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When a big WWE star is in the middle of a big push, they feel like that they could be on top of the world. At least, that's the way it seems for the following names.
When WWE has big plans for you and you know it, some superstars seem to think that they are indestructible, and in turn, can get away with anything they please. But no, top WWE officials thinking highly of you or not, top superstars cannot get away with everything and if what they have done is so bad, can have their big push taken right from underneath them.
Some are lucky enough to reform their ways and gain them back, while others have not been so lucky. Here are eight of such.
#8 Triple H - 1996
Starting things off with the most famous big pushes lost, Triple H, or Hunter Hearst Helmsley as he was at the time, felt untouchable as apart of The Clique, with Shawn Michaels, Sean Waltman, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash.
It all came crashing down on Hunter on May 19, 1996. Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were to wrestle their then final WWE match, a live event in Madison Square Garden, before heading off to WCW. At the time, Triple H and Nash were heels, while Scott Hall and Shawn Michaels were faces. After the Michaels vs. Nash Cage main event, Scott and Triple H came out and shared a group hug. A breaking kayfabe (which was mostly intact at the time) hug caught on camera.
Their actions – dubbed the "Curtain Call" – scandalized WWE and wrestling as a whole, and Triple H was to take the punishment. Shawn Michaels was WWE Champion and WWE's biggest draw, so wasn't to be punished, Sean Waltman wasn't apart of the Curtain Call and of course Nash and Hall were off to WCW. For the next five months, Triple H lost several matches and wasn't featured in any storyline. He was the planned winner of the King of The Ring that June, but that was scrapped and Steve Austin won instead.
If the Curtain Call didn't happen, it would have effected wrestling in a major way, as we wouldn't have had the famous Austin 3:16 King of The Ring promo.. Triple H eventually won the WWE intercontinental Championship towards the end of the year and regained his big push when he formed D-Generation X with Shawn Michaels, and has since become one of the greatest of all time.
#7 The Big Show - 2000 - 2002
When The Big Show signed with WWE in 1999, he was coming off an incredibly successful run in WCW, so naturally being a top former WCW star, he had to work his way to the main event scene, despite signing a $1 Million per year decade long contract.
Big Show eventually worked his way up to the top, becoming WWE Champion at Survivor Series 1999, and maintaining his main event position into 2000, which included being in the Fatal Four Way main event of WrestleMania 2000. Thing went down hill from here, and fast.
WWE management insisted that Big Show lose some weight in order to maintain his main event run, but Show didn't seem interested. this resulted in Show adopting a comical mimicking gimmick, where he would dress up as other stars, such as The Berzerker, Val Venis, Rikishi and Hulk Hogan. Show was removed from TV for a few months, returned for about 2 weeks, only to be removed again for the remainder of 2000.
When Show returned to WWE TV at the Royal Rumble 2001, he still weighed about the same, and didn't regain his main event push. This continued until late 2002 when he finally managed to shed some pounds, which resulted in he winning his second WWE Championship at Survivor Series 2002.
#6 Randy Orton - 2005 - 2006
Randy Orton was always primed for a main event position in WWE. He had all the attributes and skill to be the future of the company. One of those attributes was also his downfall for a couple of years, and that was his youth and arrogance.
Yes, Randy has a long list of immature actions, accomplished from a combination of drinking, partying a little too hard and his own childish amusement. Yet, despite all this, Randy was primed for another World Championship run in late 2005. Then Champion Batista was to take time off from injuries, and Orton was picked to defeat him for the World Championship. However, word got around that earlier in the year he had bullied former Diva Search contestants Amy Weber and Rochelle Loewen out of the company by pouring baby oil in their luggage, as well as rumored to have soiled them also.
Ortn was planned for another main event run in 2006, but was suspended for smoking pot. Months later, Orton was again suspended as one of the many names listed in the Signature Pharmacy scandal. In recent years it has seemed that Randy cooled off from his former ways, although some of his past misdeeds with the WWE writing staff are coming into light, which may result in the loss of his current big heel push.
#5 CM Punk - 2009 - 2010
As documented recently of the WWE Network's 'Something Else To Wrestle With Bruce Prichard', CM Punk's early push in WWE was full of stops an false starts, as some higher ups saw a star in him, while others didn't.
After his for WWE World Heavyweight Championship reign came to a premature end in 2008, Punk received an unexpected shot right back up the ladder in 2009 when he won his second Money in The Bank contract and World Heavyweight Championship. During this run, he became WWE and wrestling's next best heel.
He had an excellent feud with Jeff Hardy over the big gold belt, and then moved onto The Undertaker. Fans were anticipating a Match of The Year like performance from these two at the Hell in A Cell event in their World title Cell match, but instead the Taker easily defeated Punk for the gold in less than 10 minutes. Punk got one multi-man rematch a few weeks later, then went right back down the card.
Punk later spoke on this, claiming he had upset both The Undertaker and WWE management by not taking Taker's advice to dress more sharply as Champion in public. Punk said he complained to management that he should be able to wear his t-shirt and jeans punk rock style look, since then WWE Champion John Cena was allowed to wear his hip-hop attire during his public appearances.
As everyone knows, Punk finally regained his push and went strait to the top in 2011.
#4 Jeff Hardy - 2002 - 2003, 2008
It was always no secret that many within WWE saw Jeff Hardy as the star of The Hardy Boyz tandem. He was looked at as the next Shawn Michaels of the company, which means brother Matt Hardy was to be the Marty Jannetty.
Even before the Hardy Boyz broke up in 2002, Jeff was given a WWE Championship match with The Undertaker on RAW, while Matt was wrestling on just Sunday Night Heat. When they finally broke up in late August 2002, it was Jeff's time for a monster push, and that is when WWE realized why Jeff was always on time for shows.
When the Hardy Boyz broke up, Matt was sent over to Smackdown and Jeff remained on RAW, thus they no longer traveled together. As it turned out, Matt was the one who always made sure they arrived together, as well as staying on the right track in their personal lives. Jeff began showing up very late to shows or just not showing up at all, and was given his requested release in 2003.
After a couple of years with TNA, Jeff returned in 2006 and ruled the mid-card for over a year, before a min event push began. As early as January 2008, Jeff was the planned winner of that year's Money in The Bank at WrestleMania. These plans were dropped when Jeff was suspended for 60 days for his second violation of WWE's drug policy.
Jeff returned that summer, and eventually entered the main event scene towards the end of the year, and won his first WWE Championship at Armageddon 2008. He later became TNA's biggest superstar, and has since returned to WWE, and may have one more crack at the top.
#3 Jack Swagger - 2012
Jack Swagger showed so much promise since he first debuted on WWE ECW in 2008. It wasn't long before he became WWE ECW Champion in early 2009,and was eventually shipped off to RAW.
His run on RAW didn't go as planned, for whatever reasons, and he mostly wrestled in the mid-card. He won the Money in The Bank in 2010 and World Heavyweight Championship just 2 days later, but only held it for 2 months, before WWE seemingly lost interest in him in the main event.
After a long absence from TV, he resurfaced on Smackdown in early 2013, with the legendary Dutch Mantel as his manager, now working as Zeb Colter, a self-proclaimed great American hero who strongly advocated anti-immigration beliefs. It was an interesting gimmick that looked to take Jack far. But then he ruined it for himself.
After getting one of the biggest victories of his career, wining a number one contendership Elimination Chamber match, Jack was arrested on February 19, 2013, for driving under the influence and drug possession. All plans for his next World Championship run were dropped and in WWE, Jack never recovered from this loss.
#2 Sabu - 2006
Once again looking back on a recent episode of the WWE Network's 'Something Else To Wrestle With Bruce Prichard', Bruce revealed that several within WWE, most notably Vince McMahon himself, saw a big star in Sabu.
Looking over Sabu's first couple of months in WWE, it actually shows to. His first match as an active WWE star was with John Cena, and it ended in a no contest, in order to protect both men. His second match, a World Heavyweight Championship match with Rey Mysterio at the second ECW One Night Stand, also ended in a no contest, in order to protect Sabu, as the World title was needed for Smackdown.
Sabu then maintained a month long winning streak before losing to John Cena in a competitive match. Thing were looking pretty good for the 'Homicidal' one. While travelling with Rob Van Dam, Sabu was arrested and charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, and nine Vicodin tablets. He pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance and the charge of possession of drug paraphernalia was dropped.
Sabu managed to avoid a suspension from WWE as it appeared that Rob Van Dam took most of the heat for the paraphernalia in the car, so the Sabu push continued. As Bruce Prichard said, he eventually lost it due to his attitude problems, and rejecting everything WWE wanted to do with him on TV, as he felt like it wasn't in his characters best interests.
Sabu was released from WWE in 2007, when his one year contract was allowed to expire.
#1 Rob Van Dam - 2006
Rob Van Dam was destined to be a big star in WWE. RVD hit WWE in 2001 to much fanfare. Initially debuting as a heel member of the Alliance, RVD was still so popular that he won the PWI Most Popular Superstar of The Year award for 2001, the only wrestler ever to do so while being a heel.
His popularity rewarded him with a main event push in October 2001. Although he lost his WWE Championship match, he remained the most popular Superstar in WWE, but his push eventually slowed down. By the beginning of 2002, he was just another Superstar lost in the shuffle. After competing in some of the best matches of 2002, Rob was given another shot at the main event scene, he briefly feuded with Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship, but after falling to the Game at Unforgiven 2002, it seemed like WWE had once again lost interest in him as a main event player.
Yes, RVD's first 3 years with WWE were full of stops and false starts. After being out of action for all of 2005, RVD returned in 2006 to a prominent position, winning the Money in The Bank and WWE Championship from John Cena at ECW One Night Stand.
RVD lost his push just 3 weeks later, due to the aforementioned arrest of he and Sabu for possession of drug paraphernalia, and nine Vicodin tablets in his car. He returned to mostly a mid-card run until he left WWE in 2007.
Rob had a memorable main event run with TNA Wrestling from 2010 - 2013. He returned to WWE in 2013 and had a main event run, feuding with Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship, but went right down the card following his second return.
Regardless of WWE losing faith in him during his first couple of years, and his second WWE return and TNA run, it was unfortunately Rob Van Dam himself who ruined his major push in 2006.
