10 big WWE signings that were completely wasted

WWE is the biggest wrestling company in the world, obviously due in large part to their long history of huge superstars.

During the 90's and 2000's, WWE got into a state of mind where they were only pushing homegrown talent they made themselves, however, WWE has also signed almost every, if not every big name in history of the industry, including already established names from the 80s such as Hulk Hogan, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Randy Savage and more, to the present day, with AJ Styles, Adam Cole, Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode and many more.

Focusing more on the already established names to have signed, not all have been as successful as a Randy Savage or AJ Styles. Some names just as big as these if not bigger, in fact, have come to WWE only to flounder.

Whether it has been the booking department, known injuries, age or something else, not every major name to sign with WWE has reached the glass ceiling, Here are ten of such.

#10 Hideo Itami

Before joining WWE, Hideo Itami, or KENTA as he was at the time, was one of the biggest Superstars in all of Japan.

The only active WWE roster member on this list, Itami is best known for his work in Pro Wrestling Noah, where he was a GHC Heavyweight Champion, a three-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion, a three-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, a GHC Tag Team Champion, and a winner of the Differ Cup, Global League and many other accolades.

KENTA joined WWE in late June 2014 under the name Hideo Itami, and debuted for NXT the following September. While taking in an impressive win/loss record, he suffered a shoulder injury that would keep him sidelined for more than a year. After returning in June 2016, he suffered another injury the following October that would keep him inactive until April 2017.

Itami has been good to go ever since but WWE has seemingly lost interest in pushing him, perhaps related to his injuries. While he did unsuccessfully challenge Bobby Roode for the NXT Championship at NXT TakeOver: Chicago, he hasn't been up too much since. He is now a member of the WWE Cruiserweight division, but only ever competes in tag team matches on 205 Live.

#9 Tazz

Tazz was to ECW in the 90's what Brock Lesnar is to WWE today, only with actual regular wrestling appearances.

Tazz was almost untouchable; he ran through everybody in ECW, from Sabu to Shane Douglas to the Dudley Boyz. He was a force to be reckoned with and the original suplex machine.

During his time with ECW, Tazz was the ECW World Champion, a two-time ECW TV Champion, three-time ECW Tag Team Champion, and also created his own title, the FTW Championship, which he held twice.

Then, he joined WWE in 2000 and was not the same man anymore. Despite a strong and memorable debut at the 2000 Royal Rumble with a win over Kurt Angle, Tazz soon fell into the hardcore ranks and struggled to shake it off.

While a WWE Superstar, Tazz returned to ECW and in one of the most bizarre moves of professional wrestling history, ECW and WWE officials agreed to have Tazz, a WWE wrestler, make a surprise appearance at an ECW show to defeat then ECW Champion Mike Awesome, a WCW wrestler, for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship.

Tazz appeared on an episode of Smackdown with the belt, where he lost to WWE Champion Triple H, in a match designed to show WWE's already known superiority over ECW.

He did receive small pushes here and there in 2000 and 2001, but nothing compared to how he was in ECW. Ultimately he would be a three-time WWE Hardcore Champion and a Tag Team Champion with Spike Dudley. He retired in early 2002 to pursue a full-time career as a WWE commentator.

#8 Shane Douglas

After former 'Dynamic Dude' Shane Douglas had a forgettable run with WWE in the early 90's he joined ECW to much success in 1993.

Shane was a top star in ECW from his early days, becoming ECW Champion for a few weeks before forfeiting the title due to ECW's new business relationship with the NWA. After winning the belt again in 1994, in the biggest moment in ECW history, Douglas threw down the NWA title belt and stated that he did not want to be champion of a "dead promotion".

Douglas raised the ECW Heavyweight Championship belt and declared it to be a world championship belt, renaming it the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. WWE recognizes this moment as the beginning of the ECW Championship and Douglas as the first ECW Champion.

Shane returned to WWE in 1995 in hopes of them enhancing the edgy character he created in ECW; WWE had different plans, however. He returned to WWE with a college dean character under the ring name Dean Douglas.

He lectured fans and wrestlers while writing on a chalkboard, took notes of his opponents at ringside during some matches, and frequently carried a paddle (dubbed the "Board of Education") with him to the ring, a far cry from the revolution he started in ECW.

Shane would hold the WWE Intercontinental Championship for 10 minutes and ultimately left WWE towards the end of the year, citing that he would never work for Vince McMahon again.

He returned to ECW in 1996 for another very successful run, which included more reigns as ECW Champion. He would also wrestle for WCW and TNA.

#7 Vader

WWE RAW quote from Vader: 'I'm just a fat piece of sh##t'

Vader is an interesting one. An all-time great in Japan and former three-time IWGP Champion and three-time WCW World Champion, Vader is one of the greatest big men in wrestling history.

In the mid-90's, WWE was having some pretty bad luck as many of their top stars were leaving for jobs with WCW. During this time, Vader would be one of very few to do the opposite, and join WWE.

With Vader being a major star and joining WWE at a time when they really needed him, you think that would lead to a monster push and tremendous run. Well, he did get a little push for a while, but Vader's run with WWE was incredibly underwhelming.

The rumor has been for several years now that WWE decided to stop pushing him because then WWE Champion Shawn Michaels felt that he was too stiff in the ring. This led to a diminished push that saw Vader eventually reduced to that of a jobber, where he was losing to everyone from Goldust to Bradshaw to newcomers like Mark Henry and Edge.

Vader would return to Japan shortly after his release from WWE, where he was able to revitalize his career, for a little while at least.

#6 Diamond Dallas Page

That's not a good thing, that's a bad thing

This is such a sad story. When WCW went out of business in 2001, WWE and Vince McMahon got a little cocky on who they would bring into the company, going as far as asking fans who they wanted to see during a segment. He named out the likes of the NWO and Goldberg, to gain a reaction from the live audience.

This never happened though, while most found their way to WWE eventually, they were all more than happy to sit out the remainder of their WCW contracts, and be paid handsomely to sit at home during the entire Invasion angle.

WWE did manage to convince two top former WCW stars to accept buyouts and join WWE, then WCW Champion Booker T, and Diamond Dallas Page. DDP was more than happy to comply even, as he had actually tried to leave WCW in 2000 in search of a position with WWE.

Now you would think WWE would push these guys to the moon to help make WCW look somewhat competitive against WWE in the Invasion, but no. Booker T eventually recovered from his lackluster first year, but not DDP.

DDP debuted for WWE as a stalker of The Undertaker's wife. Although his unmasking was a shocking moment, the storyline stunk and ruined any chances of DDP being successful in WWE.

Taker beat up Dallas in a non-match at the King of The Ring as if he was a jobber, and continued to beat him more in the following months, most notably destroying him and Kanyon in a cage match at Summerslam and even worse, losing to Taker's wife Sara in a match.

Funnily enough, DDP has since said that his biggest issue with the angle was that everyone knew his wife was WCW Nitro girl Kimberly.

DDP spent the rest of his WWE run in mid-card feuds, most notably having a WWE European Championship reign. He retired just after the brand extension, due to a back injury.

He briefly returned to action in TNA Wrestling from November 2003 - June 2005, where he had a better run than in WWE. He was at least inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017.

#5 Sting

We could have had the ultimate dream match

Sting was the WCW captain to go down with the WCW ship. He was to WCW what The Undertaker is to WWE.

Sting did everything in WCW, including being a seven-time World Heavyweight Champion. Following WCW's closure in 2001, he briefly negotiated with WWE in early 2002, only to publicly say he would not join the company due to the heavy WWE TV-14 rating as well as fear of booking on his character.

Sting shocked the wrestling world when he came out of retirement in 2006 for what would turn out to be a seven-year run with TNA Wrestling, during which he was a five-time World Heavyweight Champion. Sting finally joined WWE in 2014, and everyone was very excited.

We had so many possibilities, with the big one on everyone's mind being finally seeing the dream match between Sting and The Undertaker. WWE had different plans, however. WWE and Triple H's egos over destroying everything WCW, kind of plans. Sting debuted at Survivor Series, taking down The Authority.

He continued to say he would take them down during his feud with Triple H, which led to his in-ring debut at WrestleMania 31, with Triple H. Things suddenly changed to a WWE vs WCW vibe with WWE having to stand tall.

Fans still remained hopeful that a match with The Undertaker would happen, perhaps the following year. Unfortunately, Sting's career would come to an end in horrific fashion after a botched powerbomb from Seth Rollins at Night of Champions 2015. We never got that Undertaker vs Sting match, but we could have and should have at WrestleMania 31.

Sting was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2016.

#4 Raven

Raven was without a doubt one of the best wrestlers ever to compete for ECW and the best character ever to come out of ECW. After a forgettable run in WWE in the early 90's as Johnny Polo, Scott Levy joined ECW in 1994 as Raven, a character to appeal to fans of grunge music and generation X.

Paul Heyman has described Raven as being Nirvana and Pearl Jam, while many in WWE were 80's hairbands.

Raven had the biggest and best feud in ECW history with Tommy Dreamer, which ran on and off from 1994 until Raven left ECW for WCW in 1997.

Raven was a two-time ECW World Champion and four-time Tag Team Champion and was always presented as a top star. The character was damaged in WCW thanks to some colorless booking, but it was nothing that he couldn't recover from.

After a brief return to ECW in 1999, Raven returned to WWE in 2000. Many fans had hoped to see him face off with The Undertaker, Kane and some kind of work with Mick Foley. It wasn't meant to be; Raven would be forever stuck in the hardcore ranks, where he would become a 27-time WWE Hardcore Champion, according to WWE records, 39 by his count.

He had memorable hardcore matches at WrestleMania 17 with Kane and Big Show, and with Rhyno at Backlash 2001, but nothing else of note. To make matters worse, Raven was forced to wrestle on just Sunday Night Heat for the majority of 2002, after losing a Loser Leaves RAW match to Tommy Dreamer. WWE didn't even care enough to move him Smackdown.

Raven was released by WWE in January 2003 and managed to revitalize his career in TNA wrestling, where he had a successful 6 or so year run. During this time Raven would be featured as a top star for several years and become the NWA World Champion.

To date, he is one of very few wrestlers to have wrestled for WWE, WCW, ECW, TNA, and ROH.

#3 Austin Aries

Austin Aries was a hell of a talent that fans wanted to see in WWE for years. A former TNA World Champion and ROH World Champion, 'The Greatest Man That Ever Lived' finally signed with WWE in early 2016, debuting as a part of the NXT roster.

Aries' time in NXT was short before an injury took him down but later he was moved full-time to WWE 205 Live, first an announcer and then a wrestler. He unsuccessfully challenging Neville for the Cruiserweight Championship on several occasions.

The surprising news came on 7 July 2017 when Aries was released from his WWE contract. Initial reports stated that Aries was frustrated with his role in the company and asked to be let out of his contract, but Aries later revealed on Talk Is Jericho that WWE released him because they had nothing for him.

Aries has since returned to the independent scene and most recently to Impact Wrestling, with incredible success. Aries won the World Series Wrestling Heavyweight Championship on 27 November 2017 in South Wales.

Aries then debuted for Defiant Wrestling after General Manager Stu Bennett (Wade Barrett) had teased a big signing and would defeat the Bullet Club's Marty Scurll to win the Defiant Championship on 5 December 2017.

Aries would then defeat Mark Haskins at IPW: the UK The Big Bang Undisputed to win the IPW: UK World Championship on 17 December 2017.

Finally, on the most recent set of tapings, Aries would return to Impact Wrestling and defeat Eli Drake for the Impact Global Championship in mere moments. Despite everything Aries has accomplished already, you can't help but wonder whether his best is yet to come.

#2 Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat

Ricky Steamboat is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. Ricky became a huge star for Jim Crockett Promotions in the late 70's/early 80's. During his time there, Steamboat captured the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship three times, the NWA World Tag Team Championship six times, the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship singles crown twice, the NWA Mid-Atlantic Television Championship twice, and the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship four times.

Ricky joined WWE in 1985, where he was given his 'The Dragon' nickname. During his three years as an active wrestler in WWE, Ricky most famously held the WWE Intercontinental Championship in 1987, defeating Randy Savage in an all-time classic at WrestleMania III.

This overshadows everything else in his WWE career, and rightfully so because they never really used him for much else. Ricky left WWE in 1988, shortly after unsuccessfully entering the WWE Championship tournament at WrestleMania IV.

Ricky returned to the NWA/WCW the following year and had many classics with Ric Flair for the World Heavyweight Championship. He could have been on-par with WWE's top main event talent during his time with WWE, but he wasn't looked at as a megastar. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009.

#1 Dusty Rhodes

The NWA and Jim Crockett Promotions were built around two men, 'Nature Boy' Ric Flair, and 'The American Dream' Dusty Rhodes.

Dusty has held countless Championships, including being a 3 time NWA World Heavyweight Champion. Dusty was everything the JCP was and was up on top almost every step of the way with Ric Flair.

Amazingly, WWE managed to sign Dusty in 1989. He debuted dressed in polka-dots, a decision to this day that is still debated if it was a rib to humiliate him due to his synonymy with the rival JCP/WCW. He was also given a 55-year-old valet named Sapphire, who was supposed to be the fun-loving woman.

Dusty feuded with Randy Savage, which should have led to a classic showdown at WrestleMania VI, but instead, it was a mix tag team match of Dusty and Sapphire vs. Randy and Sensational Sherri, which took the quality down a lot. Dusty would then feud with Ted DiBiase before departing in 1991.

That was it, no one-on-one showdown with Macho Man, no matches with Hulk Hogan; one of the biggest stars of the 80's was used in a role befitting the like of a Brutus Beefcake or Koko B. Ware.

Dusty returned to WCW shortly after for a much better run, even as a non-wrestler for most of it. He returned to WWE as a creative member in 2005 until his death in 2015. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007.

What makes Sting special? His first AEW opponent opens up RIGHT HERE.

Edited by Nishant Jayaram