15 MORE Failed Experiments From WWE Developmental
9. Tim Wiese
Former Bayer Leverkusen youth, Kaiserslautern and Werder Bremen goalkeeper Tim Wiese wasn't the only former football/soccer player to give WWE and pro wrestling in general an earnest try once his time on the pitch came to an end, but he did appear to be making headway the quickest when he was offered a spot in the Performance Center at the exact point he was retiring professionally from "the beautiful game".
The 2014 career change didn't result in him immediately reporting to Orlando, but he did keep tabs with Triple H during 'The Game's time as top brass in NXT, and the relationship blossomed further when Wiese joined Sheamus and Cesaro in defeating Bo Dallas and The Shining Stars at a Munich house show in 2016.
He'd gotten visibly bigger as part of his training and potential superstar development but those that were in attendance that night got more of a collector's item than they'd bargained for. The match turned out to be the beginning of the end though - the one and done was enough for him to reconsider and he was done with the organisation completely by 2017.
The timelines were such that had he held on a bit longer - or even just dropped in a little sooner - he might have gotten paired with or against...