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As of right now, Jinder Mahal is the WWE Champion. A sentence you probably never thought you would read. But that is currently the case and Mahal has been the champion for some time now — much to the dismay of a large portion of the WWE fan base.
While part of the reason people dislike Jinder is that he went from a jobber to champion in the space of four televised matches, a huge part of the reason is that WWE have shown, through the Jinder experiment, they will put the title on anyone.
Yet, there are still so many top quality performers on the roster who've never received the same sort of backing as the Modern Day Maharaja even though they're superior to him in more ways than one. So, without any further ado, let's take a look at 5 performers who're criminally underutilised in WWE.
#1 Cesaro
Cesaro is a very sad but typical case in WWE. Despite being 72-years-old, Vince McMahon is still calling the shots. And in the history of WWE under Vince, if you speak with a foreign accent, as Cesaro does, you automatically can’t and don’t connect with the fans. McMahon even stated when he was on Stone Cold’s podcast that Cesaro "doesn’t quite have the charisma; he doesn’t have quite the verbal skills".
This is clearly why WWE are underutilising Cesaro so much. But despite what Vince thinks, Cesaro does connect with the fans and does have charisma. This was very evident when large portions of every arena were holding up ‘Cesaro section’ signs. If the fans were not behind the Swiss wrestler, why were they showing so much support for him?
Plus, in his current role as Sheamus’s tag partner, both he and Sheamus are quite funny when they are allowed to get on the mic and speak, which puts to bed the notion that he struggles on the microphone.
Finally, while being in WWE is not all about ring work, Cesaro’s in-ring ability alone surely merits him being higher on the card. If you've watched even a handful of his matches, you would've noticed how good he is.
In just the past two years, he has put on quality matches against Ambrose and Rollins, The Hardys, Sheamus in a best of seven series and The Miz.
The Swiss Cyborg is great in the ring; the fans love him and he can cut a decent promo, arguably better than current WWE Champion Jinder Mahal. Therefore, it is clear that Cesaro is seriously underutilised in WWE, and they should start giving him more opportunities.
#2 Bray Wyatt
When most people think of Bray Wyatt, they are likely to think of a man who never wins feuds and whose promos are meaningless drivel.
However, this is a problem that WWE have created and not Wyatt himself. As a performer, The Eater of Worlds is incredibly charismatic and can cut an excellent promo. The problem he faces is that he cuts these long eloquent promos about him being a god and how he is going to beat his opponent. But he is booked to lose the majority of his matches; consequently, the people care less about him after every program.
This is a pity because he has so much potential. Just look at when he faced The Undertaker back at WrestleMania 31. It’s no secret that The Deadman has considerable sway backstage and he is almost allowed to cherry-pick his opponents. Therefore, the fact he wanted to work with Bray Wyatt should speak volumes about how good the Floridian is.
If Wyatt had been allowed to go on a winning streak whilst delivering his high standard promos, he would've emerged as one of WWE's top stars.
#3 Becky Lynch
Those who have watched Becky Lynch in NXT and outside of WWE will know just how good she is. Her in-ring work is up there with the best in the women’s division, and she also cuts a solid promo.
However, Lynch has been seriously overlooked during her time at WWE. Before the brand split, the Irish Superstar was very much overlooked for Paige and Charlotte and was never made Divas/Women’s Champion.
Granted when she was drafted to SmackDown Live, she was made the first SmackDown Women’s Champion. But since her initial run with the belt, she has done very little. And has spent most of her time in pointless multi-woman tag matches.
She didn’t even win the Women’s Money in the Bank match. Despite many people believing she deserved it.
Lynch is one of the best in-ring workers across both Women’s divisions and is over with the fans. But her current role in WWE means she is being incredibly underutilised for someone with her talent.
With no disrespect to Naomi and Natalya, the Lasskicker is better than both of them in terms of in-ring and mic ability. But Naomi held the title for a combined 149 days compared to Becky’s 84 and Natalya is currently only around two weeks away from overtaking Lynch, and since she is not defending the title at Survivor Series, she also looks set to pass the Irish Superstar's reign as champion.
#4 Rusev
When Rusev debuted on the main roster back in 2014, he was presented as a monster. He tore through opponent after opponent and went undefeated for some time. However, like many a new superstar, Rusev eventually run into John Cena, who handed the NXT product his first pinfall loss on the main roster.
Since then, Rusev has struggled to gain any real momentum. He was in The League of Nations for a while, which didn’t go well. He then reclaimed the U.S title back in 2016 before running into John Cena 2.0 — Roman Reigns.
Rusev was then drafted to SmackDown in the Superstar Shake Up. However, he has had little luck there and now looks to be in a dead end tag team with Aiden English. Rusev is incredibly over with the fans, cuts a great heel promo and is a solid wrestler. He even created Rusev Day, which most fans loved.
But despite all of this, WWE do not seem to value Rusev even though, if given the right push, he could be the top heel on SmackDown. In fact, many people would have preferred Rusev to have been positioned as WWE Champion instead of Jinder Mahal.
#5 Shinsuke Nakamura
When the news broke that WWE had signed Nakamura, many fans were incredibly excited. He was a huge star in NJPW and was well known for putting on show-stealing matches.
When Nakamura debuted in NXT, that’s exactly what he did. His first bout was with Sami Zayn and the pair put on a match of the year candidate. This clearly showed Nakamura had the potential to be a huge star for WWE.
Unfortunately, when he made his main roster debut on SmackDown Live, it all went wrong. His first feud was with Dolph Ziggler, yet despite the two being great workers, the matches they had were very lacklustre.
After Ziggler, Nakamura had a feud with Baron Corbin which did neither man any favours. But just when fans were giving up on WWE getting the best out of Nakamura, he beat John Cena clean to earn an opportunity to face Jinder Mahal for the WWE Championship.
However, the King of Strong Style was beaten by Mahal at both SummerSlam and Hell in a Cell, all but killing any hopes of Nakamura becoming WWE Champion.
Given how charismatic Nakamura is, and how ridiculously good he is in the ring when allowed to be, WWE have seriously dropped the ball with him. He could have been the guy on SmackDown, but instead, he is just another body on the roster.
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