10 Wrestlers WWE Gave Up On Too Quickly

WWE stars come and WWE stars go, but it’s no lie to say that some go sooner than others and, many times, long before they’ve ever really been given a proper shot to succeed. Whether it was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it run or a main event dalliance, the lack of faith often leaves fans with the lingering question of ‘What if?’.

WWE have made a whole host of stars during the company's history but there are a number of talents that may have been able to become something if WWE just hadn't given up on them so soon.

These are 10 wrestlers WWE gave up on too soon.

10. Mordecai

After a couple of years in WWE’s developmental system, Kevin Fertig – who had portrayed a character called Seven during his stint in Ohio Valley Wrestling – was called up to the SmackDown roster in the spring of 2004.

Vignettes hyped the impending debut of Mordecai, a religious zealot-type hell-bent on ridding the world of sin, for weeks. Decked out in all-white everything, The Pale Rider was supposedly going to be built up for an eventual feud with The Undertaker. WWE appeared to be doing the slow burn thing with Mordecai, giving him victories over the likes of Scotty 2 Hotty and Hardcore Holly at back-to-back pay-per-views. But just days after knocking off ol’ Sparky Plugg, Mordecai was beaten by Rey Mysterio on SmackDown and sent back to OVW.

Amazingly, there had been suggestions that Mordecai could challenge Eddie Guerrero for the WWE Title at SummerSlam, prior to JBL taking the belt off Latino Heat and Mordecai getting axed. Fertig himself has said that his involvement in a bar fight contributed to his downfall, but WWE had quickly cooled on Mordecai and certainly didn’t have big plans for Kevin Thorn on ECW a couple of years later, either.

9. Kaval

Low Ki grafted tirelessly for years in promotions like Ring of Honor, TNA and overseas in Japan to earn a reputation as one of the most talented professional wrestlers of his generation. Strangely, when WWE got their hands on him, they paired him up with LayCool and had him play second fiddle to the co-holders of the Women’s Title.

Despite being routinely mocked for his stoic demeanour, the re-named Kaval ended up winning season two of NXT (when it was a glorified game show) and was shifted over to the SmackDown brand. Where he lost. And lost. And lost again. But then he earned a place on the blue brand’s Bragging Rights team! And then he lost that, too.

Still, at least he had a guaranteed title shot to fall back on from his NXT victory, which he used to take on Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler at the 2010 Survivor Series. He lost that one too, naturally, then lost some more matches before he got tired of losing and, realising WWE had no significant ideas for him he asked for (and received) his release.

8. Ultimo Dragon

Years after it was feared a botched elbow operation had ended his career, WCW favourite Ultimo Dragon signed with WWE. The company built up his impending debut with vignettes and introduced the inventor of the Asai Moonsault in grand style by having his first televised WWE match take place on an episode of SmackDown taped from Madison Square Garden.

The masked man looked sharp putting Shannon Moore away, while Rey Mysterio talked him up on commentary and Billy Kidman watched on from the crowd (flanked by models and wearing sunglasses for some reason).

That was about as good as it got for Dragon, whose next televised outing was a quick loss to Eddie Guerrero. After that, Ultimo could usually be found plying his trade on low-priority weekend show Velocity. No real shock that he decided to leave WWE after less than a year. The man himself would later say that WWE perhaps felt like he was too ‘similar’ to Mysterio, while also revealing that they had wanted him to unmask, a request that helped speed up his premature exit.

7. Shad Gaspard

If you had to bet money on one of the members of Cryme Tyme being pushed strongly and succeeding in singles once they broke up, you’d have put it on Shad Gaspard. Shad had the height and the muscularity that WWE typically coveted (as well as presence and charisma and all that other good stuff).

Shad clearly believed in himself, too, which is why he pitched the team breaking up so that he could have a solo run to WWE creative in early 2010. He got his wish but not the results he desired, as he was hastily beaten in his and JTG’s rushed Strap Match at Extreme Rules, essentially blowing off their feud mere weeks after his big heel turn.

He did get a win over his former partner on the often-forgotten Superstars show a short time later, but after one more squash match win, WWE decided that Gaspard was missing something and sent him to FCW, where he spun his wheels for a few months before being released.

Shad had all the tools to do more and go further on his own, but WWE evidently didn’t see it.

6. Damien Sandow

Very much under the Vince McMahon regime, there was a belief among WWE fans that a talent was only allowed to get over if the company actively wanted them to. Fired after a forgettable 2006 run on SmackDown, Aron Stevens toiled on the indies, won back the attention of his former employer and reported once again to the development system.

While there, he crafted the Damien Sandow persona, which was his ticket back to the main roster. The Intellectual Saviour of the Masses was something very different and struck a chord with the WWE audience. Working his way up the card, Sandow formed Team Rhodes Scholars with Cody Rhodes, which led to an inevitable split when he betrayed his partner in order to secure the Money in the Bank briefcase in 2013.

It was a prop that could have propelled Sandow to the very top tier, but WWE instead booked Sandow to be the first person to fail to cash it in as he senselessly lost to John Cena on Raw. Sandow would then get over with the fans again as Damien Mizdow, only for WWE to blow off his eventual feud with The Miz in no time and on the side of The Miz.

From here, the brass ring only grew further and further out of reach as Damien plummeted to the bottom of the bill and eventually received his release in 2016.

5. Maven

The winner of the first-ever season of Tough Enough, Maven Huffman enjoyed early success in WWE. He famously eliminated The Undertaker from the 2002 Royal Rumble and snagged a WrestleMania Hardcore Title match against Goldust, before an ill-timed injury derailed his momentum.

It took Maven a while to regain it, though things looked to be going in the right direction for the still-inexperienced star in late 2004. Rubbing shoulders with Randy Orton and Chris Jericho, Maven feuded with the remaining members of Evolution heading into that year’s Survivor Series.

As a member of the winning team – even if he didn’t do much in the match besides run in and potato Gene Snitsky – his character was given the chance to act as General Manager of Raw for a week. Typically, he booked himself in a World Heavyweight Title match against Triple H. Typically, he lost.

He soon turned heel, but the push didn’t take, and he was presented as a joke in his feud and matches with Intercontinental Champion Shelton Benjamin. Maven landed in a spot teaming with fellow midcard comedy heel Simon Dean, but tagging with the fitness freak wasn’t enough to save him from being future endeavoured.

4. Tensai

To be fair to WWE, they tried time and time again to make Matt Bloom a credible singles threat. In the early 2000s, he was given a not-insubstantial push on SmackDown as A-Train, but failed to get over to the desired level and, after an injury and switch to Raw, he was let go.

Reinventing himself as a monster heel in Japan, he changed his name to Giant Bernard and enjoyed much success as one of the top foreigners in New Japan. WWE’s Talent Relations chief John Laurinaitis was watching and engineered Bloom’s return after an almost eight-year absence.

Coming back with a gimmick inspired by his time in the Land of the Rising Sun, Bloom was now known as Lord Tensai (though he soon dropped the ‘Lord’ part) and was being built up as a villainous challenger for John Cena. After a couple of squashes to establish him as a threat, Tensai actually beat Cena in an Extreme Rules match on Raw. This didn’t lead to anything substantial, however, as WWE suddenly got bored of the big man, fed him to Cena and proceeded to job him out. He would soon become a dancing act alongside Brodus Clay.

3. Eric Escobar

Eric Perez spent four years stationed in WWE developmental territories Deep South and then Florida Championship Wrestling before finally receiving his call-up. The Puerto Rican was signed by WWE in the hope that he could be their next Spanish-speaking star, given that he was tall and had a good look.

Debuting on SmackDown in September of 2009, Eric Escobar was introduced as the storyline boyfriend of Vickie Guerrero. He beat Matt Hardy in his first match to earn a place on the blue brand’s team at Bragging Rights, though he was quickly removed from it (along with Cryme Tyme, Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler).

Being replaced in the inter-brand bout should have been the first sign that WWE weren’t exactly going to follow through with Escobar’s early push. Losing an Intercontinental Title match to John Morrison and then getting dumped by Vickie were signs two and three. After being ‘punished’ by the General Manager for a few weeks, Escobar was given his marching orders by WWE just a few months after what had been such a promising start.

2. Kizarny

Sinn Bodhi – a longtime friend of Edge and Christian who had wrestled regularly for TNA as a member of the New Church stable – had been on WWE’s radar for a while doing dark matches and such before finally inking a developmental deal in July of 2007.

After a year of hard work in the sticky Florida heat, Bodhi was pitched an idea for him to do on the main roster. Kizarny! It’s carny for ‘carny’, get it? Well, Bodhi got it and hated it but, not one to turn down a chance at superstardom, grabbed it with both hands.

Kizarny vignettes began playing in October of 2008, showing the character at a carnival and speaking in carny. It may have been a rather lame inside joke, but the fact that Vince McMahon himself pitched the idea and WWE invested the time and effort in promoting the character bode well. As did a debut victory over the luckless MVP on the first SmackDown of 2009. Sadly, that would be one of a grand total of two televised matches for Kizarny (the other being the second man eliminated in a battle royal), before he wiz-as fiz-ired.

1. Ryback

Breaking his ankle early into the Nexus invasion of WWE was quite possibly the best thing that could have happened to Ryan Reeves, as strange as that may sound. Away from television for the best part of two years, Skip Sheffield was allowed to become a distant memory. In his place came Ryback, a Goldbergian, cyborg-like smashing machine in striking airbrushed outfits.

After a few months of squashing everything in his path, Ryback was one of the most over acts on the roster. So much so that he was chosen as an unlikely opponent for then-WWE Champion CM Punk. The undefeated Ryback was so hot at the time that some fans genuinely felt as though the right call would be for him to dethrone the Straight-Edge Superstar when they met inside Hell in a Cell, but that was not to be.

After Ryback fell at the first hurdle, it felt as though WWE gave up on him as a proper main-event-level player. Sure, he won titles and was involved in memorable feuds after, but he was never seriously considered for the top prize again.