10 Big WWE Pushes That Were Stopped Dead (And Why)

The 2008 Draft quietly broke up the team of Paul London and Brian Kendrick, by sending the latter to Smackdown. The team were successful in their three years together but few held out a lot of hope for the Cruiserweights once they were on their own.

Kendrick quickly adopted a new heel rockstar persona, punctuated by adding "The" to the beginning of his name. The Brian Kendrick debuted on the July 18 edition of Smackdown but didn't come alone. It was revealed that Ezekiel Jackson was acting as Kendrick's muscle and the two ran through huge portions of the blue brand's roster.

Whenever Kendrick would defeat an opponent, Jackson would add insult to injury and destroy them following the match. Countless comparisons to the Shawn Michaels - Diesel dynamic were made and fans were starting to buy in to the fresh face in the main event scene.

It wasn't long before the former Spanky was sharing the ring with the likes of Triple H, CM Punk and Jeff Hardy. Kendrick even became the interim WWE Champion during the Smackdown Scramble match at Unforgiven 2008 before Triple H left with the gold.

Almost overnight, Kendrick was pushed back down the card and didn't appear on another PPV for the rest of the year. So what caused such a sharp, steep decline? Kendrick had been warned about his marijuana use after failing numerous tests. When he failed to comply, officials put the brakes on showcasing Kendrick as a real force in WWE.