10 Big WWE Pushes That Were Stopped Dead (And Why)
1. Carlito
Hindsight is a gift but it's hard to think that if Carlito could go back in time, he wouldn't change a few things about his WWE career. Bursting on to the scene by winning the United States Championship in his debut match, Carlito became one of the stand out stars of WWE's midcard.
Alongside Chris Masters, Carlito began picking up steam leading into the Elimination Chamber at New Years Revolution in 2006. Carlito was arguably the MVP of the match, eliminating Masters, Kane and even Shawn Michaels before being eliminated.
While WWE put his push on the back burner, putting him in small programs with the likes of Trish Stratus and Randy Orton, Carlito began to lash out at the company in interviews. Perceived as impatient and increasingly lazy in the ring, Carlito angered many backstage leading to an almost entirely shoot promo from Ric Flair on an episode of RAW.
After planning to leave before the main event, Flair stopped Carlito and launched into an uncomfortably scathing attack, saying:
...Did you ever stop to think why guys like you aren't in the main event? It's because maybe you're a lazy, underachieving son of a bitch! Lucky to be walking the halls of this building, lucky to be on the RAW roster, lucky to be here at all. You're really pissing me off right now...
It's been said that Carlito's attitude cost him more singles pushes later in his run but he was never more over than he was following his move to RAW.