8 Career-Ending WWE Disasters
The shoot promos, gimmick changes and character shifts that well and truly ruined these WWE careers
It is true that great talent can only get you so far in WWE. You can be the most talented worker, a boss on the mic, and in the shape of your life, but one dramatically bad moment can bring your entire career crashing to a halt. Sometimes these are creative decisions, others they are performers hitting the self-destruct button, but one thing is for sure: there is no way back from these car crash moments.
A lot of these moments happened under the watch of Vince McMahon. The diabolical billionaire spent an awful lot of his last 15 years making bonkers decisions as he got cut off from reality at an alarming rate. Be it superstars being desperate to do something to increase their standing in the company, or being saddled with sa gimmick so bad it could never work, Vince's latter years broke as many careers as they made.
That isn't to say that with McMahon's departure, WWE performers can't still have a defining moment that tanks their career for good. The looming threat of disaster always hangs in the air in WWE. Then, now, and forever.
8. Karrion Kross Shoots
Being left out of WrestleMania has to be one of the most disheartening things for any WWE superstar. In a company where everyone wants to create their 'WrestleMania moment', not even getting the opportunity to do so could send even the most level-headed performer into a tailspin. This is exactly what happened to Karrion Kross after being left off of the WrestleMania 41 card.
Kross had a good thing going for the first time on the main roster, as he became a harbinger of death style character. His presence around superstars meant that bad things were about to happen to them, something that fans who watched the show weekly would come to love. He worked as almost a pre-Danhuasen curse when he appeared around the likes of Sami Zayn.
After being left out in the cold for WrestleMania and with his contract running down, Kross cut a shoot promo after the biggest show of the year. He vented his frustrations with being underused, took direct shots at Logan Paul being fast-tracked to the top of the card, and channelled his popular indie persona, Killer Kross. It got Kross plenty of positive buzz and audience support, but WWE management hates when things are taken out of their hands. Even with his spike in popularity, Kross was shunned further, and his WWE contract wasn't renewed just four months later.