Ranking the 5 Most Disappointing WWE Superstars of the Past Decade

WWE is the biggest wrestling company in the world, and Vince McMahon is a genius when it comes to the business, but not every piece of talent becomes a superstar the way that WWE or fans wanted them to be. Sometimes they don't fit in if they're an established outside star.

Sometimes it's the talent's fault.

Sometimes WWE's creative team fails.

Either way, it sucks for everyone involved: The wrestler doesn't gain professional fulfillment, the fans don't get the performances and storylines they hoped for, and WWE loses out on an investment in that talent.

So, regardless of who was at fault, let's look at the worst cases from the past 10 years of who came in with high hopes but didn't exactly turn out the way anyone wanted...

Chris Harris/Braden Walker

Chris Harris and James Storm were mainstays of the independent scene in Nashville when they were brought into TNA as a tag team when the company launched in 2002.  They turned into one of the best teams in the business and went on to hold the company's tag titles six times, most memorably taking on Triple X (Christopher Daniels and Elix Skipper) in two spectacular cage matches.

In early 2008, Harris' contract was up and he had interest from WWE, so he didn't renew his deal.  As a fairly talented tall guy with a good look, you'd think he'd do well there, but I don't think anyone anticipated what actually happened.

He showed up with no fanfare on ECW (then WWE's C-level brand) as Braden Walker, having gained what looked like 30 pounds, and he had new ring gear that didn't flatter him at all.  His wrestling was listless and his debut promo consisted of him saying "Knock knock.  [Who's there?]  Braden Walker.  And I'm gonna knock your brains out!"

He was fired a month after he debuted on TV.

Since then, he's mostly wrestled on independent shows.  When he briefly returned to TNA (looking more like Braden Walker in Chris Harris' gear), guess what the fans chanted?

"KNOCK KNOCK!  WHO'S THERE! BRA-DEN WALK-ER!"

Sean O'Haire

A product of WCW's Power Plant wrestling school, Sean O'Haire was seemingly on the verge of stardom when WCW closed in March 2001.  A huge, imposing figure with a great look, he was also incredibly agile and used the Swanton Bomb (or the "Seanton Bomb") as his finishing move.  Until the cancellation of WCW's TV shows changed all of those plans, Eric Bischoff planned for him to be one of WCW's top stars once his investors bought the company.

When WWE bought WCW's assets instead, O'Haire was one half of their tag team champions (with Chuck Palumbo), but he was sent down to the developmental system before the WCW invasion storyline even ended.  Aside from a few low-key appearances on "Sunday Night Heat," he was off TV until 2003.

It seemed like he was being primed for a hell of a run when the promos to set up his new gimmick started.  It's hard to get an idea of just how good and unique they were without watching them; besides the one embedded above, there's a playlist of all of them here.

The gist was that he was a con man, cult leader type encouraging all sorts of debauchery and illegal behavior among the viewing audience.  Cheat on your wife, do drugs, break laws that won't hurt anyone else, don't pay your taxes because a little guy won't get caught, etc., all ending with the catchphrase "But hey, I'm not telling you anything you didn't already know."

The edgy gimmick combined with O'Haire's unique delivery and the immaculate production values had fans hotly anticipating his debut, but he couldn't live up to the hype.  The biggest problem was that while he was able to do these amazing videos when he had the luxury of doing multiple takes, he was incredibly nervous and prone to laughter when talking in front of live crowds.

As a result, his first appearance at an actual TV taping was a pre-taped backstage promo.  Soon after that, Roddy Piper returned and O'Haire was shunted into a bodyguard role for him.  He never talked, Piper was gone within a few months (and that's a whole 'nother story...), and O'Haire was just another undercard wrestler for the rest of his run.

O'Haire's issues with cutting live promos were probably his undoing, but those original videos were so good that it was hard not to be disappointed that nobody considered that aspect in the first place.

Low-Ki/Kaval

For the better part of a decade, Low-Ki was one of the biggest independent stars in the U.S. and Japan.  Tiny but explosive, he was one of the key players in the independent scene focusing more on a hard-hitting Japanese-infuenced style.  Very early in 2009, he had done everything he could on independent shows and in international promotions, so he signed a developmental deal with WWE.

He reported to Florida Championship Wrestling, where he was renamed Kaval (Tagalog for "soldier").  While a fair amount of his time under contract was spent healing up a surgically repaired knee, he was always one of the standouts in the developmental program. 

He was called up in June 2010 to be one of the "rookies" on the second season of the original version of NXT, where he was mentored by LayCool (Layla and Michelle McCool).  As soon as he was introduced, LayCool gushed about how tiny and adorable he was.  When he started wrestling, he would come out in pink LayCool T-shirts.

Regardless of why you think this happened, it wasn't necessarily the best way to book him, but he still managed to win that season (and some kind of title shot) in a fan vote.  He tried to cash in the title shot against then-Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler at Survivor Series and failed.  A month later, he was released days before Christmas.

Initially, he claimed he quit because of frustration over his place in the company, but eventually it came out that he was fired.  Whether WWE had no faith in him because he was an "indie superstar" or he had attitude issues or what (there are a zillion Low-Ki stories), that was the end of him in WWE.

He soon went back to New Japan Pro Wrestling as his primary job in pro wrestling, and that went fine for a couple of years.  Then, at this year's Wrestle Kingdom show (their WrestleMania), he came out dressed as Agent 47 from the Hitman video games and wrestled his whole match in a suit.  It turned out he did this without permission, and he was immediately fired.

He now claims that he's retired so he can concentrate on voice acting work.  Draw your own conclusions.

Sin Cara/Mistico

It's no exaggeration to say that when WWE signed Mistico in 2011 and renamed him Sin Cara, he was one of the biggest stars in pro wrestling.  He was hand-picked for stardom and lived up to his push by being a very charismatic high-flyer.

The big mistake was letting him bypass the developmental system.  Lucha Libre is very different from American-style wrestling in many ways: different bumping, different psychology, different pacing, they work the right side of the body (most styles work the left side), etc.  That's not even taking into account the differences between WWE and other American wrestling (different pacing thanks in part to a bigger ring with different ropes, for example).

The first several months of Sin Cara's run went something like this:

• He regularly botched moves he used to hit fine, so WWE put him in with respected veteran Chavo Guerrero Jr.
• They had a bad match because Guerrero was the only wrestler in his family to have little Lucha Libre experience.
• He was asked for a good opponent for them to sign, and he suggested Averno, his friend and greatest rival from Mexico.
• He was written off TV with an injury sustained at Money in the Bank because he failed a drug test for what he later told a Mexican magazine was for using a medication that he didn't know contained "asteroides."  If you ever see a joke about Sin Cara and asteroids, that's why.
• Plans to bring in Averno were aborted.
• Sin Cara's return was advertised for before his suspension would be up because WWE decided to call up Hunico (the original Mistico from Juarez, Mexico, who had heat with Sin Cara over him becoming a star with the name) from developmental to substitute for him.
• Hunico was simultaneously better (knew American style due to being from a border town and spent time learning WWE style in developmental) and worse (less spectacular), but most fans didn't notice the difference at first.
• The original Sin Cara was brought back after Hunico had a disastrous match on SmackDown.
• Hunico returned to TV as a second Sin Cara to set up a feud that had Lucha fans buzzing, but it was a disappointment.  The backstory was never explained except for one promo by Hunico in Spanish.
• Sin Cara won Hunico's mask.
• He blew out his knee at Survivor Series, putting him out of action for six months.

While he had some occasional bright spots since, like teaming with Rey Mysterio, he's largely considered a failed experiment.  He's still in the company (as is Hunico, even though he's never around) and he's over beyond the level of his push when he's on TV, but it's hard to envision a scenario where he becomes Rey Mysterio's replacement as WWE's big Latin American star like they hoped for.

Goldberg

Booking Goldberg should be simple: He's a stone-faced, silent, serious good guy who wins all the time.  Somehow WWE screwed this up.

The Rock had helped make the deal for him to join in 2003, as he wanted to devote his remaining in-ring time to big dream matches to get the most out of what he had left.  While their segments together were fun and they had a very good match, it was clear from the beginning that WWE Goldberg wasn't going to be the same as WCW Goldberg.

How did we know?  They put Goldust's wig on him.

I don't think the character necessarily died at that moment like a lot of people do, but it was obvious that WWE didn't understand what you couldn't do to Goldberg.  He had some good matches and he got fans behind him, but it wasn't the same.  The one moment where it felt like it was, when he ran through the field in an Elimination Chamber match, Triple H quickly hit him with a sledgehammer to win the match.

Goldberg signed on for a year and didn't renew his contract.  He left after a disastrous battle with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 20 where they barely touched and the crowd turned on the match.