10 Underrated Stars from WWE's Attitude Era Who Deserved Bigger Pushes

The number of stars to thrive during the Attitude Era is a who's who list of industry icons. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, The Rock, Chris Jericho, Triple H, Mankind, Undertaker and Kane all became household names and pop culture phenomenons during the hottest period in WWE history, but not everyone was quite so lucky.

For every main event, Hall of Fame performer who headlined pay-per-views or starred on Raw and SmackDown, there is an undervalued and underutilized talent who probably could have been a bigger success story than they were.

From a journeyman badass to a talented female performer who became a Hall of Famer despite some lackluster booking, join Bleacher Report on its latest journey into the Attitude Era with this look at its most underrated Superstars.

10. Hardcore Holly

Of everyone on this list, Hardcore Holly came the closest to a big time push during the Attitude Era.

The journeyman competitor settled into his Big Shot gimmick, in which he claimed to be a super heavyweight, and mixed it up with the likes of Kane and Big Show. He even officiated a match between the giants at the Fully Loaded pay-per-view in July 1999.

Alas, the push proved short-lived, and Holly disappeared into the hardcore division before a broken arm suffered in a match with Kurt Angle sidelined him for most of 2000.

Holly was the no-nonsense badass who, in the Attitude Era, probably could have thrived at a level higher than he had previously experienced had it been for more consistent booking. From time to time, it appeared as though WWE Creative was interested in pushing him, only for the honeymoon to end shortly thereafter.

Unfortunately, Holly never reached the level of competition he probably deserved and remains synonymous with his work in the hardcore division more than anything.

9. Terri Runnels

Terri Runnels is most known for her escapades with The Kat or as a member of PMS alongside Jacqueline, but it always felt like she was capable of contributing more. A talented talker with a great on-screen presence, there was potential for her to be a central figure in a higher-profile storyline than the undercard position she routinely found herself in.

At the beginning of 2000, a heel turn saw her betray The Hardy Boyz and tease joining Edge and Christian. Imagine if she would have been the very first Duchess of Dudleyville, the manager of the still-heel tag team champions Dudley Boyz at the time?

It instantly would have put greater emphasis on her and, considering how things would play out, a heel foil for Lita to play off of as she accompanied the Hardys.

Whether it was as Marlena, the so-called director of Goldust, or as the vindictive estranged wife who entered a torrid affair with Val Venis, she had shown the ability to excel in higher-profile storylines. In hindsight, she was probably capable of more than she was afforded.

8. Dean Malenko

The Man of 1,000 Holds entered WWE as a quarter of The Radicalz and wasted little time in capturing the Light Heavyweight Championship. He would eventually compete against fellow teammates Eddie Guerrero and Perry Saturn over the European Championship before becoming a ladies' man, accompanied to the squared circle by numerous escorts.

He was an undercarder at best, but his work in WCW suggested he was capable of contributing so much more.

Was he smaller than most WWE Superstars at the time? Yes, but so were Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho, both of whom thrived. Malenko's stoic personality may have hampered his ability to move up the ranks, but he easily could have been given a mouthpiece to get him over. One of the best technical wrestlers on the planet, he could have had some hellish matches with Kurt Angle and The Rock or even rekindled his intense rivalry with the aforementioned Jericho from WCW.

Instead, he remains one of the rare stars to migrate from Ted Turner's company who was better off there than he was in WWE. 

7. Al Snow

Al Snow, like Hardcore Holly, had a brief flirtation with the main event as a heel foil for The Rock in late 1999. Jealous over friend Mick Foley's partnership with The Great One, he set them up for an ugly breakup, only to be revealed as the scheming baddie he was.

Unfortunately, that run was but a blip, and he quickly returned to the midcard, where he partnered with Steve Blackman. That team created some fun moments but went nowhere, and Snow slid back into obscurity. He would pop back up for matches with Tazz or a European Championship run in late 2000, but he was positioned primarily in the undercard.

A character who could have contributed more consistently with a genuine push instead of being a brief TV program for The Rock, Snow probably should have accomplished more than he did during the era.

The founder of the J.O.B. Squad, he demonstrated an ability to capture the attention of the audience through strong promo work and a unique character. He just never had the opportunity to expand upon that and was treated more as a joke than anything.

6. Ivory

Ivory had what many would have dreamed of during the Attitude Era: a sustained, monthslong run working opposite Chyna in a fairly hot storyline. The women's champion at the time, she was a genuinely hated heel who would incite jeers in any arena she entered. She is also a WWE Hall of Famer, making the argument that she could have been better utilized during that particular period difficult.

But not an impossible one.

Ivory was one of the rare women who could work during the Attitude Era. A veteran of GLOW, she also understood how important character work was. On top of it all, as she demonstrated during her time with The Right to Censor, she could talk.

Instead of someone who was thrown together in tag matches with Crash Holly to face the more prioritized Trish Stratus and Val Venis or left to compete on C-level shows like Sunday Night Heat or Jakked, she should have had a much higher-profile on shows than she did.

She had an attitude, she had flare and she was not above competing in the more gimmicky matches the other women found themselves in, as evidenced by her mud wrestling with Miss Kitty on SmackDown in September 1999.

Ivory was arguably the most complete female talent WWE had at the time and to see her utilized so sparingly between her initial women's title push and her run with The RTC, and thereafter, is highly disappointing.

5. Val Venis

Val Venis was saddled with a gimmick that, while incredibly over, was never going to allow him to reach the level his talent reflected. An adult film star-turned-wrestler was a character with an obvious ceiling.

The minute he captured the Intercontinental Championship at St. Valentine's Day Massacre in February 1999, he peaked, whether that is fair or not. Sure, he feuded with Mankind and even beat the Hall of Famer in a match at No Mercy, but with that particular persona, he never felt like he belonged in that spot.

Even when the company stripped him of the character, gave him a little bit of an edge and paired him with Trish Stratus, the dark cloud of the Venis gimmick hung overhead, ready to rain on any parade that took him any higher on the card.

A run with the Right to Censor was the last high-profile opportunity Venis had as he soon fell into the deep, dark abyss of the WWE undercard. A staple of Sunday Night Heat late in his career before one las- gasp run as Chief Morely with the Raw brand, the company released Venis in 2008 after a 10-year run.

Now, some 22 years after he first popped up on WWE television, he remains one of the bigger what-ifs of the Attitude Era.

4. D'Lo Brown

D'Lo Brown was one of those Attitude Era wrestlers who dripped potential the minute he was allowed to start working in matches. His rivalry with X-Pac over the European Championship was one of the most underrated series of the entire period, while his two Intercontinental Championship bouts with Jeff Jarrett showcased a young performer ready to move to the next level.

An unfortunate in-ring accident involving Darren Drozdov, though, essentially curtailed any chance Brown had of making that leap. To be fair, he had moved from the IC title feud with Jarrett back down to the European title picture, feuding with Mark Henry before that fateful night in October 1999, so the likelihood that he was in line for a major push is low.

Still, Brown was a gifted athlete whose style meshed well with just about anyone in that era. He could have been a high-midcard performer who occasionally flirted with the main event scene. Instead, he was a very good wrestler trapped in a specific role without any chance of advancement.

3. Test

Test, to this day, remains one of the more gifted big men in WWE history.

His work as a relative newcomer in 1999 through 2001 highlighted his athleticism, timing and ability to rise to the level of his opposition. The Love Her or Leave Her Match at SummerSlam in August 1999 remains one of the guiltiest pleasures of the entire Attitude Era, while his showings against D-Generation X and, more specifically, Triple H, are evidence that the company had something there with the Torontonian.

Unfortunately for him, the long-advertised wedding to Stephanie McMahon became the emphasis for Triple H's massive main event run while Test disappeared into mediocrity as one-half of the ill-fated T&A tag team with Albert.

He had the look and the physical tools to become a much more significant part of the product than he was. Above all else, he was over, especially in late 1999. Had WWE struck while the proverbial iron was hot, it would have had a homegrown star on its hands it could have propelled to the top of the card alongside Rock and Austin.

It did not. And as a result, Test ranks as one of the bigger misses of that era.

2. Owen Hart

Owen Hart should have been a main event star the minute he attacked Shawn Michaels in retaliation for the Montreal Screwjob that cost his brother, Bret, the WWE Championship. If there were anyone who had repeatedly shown the in-ring ability, character development and promo skills necessary to be a top star in WWE, it was the second-generation star.

One of the best wrestlers to ever lace a pair of boots, there was no reason why he was shoved down the card and into programs with Ken Shamrock, Steve Blackman and The Godfather. While his tag team with Jeff Jarrett was great and gave those two the opportunity to work with each other, Hart should have been lighting it up at the top of the card, battling alongside the most prominent stars in the industry.

He earned that right with the strength of his work throughout his WWE career. A main event attraction dating back to 1994, he had proved his ability to captivate audiences. Furthermore, the aforementioned Screwjob gave management a readymade story for him to thrive in.

It never happened, for whatever reason, and his story came to a tragic end on May 23, 1999, at the Over the Edge pay-per-view.

1. Tazz

Fire up WWE Network, put on the 2000 Royal Rumble pay-per-view and check out the pop the fans in New York's famed Madison Square Garden give Tazz as he stepped through the curtain in WWE for the first time.

It is as loud a reaction as you can imagine, the likes of which were typically reserved for The Rock or Steve Austin. It was thunderous, and his quick decimation of Kurt Angle, handing the Olympian his first loss, announced the former ECW world champion's arrival in impactful fashion.

It was no surprise that the pitbull of a wrestler was so over immediately. Paul Heyman had done a masterful job of building him up as the most legit competitor in ECW, a badass with a penchant for choking out his opponents. He entered the Rumble readymade for success.

As is the case too often, however, terrible booking decisions, criticism of his height and his snugness as a worker derailed his momentum. By August, he was busy losing to Jerry Lawler in the undercard of the SummerSlam pay-per-view.

From there, he would be transitioned out of the ring and into the commentary position, where he would excel. Still, Tazz was a performer whose lack of size almost worked for him. He was different, he was a sawed-off shotgun whose relentlessness won over the fans. He was a badass who never let the bigger, stronger, faster or more athletic performers intimidate him.

As witnessed by his work in the Triple Threat Match with Angle and Rock shortly after his debut, he belonged in the ring with those guys, not mocking Jim Ross and serving as Austin's tackling dummy in The Alliance.