10 WWE One-Hit Wonders You Haven't Thought About in Years

Every wrestler arrives in WWE with a certain amount of hype. There is no larger stage in professional wrestling, so finding your way onto television says something about the talent of the man or woman behind the gimmick.

However, hype can only last so long. Eventually, the talent needs to reach his or her potential, or fans will lose any interest.

Unfortunately, not many find true success in WWE. For every Roman Reigns or John Cena, there are hundreds more that barely last a few years in the company.

Some would go on to success in professional wrestling outside of WWE while others would leverage their brief fame into podcasts or more general social media fame.

Most, though, are completely forgotten. There are many stars that were once deemed worthy of wrestling Undertaker, Triple H, Bret Hart or Randy Orton, who would not even be considered for an enhancement match these days.

These are 10 one-hit wonders the WWE Universe has almost entirely forgotten, disappearing into a quiet life after their potential petered out.

Marc Mero

Marc Mero appeared first for WWE at WrestleMania XII. He defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley in his pay-per-view debut. Just five months into his run, he defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin, Owen Hart and Farooq to win the Intercontinental Championship.

In many ways, Mero was hyped as a top guy in the making. However, an ACL injury, a poorly received heel turn, and the growing popularity of his wife Sable over him ended his WWE career almost as quickly as it started.

He walked out on the company just three years into a six-year deal and never recovered. Even including his time in WCW as Johnny B. Badd where he won the WCW Television Championship three times, Mero never found himself in professional wrestling.

He was always a better athlete than personality (especially when attempting to create a character that was an extension of himself rather than a celebrity parody) and could not find his place in an era defined by larger-than-life personalities.

These days, he is not brought up much in professional wrestling circles due to his falling-out with WWE. He was a notable critic of WWE's medical standards for wrestlers.

While he has disappeared from professional wrestling conversation, he has found his own success as a motivation speaker, founding Champion of Choices.

Steve Blackman

WWE has always sought to bring in legitimate fighters to aid an air of realism to professional wrestling. Alongside Ken Shamrock, who has brought in around the same time, Steve Blackman was a true legitimate martial artist.

After first arriving, he picked up early wins, not losing for nearly a year. He even pinned The Rock. He teamed up with Shamrock to contest The Nation of Domination. However, both could not rise together.

They ended up feuding, and it was the UFC Hall of Famer that emerged victorious. Blackman was left behind, and he could not sell his personality to an Attitude Era audience.

He would go onto win the WWE Hardcore Championship six times, holding the title longer than anyone else in terms of total days, but it did not amount to much as that championship was seen as a joke title.

After an injury sidelined him in 2001, he sat out the rest of his contract and walked out on WWE.

He would go on to open a self-defense school Blackman MMA in 2003 and put his full focus into that pursuit. Beyond the occasional WWE cameo appearance, he disappeared from professional wrestling for good.

Giant Gonzalez

At 8"0', Giant Gonzalez is the tallest man ever born in Argentina. His height made him a noticeable attraction, but he could never quite adapt to athletic sports.

He feuded with Ric Flair for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship near the beginning of his career. WWE signed him away from WCW and pit him against The Undertaker.

However, he was unable to perform at the level the companies expected of him. He was too immobile, and his heath was waning before he turned 30.

WWE would mostly overwrite his legacy with other giants in future years. Whether it be the impressive career of Big Show or the short but memorable legacy of The Great Khali, other big men took up the mantle more successfully.

Unfortunately, Gonzalez was unable to overcome his personal health issues and passed away at the age of 44.

He was also only one of many men that would be set up to work with The Undertaker, only to quickly lose their careers when they could not keep up.

Nathan Jones

Nathan Jones was one of many physical specimen that WWE signed in the early 2000s with hopes to create the future. A 6'11" strongman, he found the transition to wrestling natural, making a name for himself in Australia.

WWE signed him with high hopes, not even putting him through developmental right away.

Jones was almost a part of history in WWE. The big man was paired up with Undertaker as his protégé. He was supposed to team with The Deadman at WrestleMania XIX against Big Show and A-Train.

However, WWE lost trust in him, taking him out of the WrestleMania match, leaving Taker to win a handicap match. WWE then decided to send him to Ohio Valley Wrestling to train up.

When he came back from OVW, he was inserted into the feud of Brock Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle. The rigors of the road were too much for Jones, who quit WWE and shortly thereafter retired from wrestling.

Even if he had not walked out though, Jones never truly took to high-level performance. He was named Most Embarrassing Wrestler and Worst Wrestler in the 2003 Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards.

He found his true calling in acting, utilizing his unique size to stand out in background roles. He even found a memorable role in the highly acclaimed Mad Max: Fury Road.

Vladimir Kozlov

Vladimir Koslov marched into WWE as a dominant powerhouse that could not be beaten. For nearly one year, he was undefeated and was immediately inserted into the world title picture.

This dominant man with a pedigree in Sambo and kickboxing looked like an unstoppable threat.

However, despite a massive start to his run, he lost all steam when he lost to The Undertaker. It was his first pinfall loss and seemed to indicate WWE was no longer behind him.

He moved over to WWECW where he was overshadowed by the rising Ezekiel Jackson then moved to Monday Night Raw where he fell into a comedy role in a tag team with Santino Marella. When that fizzled out, he was released.

Koslov made an impressive impact in his first year in WWE, but once his momentum stalled, he never recovered. He was never good enough to compete in the ring with the top names, and he did not have the personality or mic skills necessary to stand out.

He mostly stepped away from wrestling after his release, but he has recently worked for Impact Wrestling on the Russian-language commentary stream. At 54 years old though, he is likely never going to step back in the ring.

Muhammad Hassan

No man on this list was closer to mainstream success than Muhammad Hassan. Claiming to be of Jordanian-Palestian descent, Hassan took advantage of the rising tensions between the United States of American and The Middle East to become a top heel.

He nearly won the Intercontinental Championship then World Heavyweight Championship over just eight months on the main roster. He worked with Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Batista and more.

However, one poorly timely segment ended his career before he could capture gold or truly reach his potential. WWE booked a segment where Hassan led a group of masked men to attack The Undertaker in a scene eerily similar to the London bombings that same week.

Due to the negative media attention WWE received from the segment, UPN pressured WWE to take Hassan off television. Ultimately, he was released.

Hassan barely wrestled for the rest of his career, focusing on a teaching career instead. He eventually took on the role of principal at Fulton Junior High School in central New York.

Because of how little WWE will mention him, he has disappeared into the annals of history but serves as a fascinating what-if of a possible main event star whose career ended too soon.

Mr. Kennedy

Mr. Kennedy may have lasted just three-and-a-half years in WWE, but he was almost a top guy in that time. If not for a medical misdiagnosis, he would have been World heavyweight champion.

Kennedy worked with top names from his first day on Friday Night SmackDown. He was Eddie Guerrero's final opponent. He won the United States Championship. He defeated The Undertaker. He almost took gold from Batista and Bobby Lashley.

Finally, he won the big one, capturing the Money in the Bank briefcase, the third man to win the briefcase after Edge and Rob Van Dam. However, he never cashed in due to a triceps injury that WWE thought would require surgery.

Edge took his briefcase and cashed it in to defeat The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship.

Days later, WWE realized Kennedy would be recover quickly without surgery. Several months later, he was suspended alongside 10 other wrestlers in the wake of a steroid scandal.

When he returned, it still looked like Kennedy could make it big. However, after wrestling with Randy Orton and John Cena, who complained about him working stiff, he was released from his contract and never returned.

He did go on to a successful career in TNA, including winning the TNA World Championship twice. However, he lost steam over time before leaving in 2016. He has struggled for a wrestling spotlight since.

While the reasons for Anderson's release were questionable, he never reached his high potential as a charismatic performer, who could compete with the top names in the business. He is barely talked about these days in wrestling circles.

Ludvig Borga

Few likely remember Ludvig Borga, who came onto the scene in 1993 with instant hype only to disappear just as quickly.

The Hellraiser from Helsinki was a dominant heel from the outset, defeating Marty Jannetty at SummerSlam and ending the two-year undefeated streak of Tatanka.

He even unofficially defeated Intercontinental champion Razor Ramon, though the result was reversed when the referee realized Shawn Michaels had gotten involved.

Just as Borga began to rise up the ranks, an injury to his ankle in January quickly ended his WWE career just six months in.

It was later revealed that Borga was concealing a Schutzstaffel tattoo. It also did not help that he was seen as untalented in the ring despite his athleticism.

He became a very quick footnote in WWE history. He retired from wrestling in 1997 and had a very unsuccessful MMA career. He turned to politics, spending four years in Finnish Parliament.

Borga was one of many names in wrestling that were more look than talent in the squared circle, but he never did get a chance to show if he could improve due to controversies beyond the ring.

Ahmed Johnson

Ahmed Johnson holds the distinction of becoming the first African American Intercontinental champion. Many expected that was only the first step in his rise to the top of WWE.

Throughout his brief career in WWE, he would work with top names including Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, Goldust and Jeff Jarrett, presented at the same level.

However, nothing quite worked out for Johnson. An injury led to him dropping his championship. His proposed match with The Undertaker for WWE Championship was cancelled due to further health issues.

He quit WWE shortly thereafter to take care of his ailing sister, and the company never considered re-signing him. He tried to make a run of it in WCW, but weight issues led to his release.

Johnson's health may have been the biggest factor holding him back, though later in his life he would also note concerns of racism in the business.

No matter what held him back, Johnson was another talent that went from rising star to forgotten name in a matter of only a couple years.

The Patriot

Few men quite live up to the one-hit wonder label as much as The Patriot. He and Marcus Bagwell as Stars and Stripes won the WCW Tag Team Championships just months into his run in WCW before leaving. He appeared in WWE with one goal: to feud with Bret Hart.

He defeated The Hitman thanks to Shawn Michaels, but it was not long thereafter that he was released by WWE. Plans dissipated for him the moment Hart moved past him.

He was set up repeatedly as a temporary gimmick, representing America against the foreign heel figures WWE loved to build. Very few stars can claim victory over The Hitman.

However, in the end, the gimmick could not get The Patriot any further than the door. He would tear his tricep near the end of his short WWE career and retired because of the injury.

He would later admit that he regularly used anabolic steroids and cocaine to work. He also was addicted to pain killers. He went to jail for nine months for forging a prescription for them.

Luckily, he would find a way to overcome his addictions, getting clean and finding a life beyond wrestling as a car salesman.

His story became a cautionary tale for relying on drugs to find temporary success, a story he would tell for future generations, hoping no one else would follow his path.