10 WWE Stars Who Desperately Need To Be Repackaged

4. Ariya Daivari

Ariya Daivari was born in Plymouth, Minnesota. A nice suburb of the Twin Cities. But WWE bills the guy from Minnesota “by way of Tehran, Iran.” I don’t know what that means exactly. Does he fly from MN to Tehran and then to a WWE show every single time he wrestles? Seems like a roundabout way of going about things.

The thing is, Daivari is a talented guy, but he’s playing a gimmick that feels too dated. He doesn’t look quite comfortable in the role either. To top it off, now that Mahal has shot to the top of SmackDown, Daivari feels like a second-rate version of his act. And besides all of that, he always loses on TV. He’s had one singles win all year and a pair of tag team victories. They could easily get more out of him.

One way of going about that would be to sign his older brother to a deal. Shawn Daivari and Ariya could make a great tag team on Raw or SmackDown. They don’t need all their anti-American promos, they can simply wrestle and heel it up on the crowd.

Otherwise, turn Ariya and see what he can do as a face. The company is (was?) allowing Mustafa Ali the opportunity to not play an evil generic foreign character; Ariya could be afforded the same opportunity as well.

Perhaps it’s also best to move him out of the Cruiserweight Division entirely. At 5 ft 10 in, he’s taller than heavyweight competitor Chris Jericho, and could easily be feuding with someone like Sami Zayn or Dean Ambrose. There’s a lot to do with Daivari, but management seems to have given him the least creative route, which is only going to hurt his long-term potential.