10 Times WWE Failed To Replace Wrestlers
Summer Rae, Triple H and Triple H do the job because they can't do someone else's.
It's been a long time since WWE's roster was in such a chaotic state of flux.
As these words are being typed, Kyle O'Reilly has wrestled what appears to be his last ever NXT match ahead of probably joining up with fellow former black-and-gold bastions Adam Cole and Bobby Fish, and all on the same show that may have been Johnny Gargano's own sendoff.
There have been a lot of releases this year, following on from a lot in 2020, and those that are coming in in their place are getting bigger again, rather than the glut of normal-sized-but-ultra-talented wrestlers Triple H plucked from PWG, ROH et al during his time at the very top of NXT.
In fact, Raw and SmackDown may almost exclusively become home to giants in the months and years to come. The company seems to be fairly rapidly moving forward from a mid-2010s era of talent scouting that was at very least a little more distinctive and dynamic even if it wasn't to Vince McMahon's tastes.
But this is nothing new - the business itself isn't cyclical but WWE certainly is, and 2022's impending biggest names will be defined as much by who they're replacing as what they do themselves. But breaking away from those that came before you is no easy task...
10. Stone Cold Steve Austin (with Bradshaw)
Stone Cold Steve Austin hadn't even left WWE by the time the company started trying to push Bradshaw as a wrestler of equal or equivalent renown in 2002, but perhaps 'The Rattlesnake's complaints list at the time might have included such a preposterous proposition had he stuck around long enough to see it out.
Tag stalwart Bradshaw was made newly-single by the first ever WWE Draft, and had re-embraced his Texas roots as he navigated a new life as a singles star on Monday Night Raw. Falling afoul of the New World Order right as Austin was experiencing his own issues with them, the future JBL was booked to work doubles matches with Austin and given Scott Hall as a singles opponent at the Backlash pay-per-view held just weeks after the roster split took shape.
It never once resonated in the way the company imagined - not only had the shift away been too sudden, but Bradshaw's dated aesthetic felt ancient compared to the chaos Austin had brought in the role. There's a reason JBL actually eventually clicked - it was a new version of something old, rather than the other way around.