What could have made these guys into stars?

[Guest papacita]

Ahmed Johnson--I loved Ahmed to death, but DAMN! That man was the most injury prone wrestler I've ever seen. It was getting to the point where he was literally getting injured everytime he wrestled...also, his botched heel turn didn't do him any favors.

 

Raven--Did they even try to get him over?

 

X-Pac--I always felt they dropped the ball with Pac in 99. He was over as hell and both he and HHH could've benefitted from a brief World Title program following SummerSlam (I wouldn't have put the belt on him, but World Champion X-Pac is a helluva lot better than World Champ Vince McMahon). Plus, the DX reunion completely fucked up any kind of momentum he had going for himself, since he and the Outlaws basically became lackeys for HHH. And let's not even bring up that bullshit ass team with Road Dogg in 2000.

 

Tazz (as a wrestler) -- Firstly, they over-hyped his debut, then spent the first 4 months jobbing him to everyone from HHH to Crash Holly (he jobbed to Crash while he was the ECW Champ, BTW). Second, they gave him that dumb ass catchphrase ("Thug life Born, Thug life bred, when the time is right, I'll be Thug Life dead"). Jobbing him to Lawler at SummerSlam pretty much killed his credibility...not to mention the fact that whenever he would attack Lawler on the TV shows, Lawler would return to commentary within a few segments, making Tazz look weak as hell. Also, he needed more ring time to allow him to 1) increase his stamina and 2) better adapt to the WWF style.

 

Diamond Dallas Page -- Well...fucked up his debut promo, and was buried by Taker.

 

D'Lo Brown--Droz.

 

Bull Buchanan-- I agree that they should've capitalized on his athleticism.

[Guest humongous2002]

I might be wrong but the only one that would've made it as a main eventer from that list was TAZZ,he might be short but in ECW he was pushed as the toughest mother f**ker in the world and he was believable, he used to back it up with his promos or his wrestling skills. Vince dropped the ball with this guy, he would've been a big star in the Attitude era, but instead of giving us the Human Suplex Machine all we got was a watered down jobber to the announcers and Austin's personal whipping boy, maybe he forgot to shake hands with Droz backstage to get jobbed like that, but i guess that's life.

[Guest converge241]

i dont have any ideas for some of them but let me comment on the ones that i do

 

Shamrock (and Severn and Blackman for that matter) - they should have been seriously pushed as another gang/group during the faction wars period..with a Fight Club type of persona

 

Ahmed - i thought they did a good job with him he was just careless in the ring

 

DDP - should have been a face ..hes just a guy that the average casual fan wants to like

 

Tazz- totally agree on the Austin thing during Invasion hthey should have had some matches..not saying tazz should have won but they should have feuded cause the crowd wanted it and the fans see him as a legit tough guy

 

Saturn - maybe like a cross between his moppy stuff and old Ultimate Warrior..make the character crazy but tone down the wackiness they gave him

[Guest humongous2002]

You are right about Ahmed, the WWF pushed him to the moon but he was very dangerous in the ring(they talk about RVD being stiff just check out an Ahmed match and you will change your mind about stiffness) and was injury proned like a certain big nose neanderthal looking cripple.

[Guest papacita]

Ahmed was worse than HHH. On the 9/22/97 Raw, he returned from a knee injury against the Rock. At one point in the match, he just happened to roll toward the announce table (it was the first night they used the desks that they have now) and sliced his hand on a loose nail, severing a nerve. He just couldn't catch a break.

[Guest humongous2002]

Actually in that match the Rock stepped on his hand and the nail went through.After all these years Ahmed feels that Rocky did it on purpose.

[Guest Brian]

RVD's not stiff, he's sloppy. World of difference.

[The Dames 0]

Ken Shamrock -- He could have been a legit main eventer if he had just gotten some mic skills down. He was a legit bad ass and the fans knew it...they just needed a reason to get behind him. He was really over when he put the ankle lock on both Bret Hart and HBK shortly before Survivor Series '97. Even as a heel, he could have made it far, but was stuck in angles with Ryan Shamrock and that whole mess. The Russofication of the WWF killed him pretty much.

 

Dan Severn -- Talk about a lack of charisma. Not only did he not look like a bad ass at all (despite being billed as one) he had a voice that didn't sound menacing at all. His work was too slow and the only thing he had going for his was a potential match with Shamrock which never happened.

 

Ahmed Johnson - They really tried with him, but like everyone else has said, he was too injury prone. He was in tons of tag matches with main eventers and was on the cusp of being put up there, but kept messing it up. Johnson/Faarooq was supposed to be the big IC title match at SummerSlam, but got legit injured and couldn't make it then either. Also, his mic work was so garbled that it made it difficult for most fans to side with him seeing as how they didn't know what the fuck he was saying except for "You're Going Down". Fueding with Savio Vega and Crush didn't help either. Being overly sloppy and injuring tons of wrestlers really probably didn't help matters either. Then again, Goldberg is huge, so what do I know.

 

Scott Hall -- He could have been up there too but I've got to agree with Kahran. The job to Pac hurt him big time. However, it didn't kill him. He was a heel at the time and so when he became a face, that didn't matter to the fans anymore. In '95, instead of being pushed to the top like he should have, he was given the IC Title again just for the Clique to screw with Shane Douglas and went back into the midcard for it. He was finally starting to make his way out when he signed with WCW. He wasn't even on the WM 12 card...was he?

 

Raven - Just plain old misuse.

 

X-Pac - His neck injury severly hampered his in ring style, which is what got him over. He was never that charasmatic to begin with so once his in ring work got boring and stale, so was he.

 

Tazz (as a wrestler) -- His first real angle cut him off at the knees. First, he debuts at MSG and goes over Angle. I know they wanted to keep Angle strong, but in doing so, they almost killed Tazz. After all of the hype and the NYC crowd being as rabid as they were, Tazz should have squashed whoever he faced that night. Instead, Angle got most of the offense until Tazz hit all of his suplexes at the end of the match. He was still mega over though. Then, the next few weeks against Angle, Tazz truly never got the advantage. Then, Tazz's next feud, his REAL feud against Bossman and Buchanan...please. Tazz at No Way Out should have destroyed Bossman, who wasn't worth anything in the company, but instead there was a DQ finish and got beat down several times afterwards. Yeah, he kept coming back every time, but his aura of being such a monster had already been destroyed at this point. His overness then suffered when he lost at the WM Hardcore Battle Royal despite being the overwhelming favorite to Crash Holly. Then Lawler and JR came and killed what was left.

 

Diamond Dallas Page -- He could have been big of 'Taker had put him over in any way. After that, he went so far down the card, it was insulting. He was a former 3 time WCW Champion and he was wrestling for the European Title? Perfect example of Vince not wanting to push a guy that he didn't create.

 

D'Lo Brown - The Droz incident.

 

Bull Buchanan - His look and his lack of charisma wouldn't have gotten him far. BOOYA was as over as he got.

 

Buff Bagwell - Had he not hurt his neck, his in ring would have been better. His ego would have prevented him from getting far though, but he had a great look.

 

Perry Saturn - He just lost a passion for the business. He pretty much stated on his website that he was tired of all of the non-pushes and was just in it for the paycheck. A few weeks later and he stopped replying to anything on his message board at all.

 

Dames

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

He wasn't even on the WM 12 card...was he?

I was watching this show last night and wondering to myself if he still worked there or not.

 

I think Vince had him suspended for not passing a piss test or something.

[Guest Brian]

Shamrock does have mic skills though, they just don't seem to project well in a worked environment.

[LooseCannon25 0]

No, Scott Hall was nowhere to be seen at WMXII.....it s a shame too cause back then i was really looking forward to a Steve Austin vs. Razor Ramon matchup but it never happened. I think Bull Buchanon had a good look. In fact going all the way back when he was Recon from The Truth Commision i thought he looked impressive. they never tried with him though.