10 Underrated Stars That WWE Should Never Have Released

9. Brodus Clay

George 'Brodus Clay' Murdoch spent a lot of time in WWE developmental, beginning in Deep South Wrestling in 2006. He worked for Florida Championship Wrestling between 2007 and 2011, dropped in on the old, mad, bad NXT for its fourth season (coming in second place to Johnny Curtis, aka Fandango), gatecrashed the main roster as an enforcer for Alberto Del Rio, and finally reappeared on RAW in January 2012 as a happy, dancing hippo of a man, nicknamed 'the Funkasaurus', and accompanied by Naomi and Cameron as the Funkadactyl dancers.

That's a lot of developmental, so much so that it's actually surprising that Murdoch made it to the main roster at all. Nonetheless, the Funkasaurus gimmick was fresh and fun for a while, although WWE clearly had no idea what was supposed to happen next.

The answer turned out to be 'not a lot'. Over the next couple of years, Murdoch did a whole lot of dancing and precious little else. He would be paired with main event flop Tensai as a comedy team, Tons O' Funk, and embark upon a short-lived singles run at the end of 2013 as a villainous monster heel.

Released in June 2014 after returning to NXT, Murdoch has since joined TNA and is currently a part of storylines concerning Ethan Carter III and his pursuit of the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Murdoch had far more of an upside than he was permitted to show in WWE both in the ring and especially on the mic - the man is a funny, articulate talker, as well as a superheavyweight beast.

He ticked a lot of boxes but that wasn't enough to save him, it seems.