Hiya!

It looks like the WWE is going to go on another “future endeavor” spree in the near future. It’s been reported Ilja Dragunov has let his contact with the company run out but the WWE isn’t stopping with him. Rumors are swirling about how the WWE is also planning to let go of several big-name Superstars like Bayley, Damien Priest and Carmelo Hayes, among others. This is all speculation as of now but we’ll find out in the coming weeks if this is more prophesy rather than guesswork.

If you do look at the names I’ve mentioned, at least the WWE tried to do something with them. There are some who woefully have gotten severely overlooked, despite them getting really over with the WWE Universe or have shown to have a ton of potential. So, for this week, I’d like to go over just 5 former WWE Superstars the WWE didn’t use properly.

#1 Cesaro

Let’s start with the most obvious recent one.

When Cesaro made his debut in the WWE’s main roster for the first time way back in 2012, I didn’t think too much about him because I didn’t get the gimmick. From what I remember, he was supposed to be a rugby player who got banned for playing too rough or something like that. That harkened back to the company’s “New Generation” where the wrestlers would have secondary jobs. Once they ditched that aspect of his backstory and we got to see Cesaro’s incredible physical prowess, fans got behind him and he looked like a future WWE Heavyweight Champion.

Although Cesaro did gain a lot of accolades during his tenure with the WWE, such as winning the United States Championship and Tag Team Championships several times, he never got the big title win he deserved. This was baffling for me and a lot of WWE fans. Cesaro had all the stuff necessary to become a new top guy in the company. He had the look. He had the strength. He had showmanship. He could pull off incredible matches. He was even really good on the mic when he was given a chance to talk.

It didn’t matter, though, as the WWE sought to only make Cesaro what I would call an “upper-mid tier guy.” He was the one who they can book to become a challenger for the “real top guy” to make the “real top guy” look good… but they were never going to put him over.

#2 Sasha Banks

There have been a lot of female Superstars the WWE had done wrong. There’s Emma wherein the WWE couldn’t decide if she was supposed to be a comedy wrester or a regular serious wrestler before giving up on her entirely. There’s also Sonya Deville, who was more than just capable in the ring but the WWE just couldn’t package her properly. While these were in the running, the female Superstar the WWE failed big time on has to be Sasha Banks.

This may seem odd as, unlike Cesaro, Sasha Banks has actually made it to the top of the WWE’s Women’s roster several times, becoming RAW Women’s Champion and Smackdown Women’s Champion during her WWE run. You can also always count on her to put on a stellar match when in the ring. The problem is how she was utilized as a whole. Yes, she has held the RAW Women’s Championship multiple times but she would always lose it after a month or so. In fact, the total number of days Sasha Banks was RAW Women’s Champion was only 100 days! Her reigns as Smackdown Women’s Championship was longer, running for 167 days.

Essentially, she was never given the kind of respect her contemporaries, like Charlotte, Becky Lynch and even Bayley got, which is a shame as Sasha Banks was one of the company’s top draws during her heyday. The WWE should have capitalize on her popularity by giving her extensive titles.

#3 Dusty Rhodes

Imagine being one of the most popular wrestlers of your area, drawing in hundreds of fans and even winning several World Championships. You then get an offer to the WWE to wrestle with them. You arrive and, instead of trying to capitalize on what made you popular in the first place, the WWE tells you to put on this polka-dot shirt and dance. This is what happened to the “American Dream,” Dusty Rhodes.

While Dusty Rhodes was indeed still very popular as the “Common Man” while he was in the WWE, he was never given the same opportunities he got while in those other “small time” wrestling promotions in the past. In fact, he never even got a title while competing the WWE for some reason. At least they could’ve given him the Intercontinental Championship for a second! I mean, that is the “working man’s championship” after all!

To be fair, Dusty Rhodes was around 45-years old when he did wrestle in the WWE, a whole decade older than his other fellow Superstar like Hulk Hogan and “The Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase. Then again, you know who’s that age right now? The current top-guy on Smackdown, CM Punk! So, there’s actually no excuse!

#4 Matt Hardy

This is going to be a somewhat controversial entry because it’s not like it looked like the WWE treated Matt Hardy terribly. The man did become a multiple time WWE Tag Team Champion with his brother, Jeff Hardy, and the lesser known Cruiserweight Champion. However, there were indeed a couple of times when the WWE never really knew what to do with Matt Hardy, despite the fans clamoring for him. Early on, when it was discovered Matt Hardy got fired because Lita, his then-girlfriend, cheated on him with Edge. Kind of twisted, right? Well, they did bring him back for a spell only for Matt Hardy to lose to Edge. Who said cheaters never prosper?

After that, the WWE did to some right by Matt Hardy as he did get a run with the United States Championship and he even became ECW World Champion for a spell. Despite this, the WWE never really did anything major with Matt Hardy and he was eventually let go. This was actually a good thing for him as this did lead to him gaining more freedom to create his own story and reinvent himself.

After he left the WWE, he bounced around between Ring of Honor and TNA. During his time in TNA, he created the “Broken” Matt Hardy persona, becoming an intelligent but essentially crazy individual. This led to him feuding with his brother, Jeff Hardy, again but not for any stupid title. No, he was competing against him for something bigger: the Hardy brand. This culminated in one of the most bonkers meta matches in wrestling ever, The Final Deletion.

Even someone like me who had no interest in TNA knew about The Final Deletion. While I know some wrestling purists detested this, I, and many other wrestling fans, loved it! Wrestling can be serious but it can also be nonsense and fun like The Final Deletion! Some time passed and the WWE wanted both Matt and Jeff Hardy back and they did return to the WWE… but without the “Broken” Matt Hardy gimmick! No, they were just the regular old Hardy Boyz again! To be fair again, it was at this point when the “Broken” gimmick was in dispute with TNA. So, legally, the WWE couldn’t do it.

However, after years of litigation, TNA did drop their lawsuit. So the WWE was in the clear to use the “Broken” Matt Hardy gimmick. So, what did they do? They gave us the Temu version with “Woken” Matt Hardy! I guess there was still a gray area in how they could use the gimmick or the WWE wanted to use something very similar but, being the greedy folks they are, wanted to put their trademark on it.

Despite this, it still worked for the most part and, wouldn’t you know it? The WWE would still bungle this by not giving “Woken” Matt Hardy a singles push! They put him back in a tag team but not with his brother but with Bray Wyatt instead! The duo did win the WWE Tag Team Championships but it’s like they really had no idea what to do with the team, leading to “Broken” Matt Hardy teaming back with, you guessed it, Jeff Hardy!

On paper, it does seem like the WWE did do well with Matt Hardy, it just seems like they were never really going beyond just “good,” especially with the advent of the “Broken” gimmick. They never really capitalized on how over the gimmick was nor did they really use Matt Hardy correctly when back then as well, earning him a spot on this list.

#5 Vader

I always find it sad when the WWE will treat a former “monster” like a joke. They’ve done it before with the likes of King Kong Bundy and One Man Gang/Akeem. However, to me, the “monster” who got the worst of this kind of treatment was Vader. Not only was he super agile for a man of his size, Vader was also very brutal and scary. If you ever wondered what happened to Mick Foley’s ear, well, you can thank Vader for that. Although it was mostly because Mick Foley got his head wrapped up in the ropes, it did happen during a match with Vader. It certainly helped make him scarier in the ring, right?

When Vader did arrive in the WWE, they did make some effort to make it look like he was still that kind of monster. It just didn’t last very long! He was eventually fed to other WWE Superstars of the time like The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels and… The Patriot, a WWE Superstar who isn’t on the WWE website! They made Vader a glorified “jobber to the stars,” never to really win any big matches against the bigger name stars… despite Vader being a big name star in his own right. What a disappoinment!

BONUS: The Nexus

Now this was a travesty but, as this list only features singles wrestlers and not factions, I’m adding the Nexus as a bonus entry. The Nexus got their start way back when NXT was a game show and they were the contestants, so to speak. Led by Wade Barrett, the Nexus was a force to be reckoned with, even forcing John Cena to join them at one point. They were vicious and virtually unstoppable when they debuted in one of the biggest spectacle beatdowns of all time.

They should’ve been a stable that lasted for ages but, for some reason, the WWE decided to put the kibosh on the group almost immediately in a humiliating fashion. Essentially, John Cena dispatched the entire Nexus almost singlehandedly! This was really dumb and makes you wonder what the WWE is thinking at times!

Byee!

What other Superstars can you think of which the WWE failed to really use correctly? Let me know in the comments section below!