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While Vince McMahon was running things in WWE, there was a notion among the WWE Universe that the billionaire was out of touch with storyline-driven content.
There is some evidence that supports this theory, but the fact of the matter is that while the company can really push a superstar, it does not guarantee success per se.
Jinder Mahal, who was recently seen at the WWE MSG Live Event losing a match to Bray Wyatt in the latter's first in-ring return since 2021, is a prime example of a push that was ill-advised and an embarrassing flop. He moved from jobber status to WWE Champion in mere months and stayed in the main event way longer than he should have. Despite this, he didn't click with the crowd.
With less than four days remaining until the dawn of the new year, let's look at five WWE Superstars from RAW on this list that surprisingly flopped in 2022.
Note: A list of SmackDown Superstars will be out this Friday as we look forward to John Cena's in-ring return on the last episode of the Friday Night show in 2022.
#5. Baron Corbin resurfaces on WWE programming in October
Baron Corbin dropped the "Happy Corbin" shtick after losing a big WrestleMania match against Drew McIntyre and a bout to his lackey at the time, Madcap Moss.
In an interview with BT Sport in 2021, the former Mr. Money in the Bank talked about not winning the WWE Championship ever in his career.
"I think having a, let’s say I have a 12-year career and no one’s ever kicked out of End of Days, that’s something that would be talked about longer than championships, I believe. And I’m all about leaving that legacy, like I said. I want someone to go, ‘Oh man, Baron Corbin, he went 12 years, was never a good guy but his finish nobody ever kicked out of it.’
He further added:
"They’re not gonna say, ‘He was a three-time champion or whatever.’ They’re gonna say, ‘I can’t believe he was never champion.’ It wouldn’t be a knock, so I think I’d have to go with no one ever kicking out of End of Days."
Sadly, this year, Drew McIntyre became the only superstar to kick out of the End of Days.
In mid-2022, Corbin teased aligning himself with WWE Hall of Famer and legend, JBL, in a backstage segment. He then resurfaced alongside the former WWE Champion on RAW as a trade-off from SmackDown with Rey Mysterio moving to Friday Nights.
Since making the move to Monday Nights, Baron Corbin has done absolutely nothing. At least he gets TV time, right?
His backstage segments of JBL's Poker Invitational are watchable, but the former commentator and wrestler has not helped Corbin much in turning his career around.
#4. The Nigerian Giant moved on from AJ Styles to feuds against former World Champions
WWE has a thing for large athletes. Over the years, they have pushed several wrestlers such as The Big Show, Kane, Mark Henry, The Great Khali, Giant Gonzolez and even Viscera, mostly in the name of their size.
While some of them did exceptionally well owing to their talent and incredible stories – yes, I'm talking about the Big Red Monster's debut in 1997 and Mark Henry's Hall of Pain Era in 2011 – the rest of them were major disappointments.
Omos in 2022 is a bit of a hit-and-miss, but in the grand scheme of things, he does not have much of a following in the WWE Universe.
After splitting up with tag team partner AJ Styles, he went on to a program with The All Mighty, even stealing the latter's manager MVP in the process. Omos scored a victory over the former WWE Champion at WrestleMania Backlash.
After floating in the background for the next few months, he resurfaced on SmackDown for a one-off match against Braun Strowman, which took place at WWE Crown Jewel in November.
#3. The former World Heavyweight Champion
Dolph Ziggler winning the NXT Championship in 2022, from Bron Breakker, no less, is the most random thing to happen this year.
The Show Off was once a promising talent with main event potential back in 2012-13, but somewhere along the way things just didn't go as planned. Despite this, he tried his best to stay relevant even in the late 2010s.
He made his return to Monday Night RAW earlier this year in July, and it looked as though he was on a collision course with Austin Theory. But that fizzled out sooner than it started, and Ziggler is aimlessly still showing up for work as the year draws to a close.
It would be nice to see the former World Heavyweight Champion be used in a more prominent role in WWE programming in 2023. Ziggler is a world-class athlete with the credentials to back it up.
#2. Ezekiel was the most generic character straight out of the 2K games
It's hard to point out a specific reason why Elias hasn't found his footing in WWE.
Despite a good reception for his character and repeatedly finding himself in segments with WWE Superstars like The Undertaker and John Cena over the years, he just misses something.
Having never held a championship in the Stamford-based company, it seemed as though Elias' character had been canned in favor of his brother, Ezekiel.
As ridiculous as it sounds, the character had no improvement. As a matter of fact, it was quite bad, especially considering it wasn't the musician gimmick that didn't work with the crowd.
After a brief feud with Kevin Owens, who had just main evented WrestleMania with Steve Austin, Zeke was written off television in favor of bringing back the guitar swinging fan favorite.
#1. Matt Riddle defeated Seth Rollins in the main event of Extreme Rules and subsequently faded into oblivion
Matt Riddle rode a wave of success in the first half of 2022 alongside Randy Orton, together entertaining audiences and taking out names in the tag team division. RK-Bro even won the RAW Tag Team Championships for a second time en route to WrestleMania 38.
After dropping the belts to The Usos and losing a singles bout to Roman Reigns on Friday Night SmackDown, Riddle was embroiled in a feud with the Visionary throughout the summer.
Seth Rollins helped give the Original Bro a substantial program in the second half of 2022. The latter even scored a victory in the main event of Extreme Rules against the former WWE Champion inside the Fight Pit.
But it was the Visionary who bounced back from the loss, winning the United States Championship and closing out 2022 as the #1 contender to the title, whereas Riddle was not getting the desired reaction from the crowd.
His victory over Rollins itself was completely overshadowed by Bray Wyatt's return, and no one seemed to remember or care much about it. The Visionary was not affected by the loss even in the slightest, and Riddle found himself tagging alongside another irrelevant yet talented performer, Elias.
The Original Bro was written off televison after losing a tag team match to The Usos on RAW. Here's hoping 2023 will be a better year for Riddle, who seems to have lost the connection he had with the WWE Universe when he had the backing of the people's favorite legend and the company's mainstay, Randy Orton.
Perhaps exploring more of his serious side, which we got glimpses of during his feud with Rollins, and a more fleshed out character aside from the stoner schtick may drastically improve the former United States Champion.
Any other names from Monday Night RAW you could think of that flopped in 2022? Sound off in the comments section below.
