Wrestling History: 20 of the Most Mismanaged, Misguided or Misused Superstars

Sometimes creative teams in wrestling just don't get it.

A gimmick does not work. Something is completely wrong. A wrestler with wasted talent. A promotion that does not give the right guy a push.

It happens all the time. And back when there were more promotions and more territories, there were more failed attempts to create gimmicks and the "perfect" wrestler.

There aren't any, believe me.

But over the course of time, wrestlers have been mismanaged, misused or just plain misguided for whatever reason.

Here are 20 such wrestlers.

20. Dusty Rhodes in the WWF

Here he was, one of the most decorated wrestlers in history coming from the NWA, where he had won three world titles.

And they put him in black and yellow polka dots!

Are you kidding me?

What an insult to a man who helped define the industry with creativity and passion.

19. Chris Masters

He was either misused, misguided or both.

Masters could have been one of the 10 best wrestlers of this decade.

Strong, good looking and powerful with a great old-school finishing hold.

And either he wasted it, or Creative did not know how to bottle up his talents and help him become great.

18. John Morrison

He has been injured, criticized for his girlfriend being involved in matters of business, and climbing the mountain only to be knocked down a few pegs.

John Morrison is kind of in wrestling purgatory.

He could be the most-talented star in the WWE right now sans CM Punk. And Ceative will not help give him the push he needs.

Maybe those rumors about going to TNA are true.

17. Rick Martel

He was once a superstar in the WWF before he left for the AWA and became a world champion.

He returned to the WWF and became a heel, flamboyant as all, and while his character is pretty good, the fact that a former champion and maybe a top-10 wrestler at the time was given such a gimmick is beyond me.

16. Tommy Rich

He was given glory way too early and paid the price for it.

Rich remained in the Memphis/Mid-South area and made a name for himself as a regional champion and tag-team title holder.

But it was never the same.

The NWA gave him the title when they needed a bright young star to bridge a gap. Rich was the chosen one.

He was misused and mismanaged at the same time.

15. Meng and Barbarian

I think these two men were two of the most underrated wrestlers EVER.

They were big and strong and had a look like few heels in the business.

While they were great competition for teams like The Road Warriors, they won gold in the WWF but were never used properly.

14. Junkyard Dog

This is a case where moving upward is not always moving to a better situation.

When JYD was a member of the NWA and a wrestler in Bill Watts' UWF, he was a loved face who could "wrestle" and give a good interview.

When he traveled to the WWF, his mic skills diminished and he barked and panted into the microphone.

He could still move and was a crowd favorite, but he lost some of his wrestling skill.

13. Elijah Burke

In the WWE or now in TNA as The Pope, he has been misused and mismanaged and misguided.

D'Angelo Dinero should be the TNA champion or a contender. He is maybe the most talented star on TNA's roster, but he is caught in mid-card status and going nowhere.

He needs to be guided and molded and given a push.

While WCW should never have gotten rid of Steve Austin, WWE will learn at some point they should never have gotten rid of Burke.

12. Kevin Nash as "Oz"

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Did I mention stupid.

There are moments in wrestling where you nod your head in disbelief. This is one of those moments.

Kevin Nash was a good performer with size and strength. But at times he was stiff and robotic like all other big men.

But his "Oz" gimmick was just embarrassing to watch and made no sense whatsoever.

He was definitely mismanaged by WCW with this idea.

11. Ahmed Johnson

He was big and powerful and ran through opponents in the WWF.

And then there was nothing.

I realize his mic skills were awful, but he could have been used better in the WWF than he was.

A threat for any title, his power was his trademark. But he needed a better run regardless of the imposing figure he was.

10. Rick Rude

Although he has been a regional and international champion, you get the sense that Rick Rude could have been more.

In the same vein as Curt Hennig, who had been a world champion in the AWA, Rude was just as talented and had the best body in the business.

While he was a champion in the WWF and he held gold in the NWA and WCW, he could have challenged for the NWA World Title, but he took a backseat to the Stings and Lugers of the business.

I feel that along with Arn Anderson and Barry Windham, this is the most underrated wrestler of all time.

9. Mr. Kennedy

If the only reason why he was released by the WWE deals with how he worked with Randy Orton and supposedly almost ruined his career, then he was certainly mismanaged by the Creative team.

Kennedy is good on the mic, a solid wrestler and a great anti-hero who will not be mistaken for Steve Austin.

Given the time, he could have been a WWE champion.

8. Daniel Bryan

First, can we just call him Bryan Danielson?

Geez.

Bryan is one of the best technical wrestlers in the business right now and is being wasted. He could be a star with a makeover, which I hope he gets, and a bit of a personality.

Bryan is one of those guys who got hot and then got very cold in an instant.

They need to microwave his career again.

7. Drew McIntyre

He has all the makings of a star, but he has nowhere to go.

Stuck in WWE purgatory, McIntyre needs a new gimmick or a change of scenery like TNA, where he could shine.

McIntyre has the ability to be a Barry Windham or Kevin Von Erich, but he is being wasted now and may never recover.

6. Barry Windham

He was ultra-successful in the NWA and WCW as a singles wrestler and a member of the Four Horsemen.

He enjoyed tag-team success in the WWF with Mike Rotundo.

But that is where it stopped.

While there are those who were held back by Hulk Hogan in the WWF, there were those "special" talents that were held back by Ric Flair and his quest for gold.

And the fact that he made money.

Windham is the classic example of a guy who could have been "the guy" in the NWA and WCW, and he chose another path. Had he been guided another way or managed differently, he could have been a multiple-world title holder and could have carried the NWA and WCW on his back.

5. Ricky Steamboat

Another one of those wrestlers that you really have to look at and think about.

Steamboat was one of the best wrestlers ever in the NWA and was a great wrestler in the WWF. His feud with Randy Savage may be the best of all time.

But Steamboat, after he claimed the Intercontinental title, went nowhere, and he dropped the title to the Honky Tonk Man after a few months of his reign.

Is that how you treat a superstar?

He went back to WCW and challenged Ric Flair in what was a classic feud again by the two. Steamboat won the title but dropped it back to Flair.

Instead of having the two exchange the belt over time, which would have been great for business, they had an old and tiring Terry Funk enter the picture.

Misused and mismanaged on all accounts.

4. Jake Roberts

Think of how good he really could have been.

He was misused in so many situations. He was a challenger for the intercontinental championhship, and his feud with Randy Savage was a classic.

But to have a great, skilled wrestler run around with a snake and become a cartoon character proves he was misguided and mismanaged.

Roberts may not have been a WWF world champion, but I sure would have liked to have seen him challenge for the title.

3. Paul Orndorff

With a body of a god and a good voice on the mic, Paul Orndorff assumed a role as one of the biggest heels in the WWF at the start of the Hogan Era.

My question is: why did he not get a title run in this time frame? Orndorff surely deserved one.

Orndorff was the guy who was a great regional competitor in the NWA and left for the WWF and greener pastures. He was as good as, if not better than, Hogan. And while he and the Immortal One had classic confrontations, he should have been managed better by WWF Creative.

2. Jimmy Snuka

If you are rumored to be the second man in line to carry the WWF if Hulk Hogan does not accept the challenge, don't you think you deserve a better lot than the one you were given?

Snuka was a great competitor and did things in the early 1980s that most men would never do in their lifetime.

He set the stage for high-flying wrestlers today. While his mic skills were not on par with other wrestlers of his time, he still deserved title consideration.

1. Roddy Piper

This may seem a little odd to everyone, but hear me out on this one.

In the NWA, Piper held numerous titles in regional action and was a great face and heel in the business.

He was clever and a great wrestler, and at the time of his run, he was the best mic man in wrestling.

In the WWF, he feuded with Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart and others, but never got a serious title run and never challenged for the WWF title. This is a big mistake in wrestling history in my opinion.

Piper, Hogan, Savage, Orndorff and Snuka were all the same in terms of compatibility. They all could have carried the WWF. One man chose Hogan, and the rest was history.

These other men, with the exception of Savage, were deeply misused, and Piper suffered for it.