'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
What's the story?
Ahmed Johnson had the wrestling world in his hands when he was signed by the WWE (then WWF) in 1995 and was tipped to be a world champion.
That, however, never happened and Jim Cornette spilt the beans about Johnson’s problems during a recent episode of Jim Cornette’s Drive-Thru.
In case you didn't know...
Johnson is mostly remembered for his days in the WWF where he became the first African-American to pick up the Intercontinental title. The Houston resident also teamed up with Shawn Michaels a number of times and even fought against The Nation of Domination during his three-year stay with the promotion.
He then joined the WCW but things never really worked out for him and Cornette revealed a number of problems with Johnson, in and outside the ring.
The heart of the matter
Still Real to Us carried the quotes from Cornette’s latest show where he stated that Johnson just came out of nowhere into the WWF, apparently after Vince McMahon saw the wrestler.
Cornette then added that Johnson wasn’t just injury prone but he wasn’t the best worker in the ring either, which was a danger to the other performers.
“You know he could have been Junkyard Dog times ten with the push they gave him. But he was A) injury prone, B) prone to injure other people, C) not as physically equipped he was for the wrestling business, but mentally unequipped for the wrestling business, D) began believing he was over to the extent of even greater than his push rather than his actual performance — all of the above.”
Johnson’s career went down the road after leaving the WWF but there was a real opportunity for him to become one of the greatest wrestlers in the business if Vince and Bill Watts had their way with him.
“So if he would have got his sh-t together on that side of it and not got hurt, not hurt other people, and become a raging egomaniac about his push chances are he would’ve been rolling in money.”
What's next?
Johnson retired early in his career but still hung around to help Booker T and Stevie Ray with their wrestling school.
He also picked up a degree in criminology and in a rather surprising turn of events, sued the WWE, as part of a class action lawsuit in 2016, claiming that wrestlers suffered various brain injuries and the company actually hid the risks of getting injured from the wrestlers.
Author's take
This shows that even when you have everything on a plate, things don’t always go well. Johnson could have been huge if he had played his cards right and we all know how Vince likes to project stars that fit a particular frame.
Johnson was the kind of wrestler they needed but things went into his head during his wrestling days and well, the rest, is history.
