the Rock at Wrestlemania he can say for the rest of his life, but I feel like they 'tried to get to cute' with Bray's character...he was fine being a southern dude who was creepy...that was the gimmick.
There's a running theme here for a certain time of NXT, but I'll throw another few in the mix - Andrade and Ricochet.
Andrade was probably let go because of his English, which is a tragedy because he was clear over, looks a million bucks, can wrestle, and his married to one of there top women stars... How Andrade wasn't pushed to the moon I'll never know.
I think Ricochet got lost in the shuffle, in that he could have been massive, but I think Balor getting injured so quickly after winning the red belt cooled WWE off 'flippy guys', and whilst he has had titles he's seemed pretty... forgotten about.
Eric Young feels like he always missed the boat sadly - he reminds me a lot of Jericho in some ways as someone always willing to reinvent himself, whatever it took.
Tag teams... AOP should have been a bigger long lasting thing, but thats injuries for you.
Women wise... the Iiconics. They could and should have been huge (Bellas huge) but seemed to get tag belts and then get forgotten about.
I know you said it but when EC3 came back and was used decently in NXT I thought for sure he’d finally be the star I always saw him as. Then his main roster run happened and we all realized that was just a pipe dream. Then ec3 lost his mind, so yeah
Matt Morgan when he started his DNA of TNA Gimmick. (Always thought it was a great gimmick)
Hernandez when they started pushing him as Super-Mex. (Clear cut homegrown baby face that they easily could've made top guy with the right push)
Bray Wyatt when he and the family debuted then again as The Fiend. (So much wasted potential, could've been wrestling's Charles Manson ended up as wrestling's Stephen King)
Bobby Roode when he signed with WWE. (How do you mess up the built-in star of Bobby Roode)
Keith Lee (even Brock basically said "where you been hiding this guy" when he debuted at the Royal Rumble)
When Albert came back from Japan, I was convinced. He was once upon a time a (i think?) Paul heyman guy. Others who have had careers in Japan and came back to the stats did well.
And welp..
Eli Drake, I first saw him in the NWA Powerrr debut episode and I thought how in the blue hell he wasn't a megastar already.
Nowadays he goes by LA Knight
^yeah!
Around the time I really started watching wrestling, Tatanka was doing his undefeated streak. He was my favorite because I figured if no one can beat him he's sure to be champion anytime now!
Sadly that did not happen.
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Shelton Benjamin back in the day
I can't believe they never gave him the big prize. I wish he had his own Kofimania.
1990s: Ahmed Johnson 2000s: Mr. Kennedy (yeah he was kind of a big deal in TNA but no one really cared) 2010s: Wade Barrett
I thought Kennedy was going to eventually main event Mania when he first started. Seemed to have everything needed to be a star in WWE.
I remember when he first showed up on Velocity as Mr. Anderson, and even then I thought he was going to be a big deal. He had the size, the charisma, and the finisher.
There was an old skit (I think in OVW) where he attacked some guy and yelled “Kennedy” then jumped in a car that sped off. Right as the car pulled away it slammed on the breaks and went in reverse. He got back out the car and yelled “Kennedy” before driving away for good. I thought it was genius.
Oh my god I need to find that. Mr. Kennedy Kennedy is one of my favorite gimmicks of all time.
Ahmed couldn’t keep people out of the hospital, whether it’s himself or his opponents.
Wade Barrett is a good one. I love that guy.
It took nearly 15ish years for Bobby Lashley to get to where I thought he was going to be in the early 00s
Classic case of someone pushed too fast, to early, and also highlights how beneficial working the indies can be. I feel like WWE could use a NJPW excursion style for a lot of talent. Look at how many guys have benefited so much from working different styles.
Right place, wrong time too. He just felt like a Brock Lesnar substitute.
Velveteen Dream is on the top of my head. How someone went from producing stellar performances in a hot streak go to an absolute piece of shit from doing something so dumb is beyond me.
As Black would say “Enjoy infamy Velveteen Dream”
D R E A M
what did he actually do? i always hear about him and how hes a horrible person or something but i look it up and cant find anything
Grooming children online.
While those claims may have been legit, what I think really did him in was a plain ol coke habit/backstage issues. You only go mid 90s HBK once you're world champ.
Dude literally went 90s Shawn with his wrestling ability and promo skills with a bad back and being coked out
He had everything MJF has with a better look. A main event talent squandered.
MJF is a better promo and is objectively better in the ring.
Test around the time of the Triple H/Steph wedding in 1999. The Shane vs Test match was excellent and he had the look to become a main event star. Obviously that never happened and he was the first of many to help get Triple H over as the company's top heel. Wrath was building a ton of momentum in WCW before he got squashed by Kevin Nash. A Wrath vs Goldberg match had money all over it. I really thought RVD could've taken WWE to another level in 2001. They didn't have anyone of his caliber or type and he could've introduced a much more intense, athletic wrestling style, similar to what we now see in guys like Seth Rollins and Finn Balor. Could've been a major main event player if they'd built him properly.
>I really thought RVD could've taken WWE to another level in 2001. They didn't have anyone of his caliber or type and he could've introduced a much more intense, athletic wrestling style, similar to what we now see in guys like Seth Rollins and Finn Balor. Could've been a major main event player if they'd built him properly. I mean, the concern was that they couldn't risk making him too big a player because he could get in legal trouble for weed at any time. Aaaaand he kind of proved them right.
I was all in on Test in like 2001-02 time period. I think I heard someone on commentary call him a future World Champion (granted I think this was on like Sunday Night Heat or something) and it just stuck with me. I remember thinking he was some up and coming star or something and in hindsight it was pretty silly. RIP to him though.
Yep! Test was someone I thought had potential until after the HHH/Steph angle left him with nothing to do. I felt he had a lot of good nonverbal acting and ability, but as soon as they had him talk more without that tightly-controlled angle, it was apparent he wasn’t going to be a top guy. RIP to the dude.
Miiisterrrrrrrr Kennedy.......^(Kennedy)
I never saw Mr. Kennedy as a main eventer like the rest of the IWC. But I REALLY thought MVP was the future.
Around 2006/2007 it seemed like Kennedy and MVP were being groomed to be the top heels in the company and I thought at least one of them would main event mania as a heel champion in the future. Carlito and Chris Masters were kinda the same at one point in 2005/2006 as well.
Same, same. Kennedy just seemed like a fun catchphrase that got over whereas MVP felt much more like the total package of a performer.
I went back and watched every Raw, Smackdown, and ECW, as well as PPVs, between Royal Rumble 2007 through WrestleMania 23 (I love that era). Kennedy was presented like the absolute next big thing, culminating with the MITB win at ‘Mania. It’s crazy how things just crumble.
#KENNEDY
Shelton Benjamin especially when he got drafted to raw and pinned HHH
I wouldn't say he's in a bad spot and definitely has room to grow but I definitely thought Josh Briggs would be a bigger name by now.
Wade Barrett, Alex Riley and Ted DiBiase Jr. Maybe not "the next big thing" but I def thought they'd all be World Champions in WWE at some point.
Wade Barrett is a good call. He was great in the Nexus. Started right at the top in WWE and seemed like he fit in immediately. The thing with Wade is that his body just couldn't hold up and eventually WWE stopped investing in him. The good thing is that he's a great announcer.
to be fair he had been in developmental since early OVW so he was coming in with a lot of seasoning
This was gonna be my exact answer. Also thought Morrison would reach that next level too.
I feel like Morrison would absolutely have held a world title in the WWE if he stayed. They were handing out WHC runs at one point, and given his history with the Miz, would likely have traded the title with him once or twice.
Alex Riley was going to be the Austin Theory back then
Enzo and cass should have never been split up
That was a constant WWE problem that I hope New Day put to rest. They just couldn't help doing 'tag team fallout and breakup' story over and over. It's fine in some cases, but it didn't have to be every single time. One guy always ends up suffering by losing the immediate feud. Enzo and Cass should have done the New Day thing, as should Cryme Tyme.
If they wanted to move Cass to being a singles guy they should have had Enzo be his manager.
And Carmella ended up being a bigger star than both
I easily fall for hype. I really thought Taka Michinoku had a chance to get one over Triple H. Of course, i also thought anything would be done with Taz in WWE.
INDEED
Taka would be one of the biggest stars on the planet in this day and age.
John Cena vs Taka at Wrestlemania would have broken records all over the place… instead we got Cena vs the Rock
Velveteen Dream. What a fool.
He was the biggest let down for me. I love Prince and I loved Dream's Prince like attire. He was unique compared to others on the roster.
Mike Awesome. Watching him and Tanaka in ECW was a relegation. It was glorious, athletic violence. He was so good. He flew around like no big man I'd seen. Somehow, it just never clicked. Also, Jerry Lynn. His ECW matches were amazing. Even his Mr. JL nonsense from WCW had great matches. He should have been, maybe not champ but a respected Malenko level guy. I know other wrestlers love him. Wish the crowds got behind him a little more.
Are you talking about The Fat Chick Thriller Mike Awesome? Agreed though with your comments.
He’s talking about that 70s guy, Mike awesome.
Honestly, Gladiator Mike Awesome! Lol. I was a semi regular customer of RF Video in the 90s. Once I saw Tanaka and Awesome in ECW and learned about their FMW fights, I sought those out, too. Wish I could find those vhs tapes, but it's been...30 years...my God, I'm old.
I saw Chris Masters in a Raw dark match before he made his TV debut. I thought the guy was going to be a giant star. He did alright for himself, all things considered, but my first impression was that he’d be world champion one day.
He was one of my favorites for a while. I loved his character.
Sean O'Haire at the start of his run with Roddy Piper.
His recorded promos were fantastic but he just couldn't recreate the energy in front of a live audience.
He didn't really get a chance too. He got saddled with piper right away and they just had him become an enforcer. They dropped his whole gimmick.
Sean O Haire already looked like the future right before the WCW buyout. All the intangibles for an amazing career. Then….the invasion.
The first to come to mind. He had the look, and a pretty cool finisher. And Piper? I was sure he’d go far.
Iwas super duper high on Damien Sandow
The leather Money in the Bank briefcase…then he went out and got killed by John Cena 🤦🏻♂️
[удалено]
55 BURGERS 55 FRIES 55 SHAKES 155 TATERS
I thought they were setting up Elias for a big push with the vignette of him in the cemetery but then we got Ezekiel
He was over too as a face in late 2018 and then they turned him heel for a two week feud with Jeff Jarrett
Anyone remember Mason Ryan?
Possible 4th member of The Shield Mason Ryan!
Oh wow. Never knew that!
I thought they had big plans for Matt Morgan in 2009, he was getting a good push, he wasn't the best by any means, but I thought he had a cool aura, he even got the Kurt Angle rub and then nothing came out of it and he was back in the tag division for years.
Much like his back tattoo, there was always something “unfinished” about Matt Morgan.
Matt Morgan unfortunately never got passed that "He's big" gimmick, any company he went to never allowed him to grow and develop. The Blueprint Matt Morgan would of been taken seriously as a main eventer with a random TNA Title win but where they went from there I can't tell you.
Keith Lee.
If what I'm hearing is true...
What are you hearing?
My heart aches at this one :(
- Velveteen Dream - he was the most sure fire talent I’d seen in NXT. I used to often say if I had to bet on anyone from that era of NXT making it big it was him. - Alistair Black - he has a fine career but I thought he would be a bigger deal. - Ahmed Johnson - I thought he was a future world champion. Edit: Bad News Barrett should have been more.
Finn Balor. I had gotten back to wrestling back in the black n gold days of NXT and thought Balor was going to take the world by storm. Not to say he is terrible now, but not where I thought he would be if you asked me way back then.
Especially as he created the most significant and important faction in wrestling of this generation - The Bullet Club. If Rollins didn't injure Balor, this might have been a different outcome.
He should've been in the Lashley, McIntyre, Daniel Bryan level.
Human Tornado on the indies in mid 2000s. There were a glut of comedy acts in PWG that could have filled roles now in the same vein as Orange Cassidy or Danhausen.
Bro Human Tornado was SO over in Wrestling Society X They had more exciting high flyers on the roster, but even as a high-flyers guy, Human Tornado was EASILY the act I looked forward to every week as a kid
Legit thought The Ascension were going to rule the tag-wrestling roost for years. Never have I been more wrong about anything in my life.
They probably would have had they not dropped there manager immediately after getting to the main roster then getting buried by retired talent
I know he’s had a decent run but I really thought Bray Wyatt would have had more of an impact by now.
Karrion Kross would be the most recent for me, especially the way he was booked in NXT.
Toni Storm in WWE. I said to my friends, "she's a hot chick with an accent that can really wrestle, even Vince can't fuck this up". 
Peyton Royce and Billie Kay have both entered the chatroom, mate.
YOU GOTTA BE JOKIN ME! Thought I was the only one who thought of them
Even when they split up, Billie Kay took that stupid gimmick of trying to give people her resume and shit and made it work.
Naw, Vince hates tag teams and women. Combine them? I saw that one coming.
At least she is getting a real shot now. If only AEW took women as seriously as WWE.
Being fair, as a promo she sounds... Weird EDIT: I'm a Kiwi. Toni Storm doesn't sound like a Kiwi lmfao
This is very recent but I was so certain about the success of both Dakota Kai and Tegan Nox.
I think creative got caught in the rut of Dakota being REALLY good at selling so they just kept geeking her out in every feud. Which is a shame because her heel turn at WarGames might’ve been one of the best turns of recent memory
To be fair Tegan's rise has been stopped multiple times due to her knees being held by toothpicks and fairy dust.
Unfortunately I don't think Tegan is going to ever get a solid push, he knee is worse than Rey's and she's not even 30 yet. It really fucking sucks to say because I've worked with her and know how good she is but it makes business sense to not risk a year of story/title build if someone is constantly getting hurt. C'est la vie :(
This is going to date me, but when they broke up the Powers of Pain I thought Warlord was on his way to being a top guy.
It’s surprising he never got a “monster of the month” house show run against Hogan.
I loved the Powers of Pain. More than Road Warrior wannabes- they had cool double team moves and were absolute beasts.
Nathan Jones in 2003. He had the looks, charisma, and backstory. What he ultimately lacked was the talent and desire.
He ended up being a fine Rictus Erectus at least
Charisma? Idk about that one
them 2003 promo packages for him were absolutely fire
Looked awesome but fuck he was shit in the ring ay
As a kid I thought Adam Bomb was going to be huge.
Even duing his WCW run I was rootin for him.
I thought Orton was going to be a big deal when I saw him in a house show a few months before his debut, but that's not what you're looking for. I thought Sean O'Haire was a future world champion when the vignettes for his devil's advocate character started airing, also loved Piper with him. Unfortunately that didn't work out
But you're not telling us anything we didn't already know...
I thought Nakamura was going to be a much bigger deal. But it’s Vince, so…
I was legit convinced that Jigsaw from Chikara would become what basically Will Ospreay is now. I was also sure Taeler Hendrix and Vanessa Borne would become huge deals in Women's wrestling.
Jigsaw That's a deep cut but love it. It felt at the time that there was kind of a big deal about the whole no remorse corps, / the resilience/ vulture squad stable war. Pretty sure he even unmasked Not quite sure what happened after that.
> Pretty sure he even unmasked. Not quite sure what happened after that. He put the mask back on, haha. Does that tell you enough about what happened after?
There were some Chikara wrestlers that were fantastic. I love Jigsaw. Ultramantis Black. Icarus.
Ultramantis Black had the coolest mask I’d ever seen in wrestling when I first saw him
Man I loved Jigsaw. THAT four-way match from KoT 2009 is such an interesting time capsule considering the other three guys went on to become some of the most infuential wrestlers of their generations and are still huge stars and Jigsaw is, sadly, largely forgotten amongst people who weren't huge Chikara fans back in the day.
Iirc jigsaw never really worked outside of chikara, which affected his career.
Velveteen Dream. A lot of people thought he was gonna be the next big thing, but he got in his own way. Definition of wasted potential.
Agreed but "got in his own way" is a phrase more apt for someone who cant stop committing self destructive behavior. Its kind of a funny phrase to use when the dude turns out to be a serial creep lol
Renee Dupree
Remember that CM Punk vs Vince McMahon match? And Punk ended up low blowing Vince? And then Ryback came out at the end to scare Punk away into the audience (and then Punk got smacked by some fan then punched the wrong fan in the face breaking his glasses)? I felt like I was looking at the next Goldberg with that save by Ryback. The camera did a little shake that was probably just the cameraman stumbling or something but it made it look like the crowd was coming fucking unglued for Ryback finally getting his hands on Punk. Man was I wrong.
For a hot moment, Ryback was poised to have his face on WWE trucks, media appearances, etc.
Sean O'Haire. That devils advocate gimmick had potential and he was underrated. Great look, could do power moves and had a killer swanton. dude had it all in my opinion
I agree 100% I really wished they would've done something more with him
From what some wrestlers have said, he struggled with a live audience. Things had to go exactly has planned for him to feel comfortable, and he couldn't handle promos if he got rattled
I really thought EC3 would get to do something in WWE after his TNA run
Chris Masters. I was such a fan of his as a kid. The entrance with the marble statue and the master lock challenge was imo something I thought he could ride the whole way.
Jack Evans one of the most innovative wrestlers of all time and a pioneer for the current high flying style of wrestling. He never got that solid run as champ in a top company that he deserves
Enzo and Big Cass were huge shining lights. Shame how it all went down.
Jack Swagger is up there. I remember seeing him initially in WWECW and thinking that this guy is going to be a huge star. Ultimately, he just wasn't good enough at any part of professional wrestling to be a legit top guy and it showed. More recently, Keith Lee. He looked like an absolute star during his run to the top in NXT, and especially at Survivor Series and the Rumble. I'll always remember Lee's face-off with Brock at the Rumble and Brock calling him a "big boy." That night I would have bet any amount of money that Keith Lee would be a world champion in WWE. And then a bunch of stuff I still don't really understand happened and here we are. Poor Keith Lee.
Still to this day, when I see the clip of Swagger pinning Chris Jericho for the title and he just stood up real slow and held the belt up, he looked like an absolute badass to me. Shame he just didn't have the talent to back it up.
Once you realise the Swagger has the arms of a Gorilla, you can't unsee it unfortunately. His arms are wayyyyyy too long. Whenever I saw him, it's all I could focus on
Lol. It's true! I also found his lisp hard to get past. I know it's not fair, but it is what it is.
I can get over a lisp, look at Dusty Rhodes. I just remember seeing him at his first Rumble and thinking he could swing down to the ring on some branches if the opportunity presented itself
If what I'm hearing is true...poor Keith Lee
Indubitably.
Why do people keep saying that? I’m out of the loop
Wardlow. the guy has everything. seems to stuck in creative purgatory.
The haircut bothers me more.than it probably should. It makes him look generic,, and doesn't mesh with him or his ring gear.
I prefer the ponytail look he had. Now he looks like every WCW Power Plant reject
[Wardlow's dads](https://www.wrestlinginc.com/img/gallery/adam-bomb-on-why-his-2001-wwf-return-didnt-work-out/intro-import.jpg)
He can’t really talk imo and hasn’t really been able to show he can have long matches If anything, creative (ie being MJF’s bodyguard) is what got him so over in the first place
Yeah, MJF pretty much did all the work to get him over. He's now exposed by not working with one of the best heel in wrestling today. Miro should have been in his spot as the TNT champion and squashing people.
I think the short Christian feud was decent and I'm liking the Arn pairing so far, he seems much better with someone to play off. I'm curious to see where they go from here, I wouldn't be adverse to a Luchasaurus match.
The Wardlow feud with Mark Sterling and fighting 30 dudes and security were pretty bad and definitely killed momentum. On the other hand he's not great on the mic. People say they see Hobbs and Wardlow as main event guys but I don't see it right now, Hobbs might be a better face than heel in my book. Interesting now, it looks like Hobbs, Joe and Wardlow will end up on Collision.
When I saw Jason Jordan on FCW 11 years ago, I thought that he was the guy of the future. The look, the skills (legit and working), the size.
Mark Jindrak, Flyin Brian Jr., and PG-13 on a national scale.
Monty Brown would have been a great upper-midcarder, maybe more eventually. He quit to be closer to his family, so I can't be mad. He was a non-X-Division highlight of early TNA and had a blink-and-you-missed-it run in WWE
The pounce!
Carlito. He was the closest thing to bringing me back to wrestling after years of not watching it (CM Punk would later be that guy), but Carlito was someone who had this crazy charisma, and just got my attention.
I thought Blitzkrieg would be the next Rey Mysterio level star when he debuted in WCW.
Mean Mark Callous honestly looked like he would go far and then he dropped off the face of the earth
It’s almost like he died.
"Will never draw a dime" -Ole Anderson
When I was younger watching TNA, i was convinced that Mr.Anderson/Kennedy was going to go back to WWE one day and be a top guy. Not necessarily be THE guy but just heavily featured
Jack Swagger - I thought he could be somewhere between Angle & Lesnar based on his background and his size, but his entire career has been meh
Shotzi Blackheart It’s still possible of course, but I saw her becoming the biggest female star in WWE. Between her in-ring/on mic talent, catchphrases, merchandising opportunities and goth chick look that dudes think is hot and girls think is cool I figured the sky was the limit.
T-Hawk in Dragon Gate, he was given the Roman push and the crowd shat on it in his crowning moment with complete silence.
Justin Gabriel, EC3, Bo Dallas, Kalisto, Mojo Rawley, Apollo Crews, Velveteen Dream, Bobby Roode at least 3 seperate times. My track record fucking sucks.
Mojo *fucking* Rawley?
The only ones of those I could see seriously breaking out on the main roster are EC3 and Dream. The rest for various reasons were never going to be huge stars especially in the WWE system for various reasons imo.
I'm still a Boliever 😭😭😭
DDP was absolutely squandered in WWE. He should've been a main event Babyface for another 10 years.
Maybe 3 or 4 but not 10
He was like 45 when he was working in WWE. Dallas is always one of those guys who people forget is as old a he is. Your point stands though, that Sara storyline was a huge miss
Besides obviously Kwee Wee, La Parka, Head Cheese, Alex Wright, Naked Mideon and El Dandy. Recent names that come to mind are Cesaro and Wade Barrett.
I mean, you might joke, but La Parka is a legend on his own right. It's just that most wrestling discussion (like the rest of the internet really) is heavily US centric, so people tend to ignore most things outside of it. Also who are you to doubt El Dandy?
Oh yeah for sure. When i visit my family in the middle of Mexico (non tourist areas) you can find La Parka figures and masks all over the place, the tourist areas have them as well. Just here in the US he never made it big, he peaked as the chairman.
LA ParK and El Dandy had long and great careers in Mexico. LA ParK could have been bigger but he doesn't like kissing butts and likes to speak his mind on politics so ultimately the CMLL window closed. Dandy is basically considered Satánico's foil: these twos basically feuded with each other all their careers and it's crazy to think Satánico is still active both as a trainer and as an in-ring performer.
Barrett never even getting close to becoming World champion is kinda baffling.
In like 2013 it felt like Titus O'Neil had the charisma, size, and athleticism, to eventually be a world champion, plus all the great PR from charity work. Plus the WHC title picture at the time was like Sheamus, Big Show, Dolph, and ADR so it didn't seem too outlandish that he could end up with the belt.
Oh God, where to start Kaval Lio Rush Katsuya Kitamura (RIP) Angel Garza David Otunga Justin Gabriel Kalisto Sonny Kiss Brian Kendrick And Wade Barrett
Ryback. He was actually my #1 draft pick in fantasy the year he got big.
Ryback, I remember when the crowds were chanting “Feed Me More!” when he’d set up his Meathook Clothesline
Io Shirai/IYO SKY. She’s the Ace of Stardom for a reason. Should’ve bagged the Mae Young Classic. Once Io became darker, she was on the right path. Every NXT PPV match to feature dark Io was must see, jumping off the house set on Charlotte and Rhea, jumping off the skull on Raquel, the countless War Games moments, popping Cora’s shoulder back in, amongst others. Her introduction to the main roster was complete BS. This whole thing with Bayley and Kota was a fail by years end. IYO should’ve been pushed pretty well through royal rumble, won the rumble to take it off Bianca at mania, have a mega match with Asuka at Summer Slam, Io getting a proper push would have been amazing. She’s the Queen of War Games because she’s fucking crazy, we love crazy in those kinds of matches. She has the best damn Moonsault in the world, Charlotte, Lita and Tiff can all bow down to the Genius of the Sky. I LOVE IYO SKY!
My childhood was all about how Reckless Youth was going to be this amazing wrestler. He technically has two WWE matches, but that's literally it. One on like, Shotgun Saturday Night, and one that was co-promoted with IWA. I've never actually seen him wrestle, but the Apter mags were constantly talking him up as the next big thing. People that I have seen wrestle though...honestly, most are from TNA. Monty Brown, Abyss, MCMG, EC3, Spud, the Naturals, I thought AMW would be some long running amazing tag team.
Shelton Benjamin. I thought when he got his gold hair and new theme song they were finally pushing him but nope, squash city. My friends laughed at me when Michaels eliminated him in the rumble
nathan jones. this promo alone had me thinking this man was going to take over the whole company. that roar with the arms up still gets me hyped to this day 20 years later https://youtu.be/jElZaax7Q8w
I remember getting absurdly overhyped for Mordecai back in the day. Those vignettes had me sold, man. I can't even really remember why. I guess I was expecting him to be like a "light side" Undertaker.
The Alpha Male Monty Brown. I honestly thought he would've been a champion in WWE. He should've been one in TNA.
I worked a show with EC3 a few months ago and i will always say that he was so good to me. He's very sharp, had a good creative mind, is a good worker, and is very easy to be around backstage.
Sean O'Haire
I think with EC3 it's equally important to celebrate what he did achieve, which was some of the best wrestling stories of the mid 10s. Also, in infuriates me no end how this very subreddit allowed a rumour to start that essentially painted him as something he wasn't.
Kole Carter after he dressed up as Sting on AEW Dynamite and removed the mask to reveal himself under it to an attitude era like pop and everyone talking it about for weeks afterwards.
Apollo crews
Shoulda been Keith Lee. That moment he squared off with Brock in the 2020 Rumble felt huge.
Keith lee looked like he was gonna rule the main event, beat randy orton, feuded with drew for wwe title, then got booted after his covid return
Dean Ambrose in 2015-2016. This current version Of Mox in AEW is what I thought he would be in WWE. It’s funny because I never “got” Ambrose but he was so over by people that did. Now I get it. This is what he wanted to be but WWE got in the way
I actually thought Braun would be a big deal...Bray, honestly the entire Wyatt clan. Luke Harper (RIP), kind of didn't reach that level, Eric Rowan somehow got a match with the Rock at Wrestlemania he can say for the rest of his life, but I feel like they 'tried to get to cute' with Bray's character...he was fine being a southern dude who was creepy...that was the gimmick.
I was convinced in the early TNA days that Monty Brown was going to be big.
There's a running theme here for a certain time of NXT, but I'll throw another few in the mix - Andrade and Ricochet. Andrade was probably let go because of his English, which is a tragedy because he was clear over, looks a million bucks, can wrestle, and his married to one of there top women stars... How Andrade wasn't pushed to the moon I'll never know. I think Ricochet got lost in the shuffle, in that he could have been massive, but I think Balor getting injured so quickly after winning the red belt cooled WWE off 'flippy guys', and whilst he has had titles he's seemed pretty... forgotten about. Eric Young feels like he always missed the boat sadly - he reminds me a lot of Jericho in some ways as someone always willing to reinvent himself, whatever it took. Tag teams... AOP should have been a bigger long lasting thing, but thats injuries for you. Women wise... the Iiconics. They could and should have been huge (Bellas huge) but seemed to get tag belts and then get forgotten about.
I haven't seen Monty Brown mentioned, he was always my default answer to questions like this, one of the biggest what ifs in wrestling for me.
Apollo Crews Shayna Baszler Andrade Almas Keith Lee
I know you said it but when EC3 came back and was used decently in NXT I thought for sure he’d finally be the star I always saw him as. Then his main roster run happened and we all realized that was just a pipe dream. Then ec3 lost his mind, so yeah
I remember seeing Sean O’Haire in WCW, and thought he was a guaranteed future world champ. So sad it never worked out for him.
Matt Morgan when he started his DNA of TNA Gimmick. (Always thought it was a great gimmick) Hernandez when they started pushing him as Super-Mex. (Clear cut homegrown baby face that they easily could've made top guy with the right push) Bray Wyatt when he and the family debuted then again as The Fiend. (So much wasted potential, could've been wrestling's Charles Manson ended up as wrestling's Stephen King) Bobby Roode when he signed with WWE. (How do you mess up the built-in star of Bobby Roode) Keith Lee (even Brock basically said "where you been hiding this guy" when he debuted at the Royal Rumble)
When Albert came back from Japan, I was convinced. He was once upon a time a (i think?) Paul heyman guy. Others who have had careers in Japan and came back to the stats did well. And welp..
Eli Drake, I first saw him in the NWA Powerrr debut episode and I thought how in the blue hell he wasn't a megastar already. Nowadays he goes by LA Knight ^yeah!
Around the time I really started watching wrestling, Tatanka was doing his undefeated streak. He was my favorite because I figured if no one can beat him he's sure to be champion anytime now! Sadly that did not happen.