10 Wrestlers Who SECRETLY Elevated The Stars
Driving a career forward from the back seat.
Wrestling is a business with a clearly defined hierarchy. To build a powerful superstar, they’ve got to get wins over those lower on the card, who will in turn defeat those below them, and so on down to the lowliest jobber. If you don’t get an intro and can’t land a punch, you might just be enhancement talent.
Sometimes, though, things aren’t quite so clear. It’s not always so simple as hitting the mat and looking at the lights when it comes to inflating the status of a colleague. When more subtle measures are at work, one wrestler can help build another by adding a level of reality, keeping a plot moving in interesting directions, or increasing a star’s versatility by taking the pin in a tag match.
It might not even be part of the plan - a botched push of a star can see another wrestler swoop in and use that heat to take their career to new heights.
These do-gooding superstars show that wrestling is, at its best, a truly collaborative business. And in a lot of cases, the lesson is clear: help another performer get a leg up, and you’ll be rewarded with a push of your own.
10. Rhyno
When it came to adding third members to WWE’s Attitude Era tag teams, it can seem like Edge and Christian drew the short straw. The Hardyz and Lita were a perfect fit, while Spike Dudley helped to build the gleefully silly Dudleyville extended universe.
The blonde Canadians, meanwhile, seemed less natural bedfellows with the beefy, ECW-seasoned Rhyno. They’d crack wise and avoid conflict, he’d charge at people as fast as he could and snarl rather than speak. This, though, was kind of the point. Rhyno didn’t legitimise E&C, per se - the in-ring skills and championships did that. He did, however, add a totally different dynamic to the sneaky heels, a battering ram to employ when guile failed.
Add to this the fact that Edge, Christian, and fellow Canadian-trained Rhyno actually go way back and the team starts to make a lot of sense. He helped the frequent champions prove there was way more to them than five second poses and gold lamé suits. They could take things as extreme as anyone, and a former ECW champion helped demonstrate that.