10 WWE Hall Of Famers Used Underwhelmingly In Later Years
Legends whose later acts didn't resonate or inspire.
A few years back, Mick Foley became the loudest voice of a disgruntled internet fan community. His outrage at WWE's blindness toward the popularity of Daniel Bryan culminated with a smashed TV, and further empowerment among the fans. After all, if a respected icon like Foley thinks that WWE is in the wrong, just as viewers sometimes do, then said viewers must be on the money.
Foley's crusading against bad wrestling and bad booking dried out when his children conveniently received different careers within the WWE empire, and Foley himself took on an on-screen role as Raw's good cop. To make matters a bit worse, Foley isn't exactly an inspiring character these days, finding himself neutered by the eternally-present Stephanie McMahon. The Mick that would offer heartfelt promos and control the audience with his delivery and emotions has been replaced by just another cookie-cutter character on a business-as-usual wrestling program.
With each passing year, the fiery Foley finds himself collecting more dust, with younger members of the audience less likely to know what made him such a special presence in the first place.
He's not the only one. A number of WWE Hall of Famers (eventual or already-enshrined) have found unsatisfactory use in later years with the company. The list is restricted to only those who were, at most, a part-time wrestler at the point of consideration.
10. Macho Man Randy Savage (1993-94)
After dropping the WWF title to Ric Flair in September 1992, Savage's in-ring appearances began to grow sporadic. The fiesty Savage still wanted to perform, even as he approached age forty, but Vince McMahon apparently wanted to use Savage sparingly, as a dial-a-legend to only be used on special occasions.
With Savage situated at ringside for Monday Night Raw, a number of would-be upper-card babyfaces, from Lex Luger to Crush to Tatanka, among others, failed to connect with audiences anywhere near a Macho Man standard. When his requests for more activity, included a proposed feud with Shawn Michaels where he'd put Michaels over clean, were shot down bluntly by McMahon, Savage bolted for WCW, where he spent the next three years proving he could still deliver - on occasion.