10 Times WWE Failed To Replace Wrestlers

10. Stone Cold Steve Austin (with Bradshaw)

Stone Cold Steve Austin hadn't even left WWE by the time the company started trying to push Bradshaw as a wrestler of equal or equivalent renown in 2002, but perhaps 'The Rattlesnake's complaints list at the time might have included such a preposterous proposition had he stuck around long enough to see it out.

Tag stalwart Bradshaw was made newly-single by the first ever WWE Draft, and had re-embraced his Texas roots as he navigated a new life as a singles star on Monday Night Raw. Falling afoul of the New World Order right as Austin was experiencing his own issues with them, the future JBL was booked to work doubles matches with Austin and given Scott Hall as a singles opponent at the Backlash pay-per-view held just weeks after the roster split took shape.

It never once resonated in the way the company imagined - not only had the shift away been too sudden, but Bradshaw's dated aesthetic felt ancient compared to the chaos Austin had brought in the role. There's a reason JBL actually eventually clicked - it was a new version of something old, rather than the other way around.