One of the long-time knocks on WWE has been their inability to create new bankable main event stars. Aside from John Cena who has been a proven draw for many years, and arguably Randy Orton, the company has had a rotating door of champions and house show main eventers and has been unable to find the next big superstar who can not only draw houses and television ratings, but also represent the company with the mainstream media. Of course this problem is not for a lack of talent, since the company roster has had depth for a while now. The problem is the inability of Vince McMahon and the creative team to recognize that talent and protect and book that talent accordingly in order to elevate them and get them to where they need to be. So today I’m going to look at a variety of performers on the WWE roster who – if properly protected and booked – could have been main eventers by now but instead are stuck in mid-card hell:
Bray Wyatt
Every great hero needs a great antagonist and pro wrestling is no different. Hulk Hogan had Roddy Piper. Dusty Rhodes had Ric Flair. Steve Austin had Vince McMahon. And in the spring of 2014, WWE stumbled upon lightning in a bottle with Bray Wyatt and the Wyatt Family with Bray becoming the antagonist to the mighty WWE hero of the era, John Cena. Windham Rotunda had struggled in pro wrestling, unable to stay on the WWE main roster as Husky Harris. But he caught fire when he created the Bray Wyatt character and was joined by Luke Harper and Erick Rowan. By 2014 he’d clicked with the audience and his ring entrance became one of the best in the company as fans would light up their phones by the thousands, his “fireflies”. All he’d have to do is wave his arms and the crowd would start singing “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” on cue. He was over; he was on his way to becoming a made man against Cena, the long-time face of the company. But then Vince McMahon did what he always does – he refused to put someone over his golden goose on the big stage and instead had Cena not just dispose of Wyatt at Wrestlemania 30 but also single-handedly take out Rowan and Harper as well like the “Superman” that he is. It took the wind out of Wyatt’s sails and he’s been a mid-card “win some, lose some” performer ever since.
Cesaro
Ironically enough, Wrestlemania 30 was also the beginning of the end (at least at the top of the card) for another performer who should be headlining PPVs at this point, Claudio “Cesaro” Castagnoli. I actually thought that the name Antonio Cesaro had a ring to it and don’t know why they dropped the first name but that’s WWE. Anyway, Cesaro was hugely over in 2014 as a babyface; he had been grouped with Zeb Colter and Jack Swagger as a heel at the time but was getting cheered by the crowd and was on the verge of splitting off and going on his own. He had (and still has) a likeable quality to compliment his impressive in-ring performances and feats of strength, and his Giant Swing move had really caught on. He also spoke a number of different languages and looked, dressed and carried himself like a champion. At Wrestlemania he won the first Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal by picking up Big Show and dumping him over the top rope as the 75,000+ in attendance at the Superdome in New Orleans went nuts. But for completely inexplicable reasons, WWE decided to follow up that star-making moment by having him split with Colter on Raw the next night not to begin his rise as the next big hero… but to cement himself as a heel with Paul Heyman. It made no sense, everyone hated it, and the decision to remove the Swing from his arsenal so that he wouldn’t get a babyface reaction was like the final nail in the coffin with respect to his elevation. Later that year on the Stone Cold Podcast, Vince McMahon said about Cesaro, "He's not connecting yet, but we hope he will," and then added, "he doesn't quite have the charisma, doesn't quite have the verbal skills." McMahon even questioned if the issue was due to Cesaro being Swiss. It was as if the battle royal from Wrestlemania had been wiped from his memory. Today WWE is trying to rebuild Cesaro by booking him into a best-of-seven series against Sheamus, a series that has really done nothing to help either performer.
Titus O’Neil
This one might surprise some people but I’ve always seen potential in Titus O’Neil because he’s great with the media, he’s a likeable and charitable guy, he was a star football player at the University of Florida which again is great for mainstream media, and unlike The Miz who is also great with the media but just not someone who looks like an intimidating wrestler, Titus does at 6’6” and 270 pounds. He fits the old Paul Heyman analogy of “accentuate the positives and hide the weaknesses” because he’s not the greatest wrestler and he seems more comfortable doing regular interviews than wrestling promos but I think if he’d been protected in the ring, given a mouthpiece and fitted with more flattering ring gear, he could have become somebody. But years of weak booking have taken their toll and put him in a hole that it will be very difficult for him to climb out of now.
Alberto Del Rio
He of course now is a former WWE superstar, again. It is beyond me how WWE couldn’t look at this guy and see a top talent. Very much like Cesaro he looked, dressed and carried himself like a champion. He had size, he had in-ring skill, he had an MMA background which WWE should have exploited given the popularity of that sport today, and he also fit the Hispanic demographic that WWE has struggled to maintain since parting ways with Rey Mysterio. On his first WWE run with Ricardo Rodriguez as his personal ring announcer and the Million Dollar Man-like character with the cars and fancy clothes, he rose through the ranks very quickly and got over as a top heel before WWE made the mistake of turning him babyface when he wasn’t ready and hurt that run. Then last year at the Hell in a Cell PPV Del Rio began his second run as a surprise opponent for John Cena, defeating Cena for the United States championship to a massive ovation. He was already a made man in one night right? No - that run was destined to fail from the start as WWE inexplicably chose to put him with Zeb Colter, his former foe and someone quite frankly the audience just didn’t care about. The duo had no chemistry and no reason to be together at all, and it killed Del Rio’s momentum dead from his second night back. From there he was placed with other heels who were struggling, Sheamus, Rusev and Wade Barrett, to form the League of Nations, a group nobody cared about because they weren’t presented in such a way that made anybody want to care. Eventually Del Rio was a high priced mid-carder and when his contract came up for renewal this year, his unhappiness with creative (among other things) made him decide to walk away. Sometimes what’s old is new again and had WWE brought back Rodriguez and the fancy cars for that first night at Hell in a Cell against Cena instead of Colter, it’s a good bet that Del Rio would be a headliner today.
This article isn’t about taking shots at WWE creative since Vince McMahon and his team are cannon fodder for online hate enough as it is. The company does appear to be doing a better job at elevating talent lately with AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins, Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode and Shinsuke Nakamura all seemingly on the cusp of WWE greatness. But my point again is that WWE’s struggles over the last decade to create new main event stars isn’t for a lack of talent on the company roster, but for their inability to recognize, protect and elevate that talent accordingly.
