10 Wrestlers WWE Gave Up On In 2018
Yesterday's Superstars, Today.
It's never the end.
This rundown of some of 2018's low-points will serve as a lament for those that lost too often this year, but it's never the end. WWE moves forward glacially on to 2019 just as it will 2020 and 2021, proffering futures unknown for a number of stars that may currently struggle just to make it into either of January's Royal Rumbles.
Vince McMahon used to sell roles within his organisation to performers as "opportunities", because they theoretically promised even more than a medium-sized contract. It was good business for him regardless, but potentially great business for those prepared to (in some cases, literally) kill themselves for the artform he'd made globally mainstream. Not everybody could sit shotgun alongside him like Hulk Hogan or Stone Cold Steve Austin, but there's always get the chance because the ride never ends.
In WWE, ample chances always exist for new beginnings, and it's often always darkest before the dawn. The company may have abandoned hope in the following performers in 2018, but the men and women within shouldn't abandon it themselves. It's never the end, even when it really looks that way...
10. The Revival
Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder may have been early title shot recipients of The McMahon Family's Raw rebadge following December's Tables, Ladders and Chairs pay-per-view, but one senses it'll be a case of too little too late for The Revival. Not least when you can actually hear Vince giving them that as a nickname from his seat in the gorilla position.
Injuries in 2017 hampered what should have been a break-out annum for the pair, but WWE's abusive relationship with one of their finest ever developmental offerings began in earnest this year with a pathetic Raw 25 squash. Casual observers chalked it off as nostalgia show banter, but the nature of their loss was substantially more damaging than most were probably prepared to accept.
Stop-start runs on Raw are all too common (more on that later), but going 50/50 against comedy units such as The B-Team and The Deleters Of Worlds completely stripped back Dash and Dawson's thinning veneer of superiority.
Virtually unrecognisable from their time as NXT's elite, the duo haven't shied away from addressing the issue on social media either, though whether this helps or hinders their cause with visibly-disinterested upper management won't be evident until 2019 takes shape.