10 Totally Ineffective WWE Heel Runs
8. Vladimir Kozlov
Vladimir Kozlov was always relatively well presented by WWE, at least in his early days. A big, burly Ukrainian, he had his icy death stare down to a tee, and his (initial) lack of entrance music helped him stand out from the rest of the roster. The trouble was that Kozlov absolutely stunk between the ropes, and while he was able to mask this when squashing jobbers, it became a huge problem when he was elevated.
Kozlov was a big lad, which, as we're all aware, is often all it takes for a main event push in WWE. Having spent his first few months trashing enhancement wrestlers, he was inserted into the WWE Title picture through assaults on Jeff Hardy and Triple H, and he bombed horrendously. Kozlov wasn't over, wasn't putting on good matches, and while WWE kept him unpinned until Elimination Chamber 2009, he wasn't gaining any real traction at the top of the card.
His career went into free fall thereafter. Having flopped as a monster heel, Kozlov became a comedy character by 2010, and eventually left WWE the following year, having had his leg (kayfabe) broken as part of Mark Henry's Hall Of Pain angle.