WWE Missed Opportunities: A Look Back at Sean O'Haire

In June 2000, World Championship Wrestling debuted an athletic new superstar known as Sean O'Haire. He and his tag team partner, Mark Jindrak, picked up a win that night.

Three months later, that team would win the WCW Tag Team Championship.

O'Haire would go on to have a lot of success towards the end of WCW, winning the tag team titles three times. But when WCW was purchased by WWE, several questions came with the sale.

Who would WWE choose to sign? How would they use the ones they brought in? Amongst the crop of talent WCW had, O'Haire should have stood out.

At the time, O'Haire was 29 years old and in the prime of his career. A transition to WWE would be very interesting.

WWE offered O'Haire a contract, and he and Chuck Palumbo came over as the WCW tag team champions. However, it only took about six weeks for them to drop those titles.

Shortly after, O'Haire was moved down to Ohio Valley Wrestling in Louisville, Kentucky. At that time, it served as WWE's main developmental territory.

Despite the fact he had made a big name for himself in WCW, WWE determined that he needed more training. O'Haire would not be seen on the main roster for nearly a year.

After returning, O'Haire competed in singles action, appearing on one of WWE's smaller shows, Heat. After a few appearances, O'Haire disappeared again.

But the next time he returned, things would be different.

In the beginning of 2003, WWE began airing vignettes in which O'Haire, dressed in a black suit, was seemingly encouraging viewers to do things that most people look down upon. These things included tax evasion, adultery and skipping out on church.

He even had his own catchphrase: "I'm not telling you anything you don't already know."

Wow. This was really different from the O'Haire we had seen before. This was edgy, this was interesting...this was great.

Whether you agreed with what he was saying or not wasn't the point. WWE had come up with something that was pure brilliance. The best part was the fact that O'Haire seemed like a perfect fit for the character.

After a few of these videos, O'Haire returned to television, trying to convince the Superstars of WWE to do crazy things.

This was something O'Haire could have gone very far with. WWE could have sent O'Haire into the crowd, urging fans in the audience to do things they wouldn't normally do. The possibilities were endless.

WWE didn't see it that way, as O'Haire's new character was dropped very quickly. Was that because there were bigger plans in store?

Possibly. In April 2003, WWE matched O'Haire up with legend "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. This was a strange pair, but it was something that could help launch a push for O'Haire.

Almost immediately, that seemed to be the case.

O'Haire was booked in a match against Rikishi at Backlash in 2003. This was the biggest match of O'Haire's WWE career to that point.

In less than five minutes, he picked up a win over Rikishi, a Superstar who had enjoyed much success in WWE. With Piper in his corner, it appeared O'Haire was on his way up the WWE ladder.

O'Haire started a nice winning streak, getting big victories over Superstars such as Eddie Guerrero, Mr. America and Chris Benoit.

But in June 2003, that all came crashing down when WWE made the decision to release Piper from his contract. With Piper out of the picture, O'Haire again disappeared from television.

Sadly, O'Haire's career with the company was all but over at that point.

After being involved in a serious motorcycle accident in November 2003, O'Haire and WWE parted ways less than six months later.

How could this be? Less than four years earlier, O'Haire burst onto the pro wrestling scene with a ton of potential. Yet very little of that was ever realized.

It's hard to fathom why WWE chose not to feature O'Haire in a more prominent role.

The decision to use Piper in a managerial role for him was working, but what was wrong with the devil's advocate character?

Take a look at what Bray Wyatt is currently doing in WWE. O'Haire could have created something just as good with the persona he was working on in early 2003. But fans never saw it get off the ground.

Sadly, O'Haire passed away in September 2014 at the age of 43. Though his wrestling career was long over, he should be remembered for his contributions to the business. He should be remembered for being a young, energetic competitor who looked every bit like a future World champion.

But that never happened. It didn't even come close to happening. Somehow, WWE allowed him to slip through its cracks.