10 Wrestlers Who VANISHED When WWF Became WWE

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.