WWE's Sin Cara and the 25 Most Ridiculously Bad Flameouts in History

It has become alarmingly evident in recent years that the WWE is no longer proficient at creating stars and has actually become quite inefficient, if not inept, at a craft that was otherwise considered commonplace. 

With every failed and struggling star this day and age seeming to point to a sign of pro wrestling apocalypse, there was once a time where the pro wrestling flameout was cause for inadvertent entertainment and abject ridicule. 

In hindsight, many a flopped pro wrestling talent have become cult icons for all the wrong reasons, as a creative team seemingly drew up a gimmick they thought looked good on paper and apparently didn't bother with an eraser. 

25. Kharma

Few individuals on this list had as much potential, and still do, as female flameout Kharma.  Felled by circumstances well within her control, Kharma, a world renowned wrestling talent, was forced to step away from pro wrestling for several months due to pregnancy. 

Gone were the weeks of Kharma squashing the entire Divas division like nobody else had, which, as a result, infused a much-needed spark in a perennially lifeless division. 

Kharma recently got married, in truly unique fashion, and is expected to be back with the company following her involuntary maternity leave.

24. Sin Cara

As a much-hyped iconic prospect out of Mexico, wrestling superstar Mistico was brought in to the WWE as one of the highly touted first acquisitions of WWE's new talent division headed up by Triple H.

Rebranded Sin Cara at a press conference that screamed "hey everybody, look who we've signed," Sin Cara was expected to immediately make an impact in the WWE.  But after a clunky debut fully equipped with a botched trampoline entrance, Sin Cara soon became more as a botch machine than the lucha libre sensation he was across the border. 

Sin Cara suffered a serious injury in November at WWE Survivor Series, pulling the rug from under a potential WrestleMania showdown once considered a dream match with Rey Mysterio, Jr., who is also currently recovering from injury. 

23. Kaval

As a talented standout on the independent circuit, the subtle rise and violent fall of Kaval was added fuel to the fire that incessantly burns within the oft-whiny Internet Wrestling Community. 

Kaval won the second season of WWE NXT (not by design), only to quickly fizzle out on SmackDown through a series of jobs and de-emphasis.  Realizing his talents were not being used to the best of their abilities, Kaval cut his losses and asked for his release from the WWE. 

22. Simon Dean

Simon Dean's gimmick as an overzealous pitchman for nutritional food products seemed like it could have been fun, but it too flamed out once Dean was booked as a glorified jobber often ridiculed for his bad tasting merchandise.

Dean was later used in a more productive managerial role before retiring and subsequently being released from his WWE contract. 

21. Ricky Ortiz

Ricky Ortiz showed us how not to wave a towel with his motivational speaker gimmick that went nowhere fast. As an ECW superstar soon subject to oblivion, Ortiz was the worst type of flameout. 

20. Eric Escobar

There was literally no point for Eric Escobar's existence in the WWE. With a largely nonexistent gimmick, not even white-hot heat magnet Vickie Guerrero could get fans to react to him. 

Escobar debuted as Guerrero's young, Hispanic boyfriend to crickets. Following his merciful release, Guerrero was paired up with Dolph Ziggler, who, as a result, is on the precipice of being world championship materiala clear indictment of Escobar's skills or lack thereof. 

19. Misfits in Action

WCW's ill-advised comedy stable featured Hugh Morris as General Hugh G. Rection (get it?) and Booker T. as G.I. Bro. 

The stable had Vince Russo's inept booking written all over it and was one of many unwatchable acts en route to WCW's memorable collapse of the early 2000's. 

18. Seven

After the WWE squeezed all the life out of a once-hot Goldust gimmick, WCW attempted to capitalize on their damaged goods with the similarly bizarre gimmick of Seven. 

Dustin Rhodes debuted in WCW in "white face" under the erie gimmick only to quickly discard it in defiance of a pro wrestling industry that he felt demanded such lunacy out of him. 

Not only would the gimmick quickly flameout, but Rhodes himself followed suit in WCW before returning to the WWE to reprise his role as Goldust.. 

17. Kevin Thorn

ECW's resident vampire, Kevin Thorn, actually had some potential while armed with his sexy vampire valet Ariel. Unfortunately, backstage problems between Shelly Martinez (who played Ariel) and Batista lead to her unceremonious release, thus quickly neutering any potential Thorn would have as, quite literally, a monster heel. 

16. Mordecai

Wrestling fans can blame the Undertaker for this one, as the Undertaker's own gimmick looked silly on paper despite its subsequent hall-of-fame caliber success.  

Enter Mordecai, whose character was similarly as looney yet given the green light likely due in part to the one-in-a-million precedent set by the undertaker.

The plan was for Mordecai, a religious zealot character, to eventually feud with the Undertaker. These plans would never fully be realized, as the character was met with a lukewarm response from fans and promptly disappeared. 

15. Scotty Goldman

Headed into the WWE with a noteworthy reputation as a star on the independent wrestling scene, Colt Cabana debuted in the big leagues to a bland gimmick of Scotty Goldman, who really wasn't much of a character. 

Goldman proceeded to tread water in the WWE despite being proven as a strong worker, and was mercifully released from his WWE contract in 2009. 

14. Kizarny

A standout on the independents, Nick Cvjetkovich portrayed Kizarny, a twisted sideshow character with a freakshow appeal. 

Despite having the backing of real-life friend Edge, Kizarny would struggle to latch on in the WWE and was released from his WWE contract in 2009 after picking up a few uninspiring victories during his brief WWE career. 

13. The Stalker

Barry Windham was from the territory "wrastlin" era that Vince McMahon has been known to scoff at. So, despite his legendary career with companies not-named WWE (and perhaps because of it), Windham was saddled with a gimmick as "the Stalker" upon making a not-so-triumphant return to the WWE. 

For several weeks, the WWE shot videos of "the Stalker," who vowed to make prey out of the company's top stars. 

His claim to fame as the stalker is being on Dwayne Johnson's team in Johnson's first match ever with the WWE as Rocky Maivia. 

He was seldom seen or heard from since. 

12. Nailz

The Big Bossman's sworn enemy came in the form of a terrible Nailz gimmick. The WWF seemed just fine with a correctional officer character in the promotion, so an inmate was overkill. 

After attacking the Big Boss Man upon his debut, Nailz failed to live up to an intense start, and he would be phased out shortly following an underwhelming feud with the Boss Man. 

11. Waylon Mercy

Waylon Mercy was a direct ripoff of Max Cady portrayed by Robert Dinero in Cape Fear. 

The only problem? The WWE Didn't have an Oscar-nominated actor play the character; instead, they hired journeyman wrestler Dan Spivey. The rest is as much history as it is a cautionary tale. 

10. Max Moon

Before becoming a player in WCW's cruiserweight division as Konnan, Carlos Moises first had to pay his dues under the cartoonish Max Moon gimmick.  

The stench of the over-the-top wrestling scene of the 80's was all over the character as the WWE entered the mid-90s, and Max Moon didn't stand a chance. 

9. Man Mountain Rock

Remember this guy? I had to do a helluva lot of googling to even find out what his name was.  After thumbing through a host of instructions on how to play WWE theme songs with a guitar, I finally stumbled upon Man Mountain Rock, name of the obscure WWE resident rocker who was eventually evicted during lean times for the fed.

8. Mantaur

You know your character is doomed when he marches to the ring wearing a buffalo head as part of his entrance gear. 

Mantaur is a demonstration in wrestling ineptitude and a popular target of ridicule in pro wrestling circles just like this one.

With the WWE Struggling in the mid-90s, Mantaur was just another relic of ridiculousness that plagued the company with WCW breathing down their neck.   

7. Glacier

WCW attempted to capitalize on the popularity of Mortal Kombat with a character similar to that of popular Mortal Kombat character Sub-Zero. 

Glacier received much fanfare, as he was featured in vignettes for several weeks building up to what was supposed to be a major debut. 

By the time Glacier made that debut, he had already been doomed by the hype that preceded him and failed to get anywhere close to it. 

Glacier was soon phased out, and on his way down, he participated in feuds with fellow flameouts Wrath and Mortis portrayed by Brian Clark and the late Chris Kanyon respectively. 

6. Braden Walker

Chris "Wildcat" Harris was billed as the breakout star to watch during the glory days of America's Most Walker, one of the greatest tag teams in the history of TNA wrestling. 

Instead, it was Harris' tag team partner, James Storm, who continued to gain momentum following the split of AMW, while Harris only gained weight. 

Harris was cut after an embarrassing feud with his former partner, only to resurface in the WWE as Braden Walker. It was more of the same from Harris, now severely out of shape, with the only positive coming out of his WWE run being that he primarily competed on ECW where nobody was watching.

5. Heidenreich

With a head of steam only Paul Heyman as your manager could create, Jon Heidenreich was an MMA-style wrestler who was put in a great position to get a main event push. 

Unfortunately, he failed to connect with the WWE Universe as a heel and was soon de-emphasized to the point of a comedic babyface in desperate search of a friend. 

Heidenreich would routinely read good-natured yet deranged poems, as he was a far cry from the Terminator-type character he was upon his debut.

Heidenreich somewhat salvaged his WWE career by teaming with Road Warrior Animal as the resurgent Legion of Doom tag team, but he never reached the main event level that his previous hype had promised. 

4. Kiss Demon

WCW's fascination with KISS took them on some windy and dangerous roads. Not only was an actual performance by KISS the lowest rated segment in the history of Nitro, but the debut of the KISS Demon in 1999 also proved to be ineffective.  

The KISS Demon went on to became yet another piece of human shrapnel whose contract wasn't picked up by the WWE once the WCW went out of business in 2001.  

3. Nathan Jones

Nathan Jones was billed as a dangerous former inmate from Australia sure to make a huge impact in the WWE. There was only one catch: Jones couldn't work. 

As perhaps one of the all-time worst workers in history, Jones' ineptitude resulted in a quick fall from grace, as he was saddled with the Undertaker, probably to learn how to work the big-man style. 

Jones had reportedly been scheduled to team with the Undertaker in a forgettable WrestleMania XIX match against the Big Boss Man and the A-Train, but was instead demoted to a male valet, as he was simply too raw and dangerous in the ring. 

Jones was quit the WWE in 2003. 

2. Gobbledy Gooker

In a dark chapter of the otherwise illustrious story of the Guerrero wrestling family, Hector Guerrero was originally the man behind one of the most-hyped gimmicks in WWE history. 

In 1990, the WWE put much of their resources in a mystery egg. The egg received so much fanfare that rumors began to spin out of control, with some suggesting that perhaps the long-awaited dream debut of Ric Flair was on the horizon. 

Instead, another relic of wrestling royalty would debut but not as Hector Guerrero, as the Gobbeldy Gooker, a glorified mascot who just so happened to wrestle. 

The Gooker was harshly rejected by the WWE fanbase upon his arrival with no accomplishments of note, yet to this day, his likeness continues to resurface. 

1. The Shockmaster

The Shockmaster is considered No. 1 on a handful of lists. Unfortunately, all of them are negative as Fred Ott was front and center in one of the most abysmal debuts in the history of pro wrestling.  

The Shockmaster literally stumbled upon his debut, which was accompanied by a promo from WCW top star Sting. 

What followed was a gimmick as the Shockmaster that probably wouldn't have been any good without the botched debut. 

The Shockmaster died a slow death in the WCW before turning up in the WWE as Tugboat in the popular Natural Disaster tag team with Earthquake.

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