Vince McMahon has often had a soft spot for wrestlers with size over smaller, more technical guys. This has come to the fore many times in WWE and we often saw him try to push someone as a top star when they were nowhere near qualified enough inside the ring for such a position on the card.
Here are 5 terrible wrestlers who Vince McMahon tried to push as a top guy but failed.
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#5 Mason Ryan
The first thing you’ll notice about Mason Ryan is how close the man is to being a spitting image of ‘The Animal’ Batista. Muscular and standing at around 6 feet 5 inches tall, you can understand why Vince McMahon was high on him early on and saw him as a potential star.
After spending time in developmental, the Welsh former Gladiators star was drafted up to main quickly and made his WWE debut in 2011, interfering in a match between two of WWE's biggest stars of the modern era – John Cena vs CM Punk.
Punk had just kicked out of a pin attempt by Cena, following a top rope leg drop, when the Welsh behemoth came out of the crowd and got on the apron. The strange segment then saw Punk knock Cena out with a head kick before Ryan hit a big boot to Punk himself – causing Punk to win the match by DQ. Ryan then laid Cena out with a sidewalk slam before aligning himself with Punk and the New Nexus.
It was all downhill from there though, for Ryan’s WWE career. Although he had the look, he was just too awkward and limited inside the ring – clearly called up too soon. Ryan went on to have feuds against Kane and Randy Orton but his push soon fizzled out and he was gone from WWE in 2014.
#4 Mordecai
The best thing about Mordecai’s push was that WWE killed it right on time. The man was brought up to main in 2004, playing a religious zealot who was basically supposed to be the yin to The Undertaker’s yang. Mordecai was clad in all white, a stark contrast to the darkness of The Undertaker’s character.
Mordecai was set to enter a high-profile feud with the Deadman soon after his debut, something he hinted at in one of his early vignettes, promising to rid the WWE of its sinners.
However, things never truly got underway for Mordecai. His PPV debut saw him squash Scotty-2-Hotty at Judgement Day. He moved on to a brief feud with Hardcore Holly next but the program with The Undertaker never materialized, mostly due to how limited Mordecai was inside the squared circle.
He was released a month after the Great American Bash where he faced Hardcore Holly. Mordecai returned to WWE for a second failed run in their version of ECW as Kevin Thorn.