10 WWE Legends That Require A Career Reevaluation
9. Sable
The picture above this entry reflects WWE at their most exploitative in 1998. The story - in one image - of a product at it's most titillating but furthest away from the wrestling your parents watched, even if your Dad probably cast a wandering eye over when this sort of stuff made air.
The reason for it all was Sable. For all Sunny had incredible charisma and sensational pro wrestling instincts in 1996 and 1997, it was Rena Mero's rise in front of her husband Marc in 1998 that gave the product bonafide, mainstream-friendly sex appeal.
Sable had in spades, and it far outweighed the need for her to be good at much else. She's thus overly-criticised in post-script as a hanger-on, despite legitimately rivalling Stone Cold Steve Austin in popularity for much of his original tenure on top. She burned out incredibly fast after a 1999 fall-out with Vince McMahon, but she burned brighter than most performers from the main roster today.
A first-ballot Hall Of Famer if such ballots were actually A Thing, Sable's lack of interest in such plaudits perhaps best reflect how she ultimately won in the end. She got in, knew her worth, got out and lived (with Brock Lesnar) to tell the tale.