10 Awesome Wrestlers WWE Totally Slept On

2. Cody Rhodes

WWE really didn't know what they had with Cody Rhodes, because while it was easy to sneer at him as a nepotism hire, he proved he had what it took to earn a spot on the roster in his own right.

Rhodes made his Raw debut in July 2007 and bounced around on the mid-card until joining The Legacy the next year, alongside Randy Orton and Ted DiBiase Jr.

After The Legacy fizzled out in early 2011, he went through a number of gimmicks of varying quality, including "Dashing" Cody Rhodes, teaming with Damien Sandow as Rhodes Scholars, and of course, Stardust.

Though Rhodes was frequently frustrated with WWE creative, he committed to these programs fully and did the best he could, allowing his in-ring work to speak for itself even when the booking was less-than-stellar.

Rhodes was granted his release in 2016, toured the indies and had a killer run in New Japan before launching AEW at the start of 2019.

Needless to say, AEW is currently going from strength to strength, so more than any active competitor on this list, the chances of him ever returning to WWE are slim at best - and thank God.