10 Times WWE Tried To Present Someone As A Credible Threat (And Failed Miserably)

10. Vladimir Koslov

When Vladimir Kozlov first wandered down the SmackDown ramp back in 2008 to the sound of deafening silence and no imagery on the Titantron, fans were definitely scratching their heads over what they were seeing.

Who was this guy? Where's his music? Is he wearing tighty-whities?

Make no bones about it, Kozlov was all business and he went undefeated in one-on-one competition for nearly a year - with his first pinfall loss coming to Shawn Michaels in a winner faces The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXV match on Raw. His first SmackDown singles loss then came against 'The Deadman' a couple of weeks later.

Kozlov was rubbing shoulders with some of the titans of the industry, having been involved in world title matches and 'The Phenom' himself. So, how could his credibility suffer from here on out?

Well, he was soon drafted to a flailing ECW brand and when that show sunk he was coupled with Santino Marella - which was the beginning of the end for the former stoic force. Top hat 'comedy'/dance-offs followed and a once imposing figure was relegated to the rank of laughable side-kick.

If they'd just allowed Kozlov to take on a big name at WrestleMania XXV - maybe a Triple H or John Cena - and perhaps even win a world title, we could be talking about him in the same vein as Kane or Goldberg. Instead, the rug was pulled from under him after he'd been fed to HBK and 'Taker and it was all downhill from there.