10 Failed WWE Pushes One Tweak Away From Excellence

5. Test

Ryback WWE
WWE.com

Why it failed: Test was green as the sh*t sliding out of the proverbial goose's back passage when he was the recipient of the biggest push he ever had in WWE. On a recent edition of his Something To Wrestle With... podcast, Bruce Prichard noted that he was a favourite of Vince Russo and Shane McMahon at the height of his 1999 run, but like most other characters on the roster at the time, he got over big anyway.

Sadly, the inexperience began to show once the glow of that hedonistic year began to fade. Dropping into the tag team ranks as a heel in 2000, he'd lost all his star power a year on from that, and never again felt like the star he had the potential to be during his time as Stephanie McMahon's husband to be.

One Tweak: Make him WWE Champion at Survivor Series 1999.

As wild as a "PUSH TEST" internet forum-styled solution sounds 20 years later, it's still not as insane as the decision to have Jinder Mahal hold the once-richest prize in the game for 170 days in 2017. Test was over as a babyface but about to lose his storyline wife to Triple H, and with it, his spot near the top of the card. Even as makegood on the night for getting one big win over 'The Game' he might have remained credible for longer than the mere weeks he had left.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett