Vince McMahon, the man who has final say on what happens in WWE, has long been fascinated by larger-than-life men. An odd sentence, for sure, but in terms of Vince's vision for what professional wrestling (or "sports entertainment") should be, bigger is often better. Of course, there have been times throughout WWE history when exceptions have been thrust into the forefront of the product. Men such as Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit and even Daniel Bryan are classic example of workrate winning the day, but on the whole, McMahon has been noted as preferring his performers to be monstrous. The ins and outs of what dictates any given wrestler is deemed ready for a push in WWE are sometime sketchy, which is why many have been pushed relentlessly, despite not immediately having the qualifications expected of a headliner - whether that be in the eyes of Vince, or those of the fans. Detailed here are 10 different pushes, all happening for a variety of reasons, but none of them successful in the long term. Not all of these men were pushed as top liners, working in main events, but they were heavily featured on WWF/WWE programming, before going against the grain or not possessing what it takes to be a sustained main event player in the promotion.
Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.
