10 WWE Legends That Require A Career Reevaluation
2. Santino Marella
In its own time, Santino Marella's comedy was seen as a breath of fresh air available to audiences gradually choking to death on the polluted state of WWE's mid-2000s output. Now a generation removed from the cult of 'The Cobra', much of it looks incredibly tired.
There were more complex reasons as to why so few new performers got over during a rather barren period for the company, but Santino's on-the-nose gags and on-the-throat finisher reflected how few stars genuinely broke through underneath so much lowest common denominator content.
His matches were of some value on house shows, but his work on television badly sagged after the 2007/08 heel peak of his career. No longer purpose-serving by the time he had no choice but to turn his japes on the heels, Santino was the selected star for what should still be considered the low ebb of women's wrestling in WWE.
2009's 'Miss WrestleMania Battle Royal' looked bad enough on paper that Trish Stratus and Lita both said No to an easy payday - the decision to award it to a dragged up 'Santina' completely vindicated their concern. The crop at the time weren't fortunate enough to gain permission to turn it down.