10 "Next Big Things" In Wrestling Nobody Cared About

The above image should draw only positive connotations. Quite literally, it's the son of 'Mr Perfect' Curt Hennig, one of the best pro wrestlers ever, wearing the WWE Intercontinental Championship, one of the best pro wrestling championships ever, with Paul Heyman, one of the best pro wrestling managers ever.

Curtis Axel should've made it big. He wasn't a terrible hand between the ropes but WWE, as they do with virtually every my-dad-was-a-wrestler-too arc, relied too heavily upon the past, disallowing Axel to become his own character in favour of him playing his father's old role, albeit with less flourish.

The immediate Paul Heyman association was the first sign that WWE viewed Axel as a potential headline act. Wrestling John Cena and Triple H was the second. The third? Winning the Intercontinental Championship, a championship that his father had helped craft into the workrate title - but Curtis Axel wasn't a solid IC champion and it wasn't before long that he dragged the belt down.

Axel was evidently made a Paul Heyman Guy to keep the former ECW running man on-screen during Brock Lesnar's time off, but even he couldn't elevate the second-generation star beyond his career ceiling. Needless to say, when Lesnar returned, it was goodbye to Curtis Axel, who only ever enjoyed brief flirtations with success beyond this.