Just what did WWE see in the clueless Vladimir Kozlov? The Ukranian (who was, naturally, billed as being from Russia) had many athletic accomplishments and was trained in sambo, kickboxing, freestyle wrestling, rugby, jujutsu and MMA, amongst others, so you can see why they signed him in the first place. Unfortunately for Kozlov and WWE, as athletic as he was he just couldn't get he hang of pro-wrestling. His performances in developmental and dark matches were always derided. Reports were that he was clumsy, green and awkward in the ring. Still, WWE wanted a foreign menace heel and they were going to get one whether he could work or not. Kozlov debuted on the April 4th Smackdown and quickly went to work demolishing the cruiserweight division. After a few months of this, Kozlov was undefeated and demanded better competition, entering him into a weird three way feud with Jeff Hardy and Triple over the WWE Title. Astonishingly, Kozlov was booked to face Triple H one-on-one at Survivor Series when Jeff Hardy was removed due to a storyline injury. Was Kozlov ready to wrestle Triple H for a major singles title at a major pay-per-view? Not even close. As the match demonstrated, Kozlov was an incredibly boring and often incompetent worker. WWE persisted with Kozlov, deciding to push him on the lower-visibility ECW instead. That didn't work, either. Nothing could get Kozlov ready for WWE TV, let alone the title picture. The company eventually gave up and put him in a comedy tag team with Santino, which had its moments. But the question remains: just what the hell were WWE thinking when they pushed this guy and had him manhandle Jeff Hardy, Triple H and The Undertaker?
