10 Great WWE Moments We Came Agonisingly Close To
4. Kimbo Slice (!)
Tommy Dreamer seconded John Laurinaitis in the 2000s. His role in Talent Relations almost yielded the signature of viral sensation-cum-beloved MMA star Kimbo Slice.
To the uninitiated, Kimbo Slice was a bad motherf*cker.
Punching his way onto the nascent YouTube platform, he was seen absorbing and no-selling bare knuckle blows in very real, very disturbing, and very entertaining backyard fights. A gigantic specimen of a man with a terrifying roar of a taunt, even men Vince McMahon-sized cowered at the beatings he inflicted, too hurt and too afraid of the inevitable knockout blow to carry on. Kimbo didn’t know defence, as became apparent when he unsuccessfully transitioned to the legitimate sporting arena, but on the streets, he didn’t need any. He was a relentless f*cker upper machine with a distinctive, marketable look.
WWE never did market it; Laurinaitis, who once signed the wrong one-legged wrestler, rejected the pitch.
He may not have had much of an aptitude for pro wrestling, as was Big Johnny’s concern—but then, neither did Heidenreich, or Snitsky. Slice, at the very least, would have injected WWE with a sense of danger, if not talent, as a truly credible monster heel with babyface potential.