Biggest WWE Superstars Who Failed to Impress in 2013

With such a crowded roster in the WWE, opportunities are always hard to come by. It is often the Superstars that are expected to kick on in a calendar year that slide down the roster—and those who are not discussed are the ones who find themselves challenging for titles.

Take Big E Langston, for example. Who, at the beginning of 2013, would have said Langston would be holding one of the most prestigious titles in the WWE at the end of the year?

For every guy like Langston, there is a guy who flatters to deceive in the ring—and out of it, in some cases.

Of course, there are circumstances surrounding the Superstar and their demise, but never the less, they have still failed to impress when many fancied them to dominate.

Let's take a look at the biggest WWE Superstars who failed to deliver on their hype in 2013.

The Miz

Photo courtesy WWE.com

We start with a Superstar who has had plenty of main event experience, but just can't seem to get it together to force himself back up the card in the WWE.

The Miz splits opinion amongst WWE fans all across the world. Many found it hard to believe he was ever given a legitimate run as WWE champion—but the fact he headlined WrestleMania suggested someone, somewhere believed in him.

It's hard to really recall a particular moment of The Miz's year that stands out in the memory. His rivalry with Kofi Kingston at the moment is a rivalry that is going nowhere.

Quite how The Miz builds on an appalling 2013 is anyone's guess. But he needs some sort of direction if 2014 is to be his year.

Ryback

Photo courtesy WWE.com

No matter what people think of him, it always seems bizarre that WWE never gave Ryback a shot as a champion—given how many main events he was involved in.

2013 started pretty brightly for Ryback, when he eliminated five men at the Royal Rumble, before being the last man to be thrown over the top rope by winner John Cena.

So many title opportunities with so little success is not the reason Ryback is on this list—it is what followed after his run in the championship mix.

What did follow was essentially nothing. His gimmick he adopted where he began bullying backstage workers represented a huge shift in the fortunes of the man formerly known as Skip Sheffield. A series of losses and lack of direction get Ryback a place on this list.

Things may be starting to turn now that he is forging a fairly successful tag team with Curtis Axel. However, Ryback may always wonder what could have been in the year of 2013.

Wade Barrett

Photo courtesy WWE.com

The Englishman has suffered from a crisis in character in 2013—so much so that he has recently been repackaged in an attempt to salvage his sliding WWE career.

Of course, legitimate work visa issues prevented Barrett from appearing on TV for a lengthy period during the latter part of 2013, but that has not stopped some dismal performances on screen when he has been in the ring.

A particular low point that sticks out was when Barrett was reduced to acting as a barber to shave Daniel Bryan's beard for his "corporate makeover", per the instructions of Vince McMahon.

Nevertheless, Bad News Barrett is now the angle the Englishman is working with, and it would be difficult for him to have a worse 2014 than he has 2013.

Seth Rollins

Photo courtesy WWE.com

This may sound like a controversial one given the success of The Shield, but hang with me.

When The Shield debuted at Survivor Series last year, Seth Rollins was holding the NXT Championship. He was arguably the best wrestler outside of the main roster, and the guy with the most hype amongst his fellow stablemates.

Fast forward a year, and Rollins is fast becoming the guy nobody is bothered about in WWE. All the hype is about Roman Reigns, and how it is he who will be the next big thing when The Shield eventually split. Rightly so, to some extent. Reigns has transformed himself into the focal figure of the group.

Even Dean Ambrose seems to have more talk and hype around him than Rollins. Sure, he held the tag titles with Reigns for a lengthy period, but when The Shield do part their own ways, you have to wonder what is next for Seth Rollins.

Of the members of the group who do not need the split, Rollins seems to be the only one.

Dolph Ziggler

Photo courtesy WWE.com

Dolph Ziggler is the inevitable entrant on this list. If this was a power ranking, Ziggler would be sitting comfortably in top place.

How do you solve the curious case of Dolph Ziggler? He is a guy who the wrestling community love, and the fans at live events seem to be pretty into him, too. What he may be guilty of is a tendency to speak out against in the company away from WWE TV.

Can that really be how Ziggler has suffered such a fall from grace? Being reduced to losing to Fandango in the pre-show is ridiculous in truth—for a guy who held the World Heavyweight Championship a matter of months ago.

He seemed to be quickly scrubbed out of that title picture when he dropped the belt to Alberto Del Rio, and has since been scratching around for a rivalry that suits his persona.

Hopefully 2014 will be Ziggler's year. A legitimate return to the main event scene—or even a midcard title at this moment in time—would be welcomed by many wrestling fans across the globe.