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#4 Harley Race
When Harley Race came to WWE, he was already an extremely well-established veteran of the wrestling business, having been the dominant traveling NWA World Heavyweight Champion for years. Rather than making it to WWE in the prime of his career as tends to be the case for so many wrestling stars, Race was instead in the twilight of his days as an active in-ring performer.
Race certainly still had the talent to still be positioned as a main event player. However, he came to WWE in the late 1980s, when the promotion was at its most cartoonish, eschewing the traditional sports-oriented underpinnings of the business in favor of kid-friendly characters. So, Race's old school persona didn't necessarily fit the mold, besides which he was at an advanced enough age that it wasn't as though WWE could hope to reinvent him for long term success.
WWE struck balance in pushing Race as the king. The gimmick paid homage to Race's legacy as an all-time great and one of the most decorated performers in wrestling history, without actually putting a traditional championship on him. Race wore the crown well, and it struck balance for him in the upper mid-card role he filled for most of his WWE tenure.
Teddy Long snaps when Swerve Strickland's race is brought up HERE
