Question for all you fellow Wrestling fans:
Who is your favorite mid-card (or lower) wrestler that never quite made it to the big time, or in your opinion lived up to their potential? The one that you felt could have done so much more, but for whatever reason — be it injuries, backstage politics, getting buried by creative teams, or other factors, they just never got as far as they could.
Speaking for myself, I nominate Shane “The Hurricane” Helms, whose superhero gimmick was just wonderful and brilliant, especially with that awesome feud he had with The Rock in 2003. And yet, he never really managed to go anywhere afterwards. WHAT’S UP WIT DAT?
How about you? Your thoughts?
“Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig. Hennig was an AWA world champion, but that was in the dying days of the promotion, so whether that counts as a “major” world championship is, I think, questionable. He was super-over in the WWF, with obvious-from-the-back-row in-ring skills and a snarky, arrogant charisma that helped him with his promo skills. His inability to stay healthy absolutely limited his ceiling in the WWF, particularly considering he was good-sized but not Hogan or Warrior huge, which would have been absolutely working in his favor during the New Generation distancing of the WWF product from comic-book musclemen following Vince’s steroid trial. Injuries continued to plague him in WCW, as did increasing age. Getting lost in the chaotic shuffle of late–era WCW definitely did not help, though he did manage to get a throw away gimmick with the West Texas Rednecks (Hennig was from the very northern Minnesota) over, despite WCW thinking a group of non-wrestlers who seemed to be disrespectful and disdainful of the business would be the faces in the No Limit/West Texas Rednecks feud. By the time he made his second WWF run, he had clearly begun losing his battle with drugs and alcohol. Given his issues, his age, and his injury record, the window for a main event run was almost certainly closed.
Had he not gotten injured in that early WWF run, I think he would have had a run with the WWF championship. He had undeniable chemistry with Bret Hart, and could very well have been Hart’s main foil instead of Owen and Shawn Michaels. It’s very possible he would have been a transitional champion, but I think he would have won at least one WWF World Championship had his spine not been completely jacked. Obviously, McMahon thought highly enough of him to attach him to Flair during his world title run and keep Hennig in the main event picture, and later put him on commentary to keep him visible during another period of injury.
Hennig, to me, is one of the greatest performers to never win a major world championship. He’s a legend, but I feel like so much of his legend is based on the potential of what could have been given his obvious talent, and not what actually happened as his body kept betraying him.
Justin Phillips Not having followed Uhaa Nation on the indy scene, did he have a stronger character when working that circuit? I feel like it’s much easier to excel on in-ring work alone on the indy circuit, but the jump to the ‘E requires the ability to create and project a character. Right now, all I feel like we’ve seen in both NXT and WWE is “guy who wrestles really well”. Even guys who don’t have much character, have something other than “great wrestler” as part of their shtick, like Cesaro’s “Cesaro Section” and him being a suave European MF’er. Crews doesn’t seem to have that, but I’m honestly asking, did he ever have that?
Damien Sandow.
Nathan Paoletta Oh GOD yes. The missed opportunity for the Miz/Sandow feud to explode into massive heat was particularly baffling.
I have a silly hope that Sandow and Cody will reunite on LUCHA UNDERGROUND as the Rhodes Scholars, with some interesting third person with them so that they can start feuding with Son of Havoc, Ivellise, and Angelico for the trios belts.
There’s still a (very small) chance, but Zack Ryder