Top 5 wrestlers who were horribly missused in the Attitude Era
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genocidecutter
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5. Dean Malenko
One of the best technical wrestlers to ever do it. This guy was Bret Hart and Dolph Ziggler combined.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WbLlfRo8zc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJZNoF8lUQs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjyDm5g_SHc
After having a solid career in wcw and dominating their crusierweight division(including his awesome feud with Chris Jericho) he would rebel and leave the company and sign with the wwe. He would debut along with Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, and Perry Saturn on January 31, 2000. This segement would generate very high ratings(so much for being a vanilla midget) and introduce the Radicalz. So what did the wwe do with him after the Radicalz ran its course? They stuck him in their ? Lightweight division and did nothing with him. He had that one feud the hardy Boyz but that was pretty much it. By 2001 he would quietly retire just before the invasion angle.
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4. Taka Michinoku
The fact the wwe could not think of ANYTHING for this guy to do makes me seriously question wwe creative(russo at the time). He also was completely wasted in the worthless lightweight division. In 2000 he would team with Funaki as a team named Kai en tai. While the team was funny they never went anywhere or won many matches. He's only time he got to shine was the match he had with triple H.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I-iUL2IBn4
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3. Essa Rios
This guy is the definition of being misused. He came to the company in 1997 in newly reformed Lightweight division. He was mostly a show opener. In February 13, 2000 he would re debut as Essa Rios winning the lightweight title from Gillberg. From that point on he would do absolutely nothing except for that one feud with Kurt Angle and wrestling on Jakked. Is ? tragic how the WWE treated Essa Rios. Dude had like the best moonsault ever. -
Co-sign Taka and Essa. They were criminally misused. Funaki too as well as the Dudleyz IMO (I know a lot of people liked what WWE did with them). Dean Malenko was about the same as he was in WCW in terms of in ring and character. Just as boring. Though he didn't get a feud with someone like a Jericho to make his overall blandness more tolerable like in WCW so I guess the booking was more lackluster.
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hmm, essa rios moonsault was beautiful, idk if any of those three were misused tho, dean was over 40 and still bland, he was kinda funny with that ? where he was bout to ? ? with socks on but thats it, didnt see him rising any higher, and taka and essa rios when i look at them all i see is "multi time tv/cruiserweight champion"
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malenko is boring as watching senior citizen porn
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Taka could have been better used. That's the great thing about these days, someone like him at least could be IC champion and given some decent TV time.
Essa Rios was what it was, he might have been alright but I don't remember all I remember is he brought in Lita and Lita >>> Essa Rios
Dean was the same guy in both companies.
I don't know if I could come up with 5 right now but Val Venis is definitely on my list. Yeah he did well for himself but at the same time he could have done more if he was allowed to. I think he could have been main event (not under that specific porn star gimmick however) but the guy had charisma and he could talk and work, I see no reason he didn't make it.
Another one would be Kane. Sure Kane was a main event talent but he won the strap and lost the very next night to Super Austin, and then was in tag teams with X Pac, and then just a background henchman in the Corporation, he lost his luster way too soon. I think Big Show falls in that spot too...another victim of a stunner on TV for no reason but he is over 7' and 400lbs, no reason at all that Rock and Austin were mopping the floor with him.
So that's 3....I'm trying to think of 2 more....
EDIT #1:
Okay, ken shamrock is number one on my list. Dude was legit by himself and extremely over because he could crush guys and look believeable. Yet again though...super Austin bested him in a submission match on TV (it was some stupid gimmicky finish) and he never rose about that but he had potential to be that dude.
I gotta think of one more...
EDIT #2:
Test is my final choice. I wasn't always a fan of Test, in fact he reminded me a lot of a certain quad tearing, egomaniac in WCW as far as his look is concerned but I think they should have put more into him. He was big but not too big to the point where smaller guys shouldn't get over on him. His feud with HHH showed me slmething. Too bad he also ended up being a run of the mill stock villain in the Corporation. -
one guy that comes to mind..
d'lo brown
he was actually used well in the midcard, i think he might coulda had a shot in the main event tho -
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2. Al Snow
Most people don't realize he was nothing more than a jobber and thats a damn shame he was far to talented tol be a jobber. Dude was mad over the head chants
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5iWHk3nwyU
I honestly think he should have stayed with ECW -
1. 2 Cold Scorpio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIj6BTIl3sg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvU6zjh9ovM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFZlx9IOFuU
People this talented should not be jobbers. He should have atleast been a midcarder considering how over he was in literally every over company he has work with
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genocidecutter wrote: »4. Taka Michinoku
The fact the wwe could not think of ANYTHING for this guy to do makes me seriously question wwe creative(russo at the time). He also was completely wasted in the worthless lightweight division. In 2000 he would team with Funaki as a team named Kai en tai. While the team was funny they never went anywhere or won many matches. He's only time he got to shine was the match he had with triple H.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I-iUL2IBn4
Forgot about Taka
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not only should al snow have stayed with ecw, they might as well have gave him the strap, he had pinfall victories over shane douglas anyway
and scorpio prolly should have stayed too, idk if id make him heavyweight champ tho cuz i dont think he could talk -
Compared to Scorpio though Al Snow was blessed. At least his gimmick was still kinda consistent with the zany ? guy we knew from ECW. Flash Funk was straight up ? .
Best thing to come out of Dean Malenko's time in The Fed was his titantron that ? still manages to make me laugh and break my neck at the same time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmcFZfl8BTI
give Cesaro that song back dammit! -
Compared to Scorpio though Al Snow was blessed. At least his gimmick was still kinda consistent with the zany ? guy we knew from ECW. Flash Funk was straight up ? .
Best thing to come out of Dean Malenko's time in The Fed was his titantron that ? still manages to make me laugh and break my neck at the same timehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmcFZfl8BTI
give Cesaro that song back dammit!
No love for the police sirens? -
Test.
He shoulda been the hero to HHHs villain with the whole Stephanie ? . Instead they made him a ? then teamed him up with Albert where in 3 separate occasions from 2001-2003 HHH beats both in handicapped matches by himself CLEANLY. (YET THE MONSTER KANE B4 HE BECAME THE JOBBER KANE COULD NEVER BEAT THE ACOLYTES AKA APA BY HIMSELF IN THE VERY SAME HANDICAP SETTING HMM. ..) Basically, leaving Test with no main event credibility (another reason to dislike THHHor aka Mr.Reaping the benefits if ? the bosses daughter aka the Jay-Z of wrestling)
Test had everything but the mic skills, imo. He had the size, look, theme music, youth,the moves, and did "WWF style" perfectly in that ring. What a waste. RIP bruh. -
genocidecutter wrote: »Compared to Scorpio though Al Snow was blessed. At least his gimmick was still kinda consistent with the zany ? guy we knew from ECW. Flash Funk was straight up ? .
Best thing to come out of Dean Malenko's time in The Fed was his titantron that ? still manages to make me laugh and break my neck at the same timehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmcFZfl8BTI
give Cesaro that song back dammit!
No love for the police sirens?
That theme's as much of a joke as his booking is.
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Co-sign Taka and Essa. They were criminally misused. Funaki too as well as the Dudleyz IMO (I know a lot of people liked what WWE did with them). Dean Malenko was about the same as he was in WCW in terms of in ring and character. Just as boring. Though he didn't get a feud with someone like a Jericho to make his overall blandness more tolerable like in WCW so I guess the booking was more lackluster.
the dudleyz were like 9 time tag champions in their wwe run, and was booked as a prominent tag team for four years. how were they misused?
I think Big Show falls in that spot too...another victim of a stunner on TV for no reason but he is over 7' and 400lbs, no reason at all that Rock and Austin were mopping the floor with him.
I think even show admitted he never worked hard early in his wwe career. he never worked out, never attempted to get better in the ring,and just relied on his height and weight to awe people. that's why wwe booked him as the 7 foot 500 pound monster that ultimately gets his ass whooped by everybody -
Already Home_17 wrote: »Co-sign Taka and Essa. They were criminally misused. Funaki too as well as the Dudleyz IMO (I know a lot of people liked what WWE did with them). Dean Malenko was about the same as he was in WCW in terms of in ring and character. Just as boring. Though he didn't get a feud with someone like a Jericho to make his overall blandness more tolerable like in WCW so I guess the booking was more lackluster.
the dudleyz were like 9 time tag champions in their wwe run, and was booked as a prominent tag team for four years. how were they misused?
Their characters and move sets bro. They were watered down too much.
It's difficult to explain to people who didn't know them from ECW before WWF.
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This guy was Bret Hart and Dolph Ziggler combined.
Dean had no personality dude's only had one expression for everything -
Peezy_Jenkins wrote: »one guy that comes to mind..
d'lo brown
he was actually used well in the midcard, i think he might coulda had a shot in the main event tho
as much as D'lo was cool son wasnt meant to be in the main event
lets remember how stacked the Main event was back then now days we only have a good 5 top guys back then you had
Austin
Rock
HHH
Taker
Kane
Mankind
Show
Kurt
Just outside the main event u had
Apa
hardys
Dudleys -
I'm going to take an uncanny approach and throw a name out there that most wouldn't think about, or even associate with the attitude era.
British Bulldog in 1999
He obviously wasnt as good anymore but he still had some value. But they wasted him in the lower mid card after his feud with the Rock. He should've been used like how they used Jake The Snake in '96, or Bossman in '98. -
Seriously
By the time his rub was up I didn't even think highly of him anymore
Crazy cause VKM like powerhouse guys BB was damn near a jobber at one point -
Bulldog's back was destroyed and he had just beaten a drug habit by the time he returned to WWF. All the things that made him Bulldog, he couldn't do anymore. He was simply a kick and punch guy, a mini Sid.
The nail in his coffin was when Rock gave him that Rock Bottom on that sheet of dog ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGt4TL5sJbA
That was VKMs send off to Bulldog, his message; he wasn't ? to him anymore. It was like VKM got his revenge on Bulldog for going to WCW as well. VKM got his revenge on everyone who defected.
But I'd have to agree that Test was next, and HHH took that from him. I read that if HHH hadn't gotten to Steph and VKM the way he did, Test was supposed to be in the position where HHH ended up. And it wasn't like Test couldn't go in the ring, he could play big and go small if he had to. Perfect example was his WMx7 match against Eddie.
Highlights only
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1QmnYaq-WI
He was young, raw, but skilled, and had a tremendous upside. Yet, HHH saw the threat and played politics to get him out of any position to sniff the main event.
