10 Times WWE Completely Abandoned Their Talent
8. The Red Rooster
The original post-WWE punching bag despite the long-held rumour that he was as close to being Mr Perfect as he was a clucking f*cking chicken, The Red Rooster gimmick was an anchor that weighed down Terry Taylor's in-ring career to such an extent that he was working on his next move before he'd even retired.
As early as 1993, Taylor (by then billed as 'Terrific Terry Taylor' following a passable stint in WCW that still failed to wash the smell of Rooster sh*t off...) was getting occasional work as an on-screen reporter. He'd keep various jobs in the industry going forward, but few of them involved simply being a pro wrestler.
With a show of good faith to the premise, the method of getting him over might have worked had the company just kept the stupid simple. Rooster was named as such because Bobby Heenan was his abusive manager - Taylor was just a "little red rooster" according to 'The Brain'. The big babyface turn was set in stone from the beginning, basically, and WWE had only to execute this without getting him to add a red mohawk to his hair and start pecking as he walked.
That's Sports Entertainment, pal!