10 Hyped WWE Debuts That Were Total Misdirections
1. Sean O'Haire
A crushingly disappointing end product following the best selection of introductory vignettes in company history, the in-ring mismanagement of Sean O'Haire was a humongous waste of resources and the flashes of incredible talent O'Haire had shown during the latter days of WCW.
Joining WWE via the 2001 WCW buyout, O'Haire spent over a year working Ohio Valley Wrestling and Sunday Night Heat segments for fine-tuning, before re-appearing on television in early 2003 in a series of dynamic segments where he'd speak straight down the lens to the viewer about embracing darker sides of their lives.
Dressed all in black against a harsh white background, O'Haire espoused adultery, tax evasion, abandoning faith and other real-life vices, presenting a raft of quickfire justifications before ending with the line 'I'm not telling you anything you don't already know'.
His devil-on-your-shoulder cult figure could have been cast as somebody that could corrupt a top babyface to do his evil bidding, and ultimately portray an anti-hero himself.
Regrettably, WWE completely welched on the live presentation.
Pairing him with Roddy Piper, he was little more than a hired goon, with all original character leanings completely abandoned in favour of heel growling. O'Haire was gone completely within a year.