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2020 has been one of the most interesting years in WWE history. The ongoing pandemic COVID-19 has dealt a heavy blow to the company. WWE had already canceled a major chunk of its international tour. To date, there is still no guarantee on when fans can expect to return to WWE live events.
The company has also come under a lot of criticism in regards to how they dealt with the pandemic. Many have taken the company to task for continuing to tape shows during the pandemic.
Undeterred by all the criticism, WWE continued to produce its weekly shows from the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. Over the past few months, a few Superstars have stepped up to the challenge and become an indispensable part of WWE programming. Names like Sasha Banks, Asuka, Bayley, and Seth Rollins, who were at their lowest this time last year, have become the talk of the town.
On the other side of the spectrum, there have been a plethora of superstars who have fallen off the radar over the past few months. That is either due to their personal concerns about the pandemic or because the company just doesn't know what to do with them. As such, some Superstars have found themselves in a tricky spot at the moment.
Here are five WWE Superstars who have been underutilized over the past few months.
#5 Naomi
One of the most talented performers in WWE's women's division, Naomi has been off WWE programming often over the past year. The former SmackDown Women's Champion made her triumphant return to WWE in the 2020 Women's Royal Rumble Match. The Orlando-native's debuted a new look that garnered praise from both the fans and media.
However, the last few months haven't been great for Naomi. The rise of Bayley and Sasha Banks and the duo's stranglehold over WWE's women's division has meant that some of the other performers have been sidelined. Naomi has been one of them. The former WrestleMania Women's Battle Royale winner hasn't been a part of anything noteworthy throughout 2020.
Her current feud with Lacey Evans doesn't seem like it's going anywhere. Following her loss to Evans on the July 17 episode of SmackDown, the hashtag #NoamiDeservesBetter started trending on social media. Noami thanked the fans for their support.
Well, we are in total agreement with their sentiment. Naomi certainly deserves better. Given her talent, she should be Bayley's next challenger for the SmackDown Women's Championship not doing Karaoke segments with Lacey Evans and Dana Brooke.
#4 Mustafa Ali
A prevalent criticism of WWE over the past few years has been the lack of fresh or new ideas. Many cite the company's formulaic programming pattern as one of their biggest drawbacks. However, the same can't be said about WWE in 2020. The company has come up with several out of box ideas since March. They've used some fresh and new concepts in 2020 like cinematic matches or RAW Underground. Still, the final product and their execution have left a lot to be desired.
The Hacker storyline on SmackDown is one of the best examples of a great idea that amounted to nothing this year. Late last year, WWE started airing a series of vignettes on the "blue brand". Initially, they appeared to be some sort of glitch Later, fans realized that there was a method to this madness.
The vignettes were emblazoned with a ring of light that resembled the light pattern on Mustafa Ali's ring gear. Later, someone created a Twitter account called "The Message WWE."
The character became known simply as "The Hacker." The anonymous hacker was a hooded vigilante who was on a mission to expose the wrongdoings in the WWE locker room. He notoriously exposed Sonya DeVille when she conspired to cause a rift between Mandy Rose and Otis. WWE fans theorized that "The Hacker" could be Ali because of the eerie similarity between the two but alas, nothing came out of it.
Mustafa Ali quietly moved to RAW where he is currently involved in some sort of feud with MVP and his stable. Nonetheless, there have been reports that WWE wanted to continue the hacker storyline on SmackDown.
It's a shame because Ali needed a new gimmick like this to sink his teeth into. The Chicago-native is an upstanding guy in real life, so using "The Hacker" persona to exposes the evil would have fit him perfectly.
Ali is someone many believed would have a standout 2020. The former cruiserweight was cut some stirring promos towards the end of 2019 on SmackDown. Many fans were excited about the possibility that he was "The Hacker" but sadly that wasn't the case.
#3 Ruby Riott
One of the most underappreciated performers in WWE today, Ruby Riott has essentially become an enhancement talent following her return in February. After close to a year-long recovery from double shoulder surgery, Riott made her WWE return on the Feb. 3, 2020 episode of RAW, attacking her former Riott Squad stablemate, Liv Morgan. This led to a match between the two, which Riott lost.
She was one of the first women to be eliminated by Shayna Baszler in the Women's Elimination Chamber Match. Following WrestleMania 36, Riott continued to feud with Morgan, losing to her twice. Then, she began a feud with Billie Kay and Peyton Royce, The IIconics.
Since her return to WWE programming in February, Riott has only scored two televised victory. One of them came in a tag team match alongside Bianca Belair. Prior to July, she was winless in singles competition, which should be an indication of how poorly the company has booked her over the past few months.
Riott is one of the most well-traveled performers on WWE's women's roster. With nearly a decade of experience, Riott has performed for some of the most renowned independent promotions like STARDOM, SHINE, and Chikara.
Despite all of her past accolades, WWE never got behind Riott as a singles star. It has been evident during her current run where she got squashed in random matches. Given the need for more stars in the women's division following departure of big names like Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair, we hope that WWE gives Riott her moment to shine.
#2 Aleister Black
One of the biggest problems currently plagues the creative team at WWE at the moment is how to book Aleister Black. While it is glaringly obvious that the company wants to preserve Black's mystique by giving him more wins, they aren't doing him any favors by putting him in feuds that don't elevate his character.
Take his feud against Murphy and Seth Rollins for example. Black was inserted into the feud without any rhyme or reason. There was no proper backstory as to why Black was on Mysterio's side.
WWE Aleister Black reduced to a supporting character in an ongoing feud when he should've been a part of a major feud of his own given his impressive win-loss record. He got pinned by Rollins in a singles match on a recent episode of RAW before he vanished of WWE programming completely.
Black is one of the most well-rounded performers in WWE. He has made the most of every opportunity handed to him. Also, he has had great matches with almost everyone he faced over the past few months.
Many believe that Black should've been challenged for a world title and we couldn't agree more. The former NXT Champion's win-loss record alone should've guaranteed him a shot at the WWE Championship. Black has already beaten some high-profile opponents on RAW.
We just hope that WWE finally comes to its senses and realizes that a talent like Black deserves to be in the title picture.
#1 Kevin Owens
Where does one begin with how WWE handled Kevin Owens in 2020?. One of the early favorites to win the 2020 Men's Royal Rumble Match, the Montreal-native currently he isn't involved in a major feuds. Owens' appearances on RAW have become a bit formulaic as of late.
"The Prizefighter," occasionally appears on RAW and more often than not he is hosting The Kevin Owens Show. During the course of the talk show segment, he gets involved in a heated argument with his guest. This usually leads to a match later in the night which Kevin Owens loses. It has been quite sad to see a performer of Owen's caliber reduced to a talk show host.
Owens was absent from WWE programming following WrestleMania 36 because of an injury he suffered during his match on "The Grandest Stage of Them All". He also opted not to perform when the pandemic was at its peak but that still doesn't justify the way WWE has used him lately.
Kevin Owens is a world-class performer and one of the most popular stars in the company. One can argue that he was the most popular babyface on RAW at the start of 2020. He got the loudest reactions during the build-up to his match against Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 36.
Isn't it odd that the man Kevin Owens beat in April, Seth Rollins, is in a high-profile match at SummerSlam, while Owens currently doesn't have a match scheduled for "The Biggest Party of the Summer?"
