10 DUMB WWE Signings (We Didn't Want To Admit Were GENIUS!)
'Who the hell signed *insert WWE superstar here* to a contract anyway?!'
WWE don't get every signing right.
They can't. It'd be impossible. Gable Steveson was an Olympic bust that left everyone confused, Buff Bagwell coming over from WCW worked about as well as Judy's attempts to plague WWE offices with phone calls, and the original Sin Cara didn't so much replace Rey Mysterio as bolster his masked man legacy.
Not everyone considered "dumb" belongs on the same scrap heap as those guys though. Sometimes, wrestlers that have everyone scratching their heads when hired turned out to be genius moves. It's just that...well, the genius tends to be hidden beneath a giant pile of poop that'd make Jeff Goldblum's character in Jurassic Park queasy.
Vince McMahon was definitely wrong about at least one worker on the list too. He only inked a deal to prove a point, but ended up making millions of dollars instead. Who knew?! That's an exception here, but another wrestler dipped right beneath the then-boss man's radar - Vince didn't even realise he'd been hired in the first place!
There was sneaky genius to everyone involved. Some of it is more obvious than others.
10. Mean Street Posse (1999)
Cries of nepotism filled the air when Rodney, Pete Gas and Joey Abs started showing up on WWF TV in 1999. 'They were only hired because they were real-life friends with Shane McMahon', the critics said. Well yeah, that's true, but then something wonderful happened: Shane's Mean Street Posse worked out.
In truth, only Gas and Rodney were buddies with McMahon away from the ring. Abs was the only legit wrestler in the group who had worked elsewhere before this big break in the fed, and he sure wasn't gonna rock the boat by suggesting that this stablemates weren't fit for purpose. This was the opportunity of a lifetime.
The Posse got heat and worked well as backup to Shane during his earliest days as an active wrestler. Besides, the nepotism was deliberate and part of the story anyway. Shane-O was born with a silver spoon, announcers cried, and now here he was bagging lucrative gigs for some high school jocks who thought they were tough guys.
Dumb? Nah, genius.