10 Wrestlers Who Had Their Trigger Pulled Way Too Late
Who missed out because management refused a take a chance on them?
Timing is very important in the world of pro wrestling.
Getting things timed correctly in the ring can often be the difference between a good match and a great match and, in the case of high spots, the difference between success and failure or even life and death.
Outside of the actual matches, timing is also important in the backstage world of wrestling.
Deciding when to give a certain performer a push and when to hold back can make or break a career. Push somebody too soon and fans won't accept them. Push somebody too late and they won't care.
It's the latter that we concern ourselves with today, as we look back at the sorry history of ten wrestlers who had their triggers pulled far too late.
The following ten stars all won top championships across various promotions, but they all did so once the perfect moment had gone. As a result, their big wins were significantly undermined.
Let us know if you can think of any other examples of slow trigger-pulling in wrestling, but, for now, enjoy these ten on us.
Not sure if enjoy is the right word, but you know what we mean.
10. The Fiend
We begin with the inspiration of this list and the perfect example of bad booking killing a hot act.
Bray Wyatt's twisted children's TV host who with a demonic alter ego was a stroke of genius and could easily have been ripped straight from the pages of the best horror fiction.
Through his well-crafted "Firefly Funhouse" segments and the captivating in-ring debut of The Fiend at SummerSlam, Wyatt soon became the most popular act in all of WWE. When it was announced that he would be challenging for the Universal Championship, fans got very excited.
Sadly, this excitement only led to disappointment.
In his Hell in a Cell match with Seth Rollins, The Fiend somehow managed to lose via stoppage, when the referee deemed that he had suffered too much punishment. If only that official had been in charge at King of the Ring 1998.
Wyatt is now the Universal Champion thanks to a victory at Crown Jewel, but the loss at Hell in a Cell derailed all the momentum The Fiend had built throughout 2019.
Only time will tell if Wyatt can be rebuilt as champion, but many fear that his lightning in a bottle may now be lost forever.