Main-Eventers You Didn't See Coming

[Swiss Ultimate]

Everytime someone comes up with an idea for a low or mid-card guy to make it big I hear the same argument that they "don't see them going any higher than they are right now," and a lot of the times I feel that way myself.

I can't really see Kofi Kingston becoming a beast or even a major player in the WWE for instance. However, there are a lot of wrestlers I personally didn't see making it to the top that eventually did in some capacity.

I'll start off with my top three:

Mankind. I only got into the WWF because of my love for ECW and because of his work as Cactus Jack I dug Foley's weird masked freak. It was his Hell in the Cell match that made him seem larger than life for me, but his career in the WWF didn't seem like he was headed for the big title and epic matches against The Rock and Triple H. It was a pleasant surprise seeing him become the star of the show.

Triple H. I only mildly enjoyed DX and mostly because of their in-ring entrance and Road Dog's mic work for that intro. Really wasn't into their matches at all. When Triple H became the monster heel I didn't buy it at first and sure as hell resented what it meant for Foley. Still, considering that Foley was "ready to retire" it made sense to get the most out of him before he went and Triple H as a main-event player is now a thing I see as natural and deserved. Before Foley I would never have thought he was worthy of the Main Event.

The Rock, no, just kidding. My first intro to The Rock was as a heel and he had World Title written all over him even then. Cena is my third pick. I thought his gimmick was lame and remember thinking that Carlito was going to be big. I was, of course, very very wrong. Carlito never made it very far and Cena is fucking Cena. So yeah...

So who are the wrestlers you never imagined would/could rise above their positions and become main-eventers?