10 WWE Wrestlers Who Weren't Given Enough Chances
The land of opportunity... just minus the opportunity.
WWE likes to hammer home so many messages to its audience and its staff. After all, if you say something enough times then it makes it real, right? Not exactly.
One such line that WWE likes to so often throw out there, is that the company offers opportunity. From there, it's down to each individual wrestler to seize this opportunity and make the most of it. And while there are clearly prime examples of this over the years - John Cena and the rap gimmick that saved him from being released springs to mind - there are so many other wrestlers who find themselves on the other side of this coin, in that this 'land of opportunity' realm is one severely lacking in opportunity.
Unless WWE hands somebody the chance to get themselves over or to realise their potential, the talents' hands are effectively tied and they're destined to remain low on the totem pole. For some, this is fine so long as they receive a payday, while others will opt to challenge themselves away from WWE.
Here then, are ten examples of wrestlers who WWE never fully got behind.
10. Taz
With the possible exceptions of Chris Jericho and Kane, there are few WWE arrivals that have been as well done as that of the former ECW Champion Taz(z). But for the Human Suplex Machine, that debut was as good as it was ever going to get for his WWE stay.
An in-ring badass who carried himself like a star and who had main event legitimacy from his time in Paul Heyman's Extreme Championship Wrestling, there was so much that WWE could have done with Taz should they have seriously looked to get behind him as a top star.
Instead, Taz's debut win over Kurt Angle at the 2000 Royal Rumble PPV was never capitalised on in any meaningful way.
Even after Taz made an ECW return to beat Mike Awesome for the ECW Championship, WWE opted to simply have the New Yorker lose in a brief manner to WWE Champion Triple H. From battling Angle and going up against Triple H, Taz ended up transitioning into a feud with the commentary team duo of Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross.
A tag team with Spike Dudley was a minor highlight of the next few years, but it wasn't long before it became apparent that WWE saw Taz's future as being at the announce desk.