10 Shocking Times WWE Pulled The Plug On Mega Pushes

9. The Radicalz

Lacey Evans
WWE.com

Chris Benoit had given up the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to gamble on himself in WWE, whilst Eddie Guerrero had been an impassioned heel and babyface at various points on his pro wrestling journey. As part of The Radicalz, 'The Crippler' and 'Latino Heat' were forced to be grizzled mechanics for months.

After a debut that shook the industry to its core during a period WCW could still allegedly be considered competition, the four defectors sidled up to headline authority figure Triple H after wrestling all of DX on their first ever SmackDown.

By WrestleMania - just three months later - all three were trapped in the midcard. The initial superpush had been a false promise that would only ever be delivered to Benoit and Guerrero.

Saturn and Malenko were rugged machinists, but the WWE machine needed the star quality of the late stars. Within two years, neither of them were even wrestling full - time. Within four, both Guerrero and Benoit had won World Titles.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 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. 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