10 Great Wrestlers That Suffered Burials

4. Samoa Joe

The man who revolutionised American independent wrestling thanks to his 21 month ROH Championship reign seemed destined for superstardom. A student of the late, great Shinya Hashimoto, Joe brought great intensity and psychology to his strong style inspired matches. His trilogy of clashes with CM Punk turned heads throughout the wrestling world in 2004 with every major promotion looking up the Samoan Submission Machine.

With rumours of WWE planning to bury him should he sign, Joe opted to work with TNA instead, debuting as an unstoppable monster in 2005. Dominating the X-Division, fans eagerly awaited his eventual conquest of the main event scene. Joe would have to wait until 2008 to get his hands on TNA’s richest prize. Instead of taking the company to new heights, his reign was a flop filled with badly handled angles and disappointing showdowns.

Joe was demoted back to the midcard soon after losing the title to Sting. He was then repackaged as a knife wielding maniac sporting some of the worst face paint and ring gear in the history of wrestling. He would begin to job more and more over the next couple of years, falling into low card obscurity and suffering bizarre angles such as his kidnapping in 2010. Rumours have long persisted that Joe’s fall from grace during his TNA tenure stems from off camera disputes he had with then booker Vince Russo. Whatever the reason, TNA sabotaged one of their hottest prospects at the time and Joe’s main event potential has seemingly never been wholly realised.