10 Times WWE Totally Wasted Potential

The man they now call Cody is currently having a whale of time performing on wrestling's independent circuit, but there's no getting away from the fact that he has unfinished business in the big time.

This is largely the consequence of the fact that they took too long dragging their heels over a potential main event push. He became synonymous with the mid-card as a result, with a slew of rookies getting their big break before he did, despite not spending nearly the same amount of time "paying their dues" at the bottom of the show.

You look at Cody's WWE career and - between tagging with Dustin Rhodes and playing Randy Orton's second-generation protege - the only thing that's missing was a run with the world title (or at the very least the chance to compete for one).

Still only 32, there's every possibility Cody could now "do a Drew McIntyre" and return reborn and reinvigorated, but as Gail Kim found out two runs can be equally fruitless unless someone is pulling for you backstage.