10 Wrestlers Who VANISHED When WWF Became WWE

4. Ron Waterman

For any wrestling fan online in the early-2000s, Ron Waterman was one of those names hyped up as the next big thing.

A developmental talent talked about in the same breath as Brock Lesnar - who he was in a tag team with - John Cena, Batista, Randy Orton and Rico Constantino, it seemed that Waterman was destined for the big time. A high school wrestling coach who'd ventured into the MMA world with UFC and Pancrase, Ron seemingly had everything that Vince McMahon looked for. An extremely legit background combined with a 6'2" 270 lbs frame of solid, tanned muscle, the sky was the limit for H20 when he was loosely called up to the main roster in 2002.

So, why are some wrestling fans not even aware of Ron Waterman's existence? That's because his initial call-up from developmental saw him work Raw and SmackDown dark matches and compete at house shows, but ultimately saw him fired before he could make an appearance on TV.

In terms of said firing, Waterman was let go in July 2002 just a matter of weeks after his last WWE outing up against Bull Buchanan on a pre-Sunday Night Heat dark match... and only two months removed from WWF becoming WWE.

After this release, Ron returned to the MMA world for a spell, had an extremely brief 2005 stint with New Japan Pro Wrestling, then became a firefighter.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.