10 Wrestlers Whose Careers Started In The Worst Way Possible
9. Daniel Puder Gets Hazed
Former MMA fighter Daniel Puder endured the roughest of transitions into professional wrestling, as he fell afoul of WWE's entire veteran locker-room during an unscripted SmackDown segment in November 2004, during which the Tough Enough contestant thoroughly embarrassed Kurt Angle on national television.
The Olympian challenged Puder and his fellow TE finalists to an apparent shoot match after submitting Chris Nawrocki. Daniel stepped up, and though Angle took him down, Puder grabbed his arm in a Kimura hold. He had Kurt dead to rights in a segment clearly designed to put Angle over, and the referee had no choice but to improvise a quick three-count despite the fact that Puder's shoulders weren't actually pinned.
This understandably upset Angle and his fellow "professionals," who retaliated in the 2005 Royal Rumble. Chris Benoit, Hardcore Holly, and Eddie Guerrero shot on the 23-year-old, bludgeoning him with legitimate chops, before unceremoniously dumping Puder out of the ring. A gross example of televised hazing, and Daniel would never bounce back.
Released from his WWE contract after a developmental run eight months later, Puder promised to prove his former employers wrong long-term, but had disappeared from the business entirely by 2011.