10 "Next Big Things" In Wrestling Nobody Cared About

By 2010, WWE had stopped doing what the audience wanted to see and focused on what they wanted.

Alberto Del Rio was their next crack into his Hispanic market following Rey Mysterio. Possessing the tools necessary of a WWE headliner, Alberto had the gift of the gab, was a skilled striker and submission-based worker, and knew how to draw on the ire of audience. He was quite literally a walking embodiment of what WWE wanted, but it never worked out.

Alberto Del Rio was presented as WWE's next top star several times throughout his two main roster stints, though it became evident across Del Rio's first 12 months in WWE that the audience was never going to accept him as a top draw. Winning the Royal Rumble match, Money in the Bank briefcase, and two WWE Championships in 2011 alone, Alberto Del Rio was cursed by his own booking. He thrived, naturally receiving healthy paychecks due to his status, but at what cost? Nobody liked him, nobody cared about him, and nobody wanted to see him.

His subsequent babyface turn in 2013 was so blatantly forced, too, that it may as well have been the nail in his coffin of a WWE career. Alberto Del Rio was a WWE cast-off masquerading as WWE Champion.