10 Indie Wrestling Heroes Who Flopped In WWE

10. Sami Callihan

Sami Callihan’s popularity was soaring by the time he signed for WWE. He’d built his reputation with CZW, Evolve, and PWG, and was really coming into his own as a fast, hard-hitting brawler with an unhinged personality and a penchant for all things violent. Though his look, size, and style made for a strange marriage with the company, he signed for WWE in 2012, and became Solomon Crowe a year later.

Sadly, Callihan’s WWE career was dead from the moment he started appearing at house shows. Saddled with a goofy hacker gimmick that saw him seize control of the arena’s lights through his tablet, Solomon Crowe never stood a chance. It took over two years before WWE decided his act was TV-worthy, but he made just a handful of appearances in early-2015, and was released from his contract at his own request that November.

Hampered by a terrible gimmick, weak finisher (an over-the-shoulder Boston Crab), and WWE’s insistence on slapping him with fake tan, Callihan’s WWE run almost completely derailed his career. He returned to the indies shortly after his release, but he still hasn’t quite recaptured his old momentum, and his name no longer carries the same buzz as before. Callihan is signed to compete in Lucha Underground’s next season and he remains a staple on the American scene, but his attention levels have dwindled significantly.