10 Wrestlers Who Got Buried For Someone Else Screwing Up

1. Daniel Puder

Daniel Puder’s name in pro wrestling will always be synonymous with Kurt Angle from that November 2004 episode of SmackDown.

Puder was competing in the fourth season of Tough Enough at the time alongside talent like The Miz and Ryback in their early days to try and win a $1,000,000 contract with WWE. Olympic gold medallist in freestyle wrestling Kurt Angle was tasked with putting the rookies through their paces, challenging them to real amateur fights in the ring.

After Angle quickly disposed of one of the Tough Enough rookies he got on the mic and challenged anyone else to step up. Well Puder, who was trained in amateur wrestling and mixed martial arts, stepped up and quickly got Angle in the kimura lock and embarrassed him by coming close to breaking his arm. This whole segment lacked huge foresight from WWE creative.

Puder has spoken of how he was received negatively backstage afterwards, “Everybody saw, even after I won Tough Enough, I was going out and building the ring. I was doing things to be a part of the organization, and some people maybe didn't like me in the position.” He’s also spoken of how talent like Big Show would often slam him into lockers plenty of times backstage just to mess with him.

Puder was continuously tested by other wrestlers and the office after nearly making Angle tap. He made his only appearance in a WWE match at the Royal Rumble 2005 where Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and Hardcore Holly beat the holy hell out of him and made him come across as a joke. Puder was sent to OVW soon after until he parted ways with WWE in a cost-cutting move later that year.