Guys you thought were going to be "the next big thing" but just weren't

[Nark Order]

Ever stumble across talent and just think "this guy has got it, he's gonna be huge" and then it just never happens for them? Back in the old school ECW days I thought Lance Storm was going to be snagged up quick by either WWF or WCW and pushed to the moon (I guess you could say holding three WCW belts at once is a pretty huge push but he never got the big belt). I also thought that Test was gonna stay in WWE for the long haul and be a title contender down the road.

What others guys did you have a hunch about that ended up being wrong?

[The Genius]

ludvig borga

[Dorkchop]

I think Lance Storm could have been a main eventer in WCW had it not folded. If he politicked bagstage, he could have possibly been a big player in WWE. Lance is too much of a team player and loyal to be a main eventer. He just does what he's told (which I respect).

I thought Kane would have been a big main eventer for years, but he suffers from the same disease as Lance Storm. Kane stayed a huge name, I just thought he would have been at Undertaker level. He still COULD get a wicked title reign, have some memorable feuds, and a couple good title reigns, but that's not going to happen.

[Mercury Bullet]

Lance Storm, Billy Gunn, and Monty Brown.

[El Fangel]

Nathan Jones, Mordecai

[FourFifty]

Steve "Mongo" McMichael
I don't know why, but I always had a soft spot for him. He never was the best wrestler, never was the best talker, but he had a huge ego. While he was with the Horsemen he could have gone places. Hell, anyone who isn't Paul Roma got at least something out of being in the Four Horsemen. Years later people still got the rub from either being with Ric Flair. Mongo just seemed legit.

[Outsider]

Sean O'Haire
Mike Awesome
Vampir

[Rammsteinmad]

Are we talking "Could have been huge if WWE hadn't fucked up"?

If so, definitely Sean O'Haire. No comment needed.

Test, after winning his immunity for a year at the 2001 Survivor Series I thought it'd lead to him pushing into the main event. I think he had a short-lived rivary with the Rock but then kinda dropped back into the mid-card until his release.

[Rob]

Chris Jericho.

[Danny Electric]

Definitely Sean O'Haire

[The Mackem]

Ken Shamrock

[Ben Rodrigues]

Rob Van Dam

[Xero]

Matt Morgan.

[BigDaddyCool]

Monty Brown, period.

[Mercury Bullet]

Ah yeah, Sean O'Haire too. That one had slipped past me but he definitely could have been a big deal.

[screech]

Sean O'Haire, Test, Monty Brown, Kane, Matt Morgan, RVD, Nathan Jones, D'lo Brown

I know there are more, but those are the few that came to mind.

[Stickman]

Kennedy

[Mooияakeя™]

Tazz, but I guess that's cos of injury. When he was doing the whole debut thing with the "13", I thought WOAH he being built up to be so über it's amazing. Luckily, he is über, but not on the scale I thought in WWE wrestling career.

[XL]

I was thinking about something similar to this the other night, more along the lines of "Guys that WWE missed the boat in", specifically in relation to Test.

Right after the whole HHH marries Steph thing they seemed pretty keen on him and I was sure he was World Title material. Then they just kinda had HHH beat him and had him whimper away. Shame.

[Indifferent Clox]

what was test's whole immunity thing again? I've forgotten the details.

[Theo Dious]

Test won the Immunity Battle Royal at Survivor Series '01, which guaranteed that, no matter who won the WWF vs Alliance war, he would have a guaranteed job for a year. They later played it off so that he behaved like a complete ass backstage, knowing he could not be fired.

[Theo Dious]

The only guy mentioned so far that I thought would be huge was Nathan Jones; unfortunately he didn't have the real fire in his belly. I also thought that Lashley was going to be amazing... then he started talking.

[BigDaddyCool]

LASHLEY HAD THE LOOK, BUT I DIDN'T SEE HIM WRESTLE WHEN HE FIRST GOT THERE, BUT I THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO BE BIG. THEN HE STARTED TO TALK RIGHT ABOUT THE TIME I STARTED CATCHING HIS SEGEMENTS. I LOST FAITH IN HIM THEN AND THERE.

[Gerard]

Brock Lesnar. :lol:

Woulda been had he not wanted to go fail miserably at "football".

Really though probably Mike Awesome, had the look was ok on the mic, done some fucking jaw dropping moves for a man his size. Suprised vince didn't bust a load when wwe finally hired him. Wasn't meant to be though :(

[nailz]

Steve "Mongo" McMichael
I don't know why, but I always had a soft spot for him. He never was the best wrestler, never was the best talker, but he had a huge ego. While he was with the Horsemen he could have gone places. Hell, anyone who isn't Paul Roma got at least something out of being in the Four Horsemen. Years later people still got the rub from either being with Ric Flair. Mongo just seemed legit.

maybe you should get a mongo tat right next to kane

[Rob]

Mike Awesome wasn't the size of The Undertaker or Vince McMahon would have loved him.

[PapaGeorgio]

The Rock, always thought he'd win a major title along the way.

[Loose Cannon]

definately Borga when I was a kid. They pushed Brakus a lot too, but he fizzled quick. I thought Earthquake would of had more of a big run then he did.

There's a bunch in this day and age, which a lot of you named. I would include some Spirit Squad member, especially Jeter and Kenny. Khali could of been huge if he didn't open his fucking mouth, have gay music, or work long matches.

[Juan]

I always hoped that Taz would make it big in WWE.

[Hanso Amore]

Terry Taylor in the late 80s.

before the WWF ruined his career.

[Kenny]

Kane - His debut caused me to assume he would be nose to nose with The Undertaker through his career.

The Boogeyman - Quick wins over guys like Booker T and JBL convinced me he was going to be in the main event picture.

Owen Hart - After Bret left for WCW, Owen could have beaten Shawn Michaels with the Sharp Shooter if it weren't for interference from Triple H. After that, he was stuck at mid-card.

The British Bulldog - Davey Boy seemed to have a similar upbringing as Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, and I thought he'd at least have a world title run.

Hardcore Holly - I wasn't too thrilled with it, but I thought he was going to be a main event player after he returned from a broken neck and began feuding with Brock Lesnar and the Big Show.

Rikishi - Again, I wasn't too thrilled, but after being revealed as the one who ran over Stone Cold Steve Austin, I thought we'd see him have a monster heel run.

[thedamndest]

Rikishi definitely should have. I think if he had changed look and worn normal tights and possibly gone to his normal hair color he could have done it, but instead he got jobbed out and stuck in a tag team with Haku.

Agree with Borga, why did he leave the WWF?

[mrslackalack]

Sean O'Haire
Billy Gunn
D-Lo

[ttetf]

Billy Gunn...shoulda, woulda, coulda...

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

Rhino

[The Genius]

i think borga left wwf to become a state govt official in finland.

[ron the dial]

puke

[El Fangel]

Val Venis

[Mooияakeя™]

Regal.

[Anybody Thrilla]

Tatanka, Adam Bomb, Doink the heel Clown

[Hanso Amore]

Man, I guess Im old. Only one to call a guy from the NWA, or 80s.

[Rob]

Maybe people saw more obvious choices.

I would put at least 5 guys ahead of Terry Taylor from NWA/WCW pre 92 and probably at least another 5 after it.

Dan Spivey and Barry Windham for a start.

[Anybody Thrilla]

Special Delivery Jones

[Hanso Amore]

FOr real? Honestly, before he left for the WWF, Taylor was on the track to a US title win, and eventually a World title, easy.

WIndham had his time at the top...he just sucked it up. I agree with him though, he could have been special.

[Anybody Thrilla]

The Stalker was the dumbest shit ever. Why'd they do that to him?

[FourFifty]

Kennedy

......KENNEDY!!!!!!!!!!

[FourFifty]

I think he they would have stayed off drugs and stayed in shape, Scott Hall and Jake Roberts would have been pretty epic. Yea, they had their time to shine, and they had great matches. However, when Jake Robets takes his fake teeth out before he locks up, and Scott Hall has the build of Soma Joe, that can't look good.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Matt Morgan.

I still have not given up on Matt Morgan, by the way. The man is a great talker, great in the ring for his size, and is going to be on American Gladiators, and it seems the character they're going to have him play will be one that could be classified as "interesting."

Chris Jericho's return last year should have been incredible. I thought that he would have to be the top face, because he'd instantly be one of the best workers on the roster, and one of the most over. Then the WWE had him feud with JBL.

Test could have been great, and was looking like he was going to be for some time. Personally, I don't think he ever should have cut his hair. I think Test faced The Undertaker at Summerslam 2002. That is where Taker should have put Test over. In fact, there have been lots of times that Test should have received a bigger push than he did, but the WWE didn't deliver.

Matt Hardy in 2005. That shit was hot. People at school were doing the Matt Hardy hand signal. What does the WWE do? They have Edge kick Matt's ass at Summerslam, and have the referee stop the match because Matt was getting his ass kicked. It was quite ridiculous. That match should have been won by Edge, yes, but Matt should have gotten himself intentionally disqualified.

Christian in 2005 was also pretty undeniably fantastic. If the WWE had played their cards right, he would have been huge.

Rhyno in 2001 is someone I expected bigger things from. I suppose he is still a top face in TNA. But yeah, it's a shame that when he returned from his neck surgery, he lost so much momentum and sort of scrapped the Man Beast gimmick for something more "human."

Sean O'Haire was someone that, in retrospect, could have been huge. He was kind of fucked up pretty bad on SmackDown!. Now he's fat, isn't he?

Finlay could be a top bad-ass babyface right now, if the WWE had let him go Irish on JBL's ass, and win the match after killing Vince McMahon. While I doubt he ever would have been as huge as Stone Cold Steve Austin, Finlay could play a very comparable bad-ass.

Shelton Benjamin was a fantastic face on RAW. The WWE failed with him. The same thing goes, to a lesser extent, with Carlito.

Elijah Burke, during the time of the whole New Breed stuff, was someone that could have been much bigger than he is now. I hope he gets back to that level, and gets even higher.

Kane should have been bigger, and could have been bigger.

Ken Doane and Johnny Jeter from The Spirit Squad are both really talented. It is still early days for both men, and I think they are both still under contract, but I hope we do see them get places.

And lastly, I am going to throw out a mention of a man that used to be one of my favourites. When Jim Ross called Billy Gunn "arguably the toughest man pound-for-pound" in the WWE, and you're still new to the WWE product, that's someone who get invested in, a little. A lot of people think that Gunn had chances, but I'm not so sure. He was always really over, and it's not like he ever flopped. There was just never room for him in the main event, it seemed. If Gunn had stayed sober, stayed in shape, and stuck out his dark years with the WWE on SmackDown!, with guys like The Great Khali, Chavo Guerrero and Johnny Nitro winning "World Titles," I think Billy Gunn would have been more successful than he would be now in TNA.

[Vastardikai]

I'm gonna state one name that will end this thread:

Magnum TA.