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The WWE has solidified its status as a bona fide global sports-entertainment juggernaut over the years, courtesy of several creative gems on part of Vince McMahon and the plethora of exceptional talents who’ve tirelessly contributed toward the betterment of the product,
WWE adamantly basks in glory atop the professional wrestling industry—staying put on the throne, after decimating its biggest rival WCW. Nevertheless, much like any other entity thriving under God’s hot sun, the WWE has indeed witnessed its fair share of failures as well.
Today we recall some of the biggest busts in WWE’s history—a few Superstars who failed owing to lack of crowd reaction, others who faded due to negligible wrestling skills, or even a couple of outstanding performers who didn’t quite click in WWE but found success elsewhere in the business—
#10 The Gobbledy Gooker aka Hector Guerrero
In all fairness, Hector who belonged to the famed wrestling family which produced the likes of Eddie and Chavo Guerrero, did indeed find decent success outside the WWE.
However, the man is perhaps best remembered for his portrayal of the Gobbledy Gooker in the WWE—a character which hatched out of a giant egg at Survivor Series 1990; following which thunderous boos were rained down upon the ongoing segment. Bear in mind that the WWE had considerably hyped up the debut of this character, however, he’d only appear on the taped segments which followed the event, before the entire idea was scrapped by management.
For years, the Gobbledy Gooker was widely regarded as the single worst gimmick not only in WWE but all of professional wrestling. The premise of the character was that he hatched out of an enormous egg, and appeared wearing a turkey costume. Enough said!
#9 Lex Luger
Made In America! Lex Luger had a highly successful career in the sport of professional wrestling, however, the vast majority of fans and experts have hotly contested the ‘what if’ factor surrounding this man’s time in the business.
In other words, Luger, who was being promoted by the WWE in the 1990s as the next Hulk Hogan, ended up disappointing management because of a few botched promos with him forgetting lines and seemingly lacking confidence. ‘The Lex Express’ which had him travel all over the US, greeting fans and kissing babies as though he were the President, would all amount to nought for him in WWE.
Vince McMahon and co. shifted their promotional machine from Luger’s sidelong to promoting Canadian future-Hall of Famer Bret Hart. Although most fans have fond memories of Luger as their second most beloved American hero after Hogan, his time with the WWE was largely a bust owing to his lack of confidence on the mic.
#8 Vladimir Kozlov
Back in 2008 Vladimir Kozlov was on the brink of breaking through as a top star for the WWE. He had the look, demeanour and wrestling skills to make it big.
Apparently, Vince McMahon was thoroughly impressed by Kozlov and planned to have the Ukrainian powerhouse involved in high-profile future feuds with Triple H and John Cena. However, fan reaction to the Superstar’s gimmick didn’t quite match management’s expectations, which was why Kozlov’s push was stalled.
The man who was initially portrayed as a monster heel, slid down the card, gradually being paired with Santino Marella in a Tag Team which provided nothing more than comic relief, before his departure from the company.
Vladimir is yet another example of a wrestler who could’ve been a top draw for the WWE if only the fans would’ve warmed up to his character.
#7 Carlito
As opposed to the aforementioned Kozlov, the cool cat from Puerto Rico, Carlito, had all the charisma in the world and spewed gold when handed a microphone.
However, what he lacked was consistency when it came to backing up all the talk with his wrestling inside the squared circle. Several professional wrestling experts attribute Carlito’s downfall to his laziness and lack of energy devoted by him to the art of solid ring-work.
Remember when Carlito used to chew on an apple, coming down to the ring; and the odd occasion he’d spit it on someone’s face—circa Big Show vs Carlito? The Colon family representative was being offered a huge push by WWE back then, however, the promotion’s plans for him changed and he has been working in the indies ever since.
#6 Chris Masters
The Masterpiece was one of Vince McMahon’s favourite wrestlers back when he first started with the company in the early-2000s. The Master Lock was widely mimicked by young WWE fans, and the 6’4” wrestler seemed destined for stardom.
Furthermore, several co-performers, John Cena being the most prominent amongst them, lauded Masters for his otherworldly strength and his astounding musculature. However, a glaring chink in the Masterpiece’s armour was his lacking promo skills—that man would often seem visibly perturbed while on the mic.
Unfortunately for him, the fans didn’t take too kindly to his goof-ups on the mic, and instead of allowing him more time to seamlessly blend into his role on the main roster, management opted for relegating him to the mid-card.
Speaking of which, Masters’ WWE career hit a downward spiral since then, and although he’d return to the promotion after a brief hiatus, the physical specimen ended up leaving again. Current GFW star Chris Adonis may very well be the WWE’s biggest bust.
#5 Nathan Jones
Jones had a brief career in the WWE, and although he was involved in a couple of main card segments with the Undertaker and Brock Lesnar, his lack of wrestling skills proved to be the undoing of this big man
Apparently, Vince McMahon had big plans for Jones given the latter’s otherworldly athleticism and gym ethic, however, most experts believe that the Australian Superstar was rushed too early into the main roster storylines which in turn took away the liberty of steadily honing his in-ring skills.
Jones, despite receiving the initial push as a monster heel, never quite lived up to expectations in the WWE; making him one of the promotion’s worst investments of the early-2000s.
#4 Mr Kennedy
However, an incident between him and Randy Orton occurred in the latter half of his WWE stint, which saw Mr Kennedy botch a move, dropping the Viper, quite dangerously, on his head and neck. Kennedy alleges that Orton persuaded close friend John Cena to aid him in complaining to Vince McMahon about his dangerous ring-work.
Kennedy was on the brink of superstardom in the WWE, only to have his career cut short by the entire fiasco which saw him getting fired from the WWE. Although Mr Kennedy would go on to find considerable success in TNA, the man with the mic truly was one of WWE’s best gimmicks who was abruptly chucked away from the company.
#3 Kenzo & Hiroko Suzuki
Well, Kenzo didn’t quite meet management’s expectations and was quickly relegated to the lower card where he and Hiroko then quickly parted ways with the WWE. The couple indeed came in with a ton of hype, and although they were always planned to be utilized as mid-carders, the higher-ups wouldn’t have them even at a lower-tier spot on the roster.
The Suzukis most definitely represent some of the more forgettable gimmicks during the post-WCW buyout phase, and never quite fit into the WWE scene.
#2 Tiger Ali Singh
Tiger Ali Singh competed for the WWE from 1997-2002 and is widely regarded as one of the promotion’s most-hated gimmicks ever. He burst onto the scene with much fanfare given his family’s rich heritage in the sport, however, his character seemed nothing more than a cheap rip-off from Ted DiBiase’s ‘Million Dollar Man’ act.
In fact, one of the grossest segments in professional wrestling history involved Tiger Ali Singh; which saw the Superstar offer a person from the crowd enough money to have said ‘fan’ lick Singh’s manservant Babu’s grubby, grungy, downright gross feet!
Besides, on top of the overall terrible character and gross storylines, another instance saw a female ‘fan’ eat dog food out of a bowl, while a large woman stripped down to her underclothes in a bid to win a few American dollars from Tiger Ali.
Tiger Ali Singh could easily be called the single worst gimmick in the history of this sport.
#1 Snitsky
However, despite the gigantic push he was given by the WWE, Snitsky didn’t quite click with the fans. In fact, the man couldn’t even draw a minuscule reaction, be it positive or negative, from the crowd particularly toward the end of his run with the promotion.
Most old-school fans may perhaps remember WWE running an angle that portrayed Snitsky as Vince McMahon’s storyline son, however, the whole idea was subsequently phased out; with the giant Superstar being relegated to nothing more than a jobber to others such as Jeff Hardy and CM Punk.
Bear in mind that Snitsky was an excellent athletic specimen who could wrestle a decent match as well, nevertheless, his gimmick and overall persona failed to enthral the WWE Universe; leading to this excellent performer fading away from the promotion.
