When WWE brought in John Heidenreich in the mid 2000s, they had high hopes for the guy. He was a former football player with an intimidating look. The thought was if he could grasp some of the basics in wrestling he could develop into somebody that was potentially a top guy. The one segment that was absolutely unforgettable in a bad way was when he did a backstage segment with Michael Cole. He was pushing him up against a wall in an intimidating manner while Cole cowered like the wimp that he is. A lot of fans online joked about how he had raped Cole because of how uncomfortable it looked. There were some other weird moments in Heidenreich's career where he did things like read poetry on his way to the ring and that weird friendship he had with Gene Snitsky. The Snitsky friendship was something that caused a lot of people to laugh when they first did it, but as time went on it just showed how limited Heidenreich was as a performer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEK80zqUXWQ Heidenreich wasn't pushed to a main event level, but he did get high enough to where he feuded with Undertaker that led to a Casket Match at the 2005 Royal Rumble.
John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.
